Sagan back with a bang to claim Tour yellow jersey
LA ROCHE-SUR-YON: A year after being kicked out of the Tour de France, world champion Peter Sagan was back with a bang as he claimed victory in the second stage to take the overall leader’s yellow jersey yesterday.
The Slovak was thrown out after the fourth stage 12 months ago for sending Mark Cavendish crashing in a chaotic sprint, but he won it clean this time to beat Italian Sonny Colbrelli and France’s Arnaud Demare into second and third places.
“It’s a perfect day, I was a bit scared because Sonny was coming back strong,” said Sagan, who also wore the yellow jersey in 2016.
“It’s a very good start. I’m really back.”
Colombian Fernando Gaviria, who won the opening stage on Saturday and wore the yellow jersey during the 182.5-km ride from Mouilleron-Saint-Germain, crashed in the finale and was unable to contest the sprint.
German Marcel Kittel, who has 14 Tour stage wins under his belt, suffered a puncture just under eight kilometres from the line and could not make it back to the front of the bunch in time.
The final sprint was contested by a dozen riders after a massive pile-up split the bunch, with Gaviria and Australian Michael Matthews, suffering in the crash.
Demare launched the sprint 250 metres from the line and Sagan jumped ahead of him with ease before holding off Colbrelli in the final metres.
Spain’s Luis Leon Sanchez, who has four Tour stage wins to his name, pulled out after he sustained a possible shoulder injury in a crash 37km from the finish.
Defending champion Chris Froome, who lost time after crashing on Saturday, had an uneventful day on the bike and finished safely in the peloton.
The Briton was loudly booed again at the start, as Froome being cleared of doping last year seemed to count for little with the French crowd.
The Team sky rider rode through a chorus of jeers and whistles, three days after being similarly booed at the teams’ presentation ceremony.
Froome was cleared last week of any wrongdoing by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Cycling Union (UCI) after testing positive for excessive levels of the asthma drug Salbutamol during last year’s Tour of Spain.
Sky spent over e1-million to defend Froome in the case, leading some to question the fairness of the process.
Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford said he believed the process will eventually be fair for everyone, after the British team said it had shown the likelihood of ‘false positive’ results.
“For me I’d be looking at that. We can use this to keep on developing, to make sure the rules are better, redefine them to protect innocent riders,” the Welshman said.
“I would not take it from another angle which is one rule for one and one rule for another.”
“At the end of the day we have a set of rules and we expect them to be reviewed and updated and kept on point.”
Public opinion in France, however, remains hostile towards four-times winner Froome, who is hoping to join French legends Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault with five victories in the race.
One banner held up by the side of the road read “Froome out”, while another read “Froome go home”.
“We have to just deal with it, that’s all. It’s not the first time, that’s the way it is,” said sports director Nicolas Portal.
Froome also had problems on the bike as he crashed five kilometres from the finish in Saturday’s opening stage, losing 51 seconds to two big rivals, France’s Romain Bardet and Dutchman Tom Dumoulin.
“I know there’s always a high risk of crashing in the first week,” said Froome, who had bandages on his elbow and knee. “It’s never nice to lose time, never good to start on the back foot, but there’s a lot of racing to come.” – Reuters