British rider hits the front in Tour de France
Third place on Stage 5 of Tour de France puts defending champion in the lead
Chris Froome sent out a warning to his rivals after claiming the yellow jersey on yesterday’s Stage 5 of the Tour de France in at La Planche des Belles Filles, proclaiming: “I’m used to being in that position.”
The defending champion moved to the top of the general classifications as he was third home in a stage won by Fabio Aru.
Despite finishing 20 seconds adrift of Aru, the Briton took over first place from compatriot and Team Sky teammate Geraint Thomas, and he will have a 12-second advantage to take into today’s Stage 6 between Vesoul and Troyes.
Froome acknowledged he had not expected to have to chase down Aru himself, following the Italian’s late breakaway. The latter’s fierce burst of speed left everyone in his wake with more than 2 kilometers left to climb. Froome told reporters after he had completed the podium ceremony: “When Aru went, I still had team mates so I waited for the others to react.
“Nobody moved so I thought I had to go to see what I could do.”
Three-time Tour winner Froome now leads from Thomas, with Aru up to third, 14 seconds back, after the Italian national champion won his first career Tour de France stage, ahead of Irishman Dan Martin.
Froome said: “I remember the first time I was in yellow in 2013. It was a bit of an overwhelming experience to be honest, but I think I’ve spent enough days in yellow now to get used to that.
“I know what I’m up against. This is going to be the hardest-fought battle in terms of the general classification and I know my rivals are right up there.”
Meanwhile, Mark Cavendish praised the “courage” of the Tour de France commissaires after they disqualified world champion Peter Sagan for causing the crash that put the Manxman out of the race.
Cavendish was knocked into the barriers by Sagan just 120 metres from the finish of Stage 4 in Vittel, but the race jury’s decision to send Sagan home sparked controversy.
“If I’m honest it takes a lot of courage to eliminate the world champion from the Tour de France, and I commend the jury on taking a decision that wasn’t based on influences from social media or outside,” Cavendish said.
But Cavendish reiterated he has no issue with Sagan, who visited the Dimension Data team bus after the stage to check on his rival and then called him again later on Tuesday.
Sagan’s Bora- Hansgrohe team had protested against his expulsion to no avail, and yesterday morning he bid farewell to the race while insisting he had done nothing wrong in his opinion.
“What can I do? I can accept the decision but for sure I do not agree with them, because I think I have done nothing wrong,” he said in a statement delivered in Vittel.
“It is very bad that Mark fell down, it is important he can recover well, I am sorry for that. As you saw it was a crazy sprint, it was not the first one like that or the last one. I wish that Mark recovers well.”