Reigning world champion Thor Hushovd opened the 2011 Tour de France with a promising third place in an exciting, crash-filled day of racing for Garmin-Cervélo.

Hushovd surged toward victory, but was beat by Philippe Gilbert, who won the stage and claimed the yellow jersey in the 191.5km stage from Passage du Gois to Mont des Alouettes. Cadel Evans crossed the line second with Hushovd third at six seconds back.

“It’s a little disappointing because the team was riding for the win today,” Hushovd said.

“It was a hard day. The whole team was riding hard to chase down the breakaway. There was some headwind and some crashes, which made it even more difficult. And when Gilbert goes, it’s so hard to follow him. But the team was strong and rode well, so that’s a good sign of things to come.”

Team Garmin-Cervélo today announced its much-anticipated 2011 Tour de France roster. The squad features world champion Thor Hushovd, Christian Vande Velde, a two-time top-ten finisher, and Tyler Farrar, who has claimed stages at two other Grand Tours and with lead-out man Julian Dean, will be looking to add a third to his list. Ryder Hesjedal, who placed an impressive 7th overall in 2010 returns, as does recently crowned U.S. National Time Trial Champion, David Zabriskie. David Millar, tour veteran, will feature throughout as a TT expert and rider strong both on the flats and in the mountains. Two riders will be making their Tour de France debut this year: Tom Danielson is coming off strong performances at the Tours of California and Suisse; and Lithuanian National Champion, Ramunas Navardauskas – the team’s youngest rider - rounds out the squad.

TORONTO — Ryder Hesjedal has quietly accumulated cycling medals throughout his career, but life forever changed for the Canadian at last year's Tour de France.

Now, people know who he is.

Hesjedal held his own with the world's best through time trials and climbs that wound through the Alps and the Pyrenees last year to finish seventh — the best Tour de France result by a Canadian since Steve Bauer finished fourth in 1988.

And a month from now, when he pushes off the start line for the "Grand Depart" in the sport's most famous race, plenty of eyes will be following the Canadian.

"That was part of the frustration for years, I could be part of winning mountain bike teams at the worlds, you think it's significant and you know what it took to achieve," Hesjedal said. "But certainly the Tour de France there's nothing like it, it gets people aware of what's going on."

SAN JOSE, Calif. (VN) — Although he ended up in seventh place, Canadian Ryder Hesjedal not only earned stage 4’s most aggressive rider award but he also dynamited the race with his preemptive attack coming off the hors-cat Mount Hamilton climb that enabled his Garmin-Cervélo team to pack five riders into the top 12 of this sixth Amgen Tour of California.

Asked if his attack midway down the twisting descent from the 4,130-foot Mount Hamilton was pre-planned, Hesjedal told VeloNews, “There was an uphill section I’d heard that was a good launch pad, and we talked about it, so why not? It forced the race and I had some fun, and I think it worked out good.”