Bloodied Froome survives pile-up to stay on track
AFTER the perfect execution of a time trial on the rain-soaked roads of Dusseldorf, the damp conditions in Belgium proved rather more treacherous for Team Sky yesterday.
A crash at the front of the peloton some 30km from the finish of stage two in Liege claimed Chris Froome and the overall race leader, Geraint Thomas.
Thomas was quick to recover and rejoin the race and will proudly wear yellow for the second time today. But the sight of Froome bouncing up a high kerb on his backside must have concerned the Team Sky hierarchy, even if the Briton did climb back on to a spare bike and, with the help of team-mates and another change of bike, catch the main bunch with 20km remaining.
Two holes in the back of Froome’s shorts revealed a bloody wound and the manner in which he shifted uncomfortably on his saddle suggested more than simply surface damage. But Froome put a brave face on it, insisting he had been lucky and revealing on Twitter than he had lost nothing more than a ‘bit of skin’.
In a post-race interview he said: ‘That’s the nature of the race, with slippery conditions like that. It was just a touch of wheels or someone slid just ahead of me. And at those speeds you can’t avoid it. Thankfully everyone is ok and we got to the finish without losing any time to our rivals.’
The Sky riders had been sensibly placed all day, opting for the relative safety at the sharp end of the main pack.
But as the peloton accelerated out of a roundabout in pursuit of a four-man breakaway it took just one loss of concentration and some big names were down, French favourite Romain Bardet and five Sky riders among them. Team Sky’s road captain, Luke Rowe, ended up almost 14 minutes down. He was sent for a precautionary scan after hitting his head but was given the all-clear.
Ahead of him a long finishing straight that concluded the 203km stage had provided the perfect platform for the sprinters to demonstrate their power, with Marcel kittel claiming his 10th Tour victory and Mark Cavendish doing much better than expected to finish fourth.
It was only six weeks ago that the Manxman returned to full training after a nasty bout of glandular fever. ‘I am happy with that,’ he said. ‘It’s way over what I thought I would get. I must have been 20th, maybe 30th, with 500 to go. I ended up on Marcel’s wheel but no way could I have passed him.’
All the main contenders finished safely in the peloton, enabling Froome to protect the advantage of more than 30 seconds he secured on Saturday to conclude a successful opening weekend for Sky.
But it was not without its controversy, a team that has been dogged by scandals these past nine months having to contend with further accusations. Alarmed by the ominous presence of four Sky riders in the top eight in the 14km time trial, two rival teams reportedly complained about the British team’s skin suits, in particular the ‘bubbles’ on the sleeves.
Frederic Grappe, performance director at the FDJ team, said: ‘It’s enhanced aerodynamics and the regulations forbid it. According to studies, the estimated gain is about four to seven per cent. It’s huge.’
Another unnamed sports director told Reuters that amounts to around a second per kilometre, having conducted tests on the suit design.
Team Sky sports director Nicolas Portal responded that other teams were using the technology. And he was supported when the Tour de France race jury concluded Team Sky had done nothing wrong. Portal said: ‘It’s legal and everything has been validated.’