Froome makes instant impact as Thomas wins Tour opener
DUSSELDORF: Reigning champion Chris Froome wasted no time flexing his muscles at the Tour de France as he powered to sixth place in a treacherous opening time trial won superbly by Team Sky colleague Geraint Thomas yesterday.
Heavy rain turned what, on paper, had looked like a regulation 14km circuit alongside the River Rhine into an incident-packed Grand Depart that could have major consequences in the three-week battle for the yellow jersey.
While it was a great start for Team Sky, with Thomas, threetime champion Froome and Vasil Kiryienka, all in the top six of the 198 riders to start, Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde’s Tour is already over after a sickening crash.
Heavy rain made the roads greasy and there were several crashes, although Valverde’s was by far the worst, the Spaniard careering into crowd barriers after skidding off on a corner.
He was taken to hospital with leg injuries.
Movistar said that Valverde, who had a sterling start to the season with victories in the Liege-bastogne-liege classic and the Tour of Catalunya, had been forced to abandon the race.
“At first we thought it was just a crash, like it happens often, but when we saw that he could not get up, we knew it was serious,” said sports director Jose Vicente Garcia. “It is a sad day for us.”
Valverde and Quintana were seen as a formidable double act on this Tour, but the Colombian, second overall in 2013 and 2015, will now have to make do without the help of the Spanish veteran.
Thomas showed brilliant bike-handling as he finished in 16 minutes 04 seconds, five seconds ahead of BMC’S Swiss rider Stefan Kueng, who was two seconds ahead of Kiryienka in third.
Froome, the last rider out, was 12 seconds slower than Thomas but significantly quicker than his main rivals.
Quintana was 48 seconds slower than Thomas with Australian Richie Porte one second quicker than the Colombian.
Hopes that Tony Martin would mark the first German Grand Depart since Berlin in 1987 with a home win were washed away as he could only manage fourth quickest.
STAT OF THE DAY:
52.28 kph The average speed of Briton Geraint Thomas over the 14-km time-trial course.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Australian Richie Porte (BMC Racing) after a disappointing time trial: “It was just a matter of keeping it rubber side down, that was the goal. I saw (teammate) Nicholas Roche bin it and I was petrified to be honest. It was such a slippery course.”
FACT OF THE DAY:
Elie Gesbert started the stage first on the day of his 22nd birthday. The youngest rider of this year’s Tour de France, Gesbert was born on July 1, 1995, the day fellow Frenchman Jacky Durand won the prologue of the Tour in Saint-brieuc – Reuters