Tour de France 2018: Chris Froome 51 seconds behind after opening stage crash

Froome (R) carries his bicycle next to Belgium's Jasper De Buyst after falling into a ditch in the last kilometers of the first stage
REUTERS
Ian Parker7 July 2018

Chris Froome found himself almost a minute down just one day into the Tour de France after the Team Sky rider crashed in a chaotic finish to stage one.

The defending champion was squeezed out on a bend a little over five kilometres from the end of the 201km stage to Fontenay-le-Comte, which was won by Tour debutant Fernando Gaviria in a reduced sprint.

Colombian Gaviria held off world champion Peter Sagan to become the first man to win his debut stage of a Tour since Fabian Cancellara in 2004, but it was another 51 seconds before Froome crossed the line.

The four-time Tour winner came home in a group that included fellow general classification hopefuls Adam Yates of Mitchelton-Scott and Richie Porte of BMC, who were also caught up in the chaos.

There was worse luck for Movistar's Nairo Quintana, who suffered a mechanical a little over three kilometres from the finish and lost 75 seconds after waiting for help.

That leaves them already facing a yawning gap to those GC hopefuls who managed to avoid trouble, with Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates), Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors), Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First-Drapac), Mikel Landa and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) among those in the front group.

Geraint Thomas was also in the front group, the only Team Sky rider not to lose time on the day.

For 190km, it had been a fairly sedate stage from Noirmoutier-en-l'Ile with the threatened crosswinds failing to materialise, but everything changed in the final 10 kilometres.

First French sprinter Arnaud Demare saw his hopes of a stage win ended in a tumble, then Team Sky's Egan Bernal, the youngest rider in the race at 21, slid off the side of the road in another incident.

Froome was the next to go, sent hurtling into a field as the road turned to the left. He was quickly back on his bike but could not get back on the main group as the sprint trains put down the power at the front.

They could not avoid trouble themselves, with Mark Cavendish unable to contest the sprint after his Dimension Data team-mates got caught out of position amid the carnage.

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