Tour de France 2018: Chris Froome flies off the road into a ditch in opening Tour stage
Defending champion Chris Froome strikes trouble in first stage, crashing into a ditch as Colombian claims yellow jersey.
Down in a ditch, Chris Froome had to hoist himself and his bike back up to the road.
It was a startling scene when the Team Sky rider tumbled into a grassy field in the opening stage of the Tour de France overnight, immediately putting his pursuit of a record-tying fifth title in peril.
Froome, though, is getting used to these sort of mishaps and challenges — whether that means recovering from crashes or clearing his name of doping.
“I saw a lot of crashes out there today. It’s just one of those things. We always knew the first few days were going to be tricky and going to be sketchy. It’s part of the game unfortunately,” said Froome, who went down with about five kilometres to go as the sprinters’ teams jockeyed for position.
There was plenty of action in the opening stage of #TDF2018, including a crash for @TeamSky’s @chrisfroome, but fortunately the four-time Tour de France winner escaped injury and managed to limit his losses #VelonLive pic.twitter.com/UGl7fKKnjP
— Velon CC (@VelonCC) July 7, 2018
With grass stains on his right shoulder and blood trickling down his right arm from a gash on his elbow, Froome got back up and crossed 51 seconds behind Fernando Gaviria, the Colombian who claimed the race’s first yellow jersey with a commanding sprint victory.
- Christopher Froome (Britain)
- Tour de France contenders
The Tour’s top rider is seeking a record-equalling 5th victory and is backed by the strongest team, after clinching the Giro d’Italia in May.
- Romain Bardet (France)
- Tour de France contenders
The AG2R leader came 2nd in the 2016 Tour and 3rd in 2017. He has climbed to prestige mountain victories on each of the last three Tours.
- Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands)
- Tour de France contenders
Started this season as time-trial world champion and Giro d'Italia champion. The Dutchman is less comfortable in the mountains than his chief rivals.
- Nairo Quintana (Colombia)
- Tour de France contenders
Long considered the world’s best climber, Quintana has trained differently for the Tour this time. He is nonetheless still the mountain’s gold standard.
- Vincenzo Nibali (Italy)
- Tour de France contenders
The "Shark of Messina" won the Tour in 2014. Triumphed in the Vuelta, and the Giro twice. A master of multi-stage races.
- Richie Porte (Australia)
- Tour de France contenders
The Tasmanian has a score to settle after a nasty crash on the 2017 Tour. Porte says he is aiming for the podium this time.
- Rigoberto Uran (Colombia)
- Tour de France contenders
The most experienced Colombian on the Tour, he trained out of the public eye this year. Is he set to surge from the pack like last year?
Australia’s Team Sunweb rider Michael Matthews finished in the leading pack in seventh overall, while Richie Porte was in the same group as Froome 51 seconds back.
“I’m just grateful I’m not injured in any way and there’s a lot of road to cover before Paris obviously,” Froome said.
When fans at the finish were informed of Froome’s crash, many cheered. Froome, who was cleared of doping in an asthma drug case on Monday, was also jeered at Thursday’s team presentations.
Froome was fortunate he didn’t do more damage by avoiding a post near where he fell while riding at more than 50km/h.
The Kenyan-born British rider also crashed on the opening day of the Giro d’Italia in May, while warming up for the Stage 1 time trial. But Froome eventually climbed back up the standings to win the Giro — his third straight Grand Tour title.
Froome is now aiming to join Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as the only riders to win the Tour five times. Fellow overall contenders Richie Porte and Adam Yates were also caught behind in the Froome group. And in what was expected to be a calm day for the favourites, two-time runner-up Nairo Quintana lost 1:10 when both of his tires were punctured.
The pre-race favourites who finished safely with the main pack included 2014 champion Vincenzo Nibali, Tom Dumoulin, Geraint Thomas, Mikel Landa, Alejandro Valverde and Dan Martin.
“It is a tricky finish and just the typical fight between sprinters and GC guys. Everyone wants to be on the front, especially ahead of the 3K marker,” Sky sport director Nicolas Portal said. “It’s the normal tension which is slightly higher than the other Grand Tours.” When overall or general classification (GC) contenders reach the 3K mark, they can relax because from there on in the results are neutralised in the case of crashes.
Gaviria, the Quick-Step rider making his Tour debut, easily beat world champion Peter Sagan and Marcel Kittel to the line.
“The yellow jersey is one that everyone dreams of wearing and to get it on the first day is amazing,” Gaviria said.
Gaviria required 4 hours, 23 minutes to complete the mostly flat 201-kilometer (125-mile) stage from the island of Noirmoutier-en-l’Ile on the Atlantic coast to Fontenay-le-Comte.
The 23-year-old Gaviria won four stages in last year’s Giro d’Italia and is living up to his billing as the next big thing in sprinting. Accounting for time bonuses in the overall standings, Froome trails Gaviria by 1:01 in 91st position.
Fans came out in large numbers for the 105th edition of cycling’s biggest race, standing along nearly every stretch of the route and waving the red and white flags of the Vendee region.
For much of the stage, the route hugged the coastline alongside sparkling waters, pristine beaches and an abundance of salt marshes.
Three French riders — Kevin Ledanois (Team Fortuneo-Samsic), Jerome Cousin (Direct Energie) and Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) — attacked at the start flag and quickly established an advantage of more than a minute. Cousin and Offredo, the last remnants of the breakaway, were caught by the main pack with 10 kilometres to go.
Lawson Craddock crashed in a feeding zone midway through the stage and the American continued with blood streaming down his face.
The Tour remains in the Vendee region for Stage 2 on Sunday, another flat leg of 182.5 kilometres from Mouilleron-Saint-Germain to the department capital of La Roche-sur-Yon.
The three-week Tour ends July 29 in Paris.
AP
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