FROOME FALLS OFF ...BEFORE THE RACE!
IT wAS not what you would call a high speed crash. No more than 20mph, Chris Froome suggested afterwards. But hitting the ground with only a thin layer of Lycra for protection tends to hurt, as the clock demonstrated here in Jerusalem on the opening day of the Giro d’Italia.
Professional cyclists are tough individuals but when Froome lost his front wheel on the second corner during a recon of this twisting 9.7km street circuit yesterday he was sent skidding across the road surface and left nursing cuts, abrasions and bruises down the right side of his body.
He got back on his bike and returned to the Team Sky base to be treated by medical staff but some four hours later, in the opening stage of this three-week race, it was clear he was struggling. From the moment he rolled off the starting ramp against the backdrop of the old city it was obvious the four-times Tour de France champion was not himself, his ascent of the first climb up King David Street noticeably slower than those of his main rivals.
He appeared tentative, underpowered, a heart rate of 155 beats per minute that appeared on television screens suggesting he was some way short of his limit.
By the checkpoint at 5.1km he had lost 34 seconds to the then race leader, Rohan Dennis, and while he clearly rode the second half of the race with more vigour, he ended up 37 seconds adrift of his main rival and last year’s champion, Tom Dumoulin. ‘It’s always l going i th to hurt,’ t’ said id F Froome afterwards. ‘It’s not ideal to race after just having crashed but that’s bike racing; that’s all part of the sport. I was just testing the corner when I lost my front wheel. I was probably braking, turning at the same time.’
Compared to some who fell during their recon laps he had not come off that badly. Kanstantsin Siutsou suffered a broken vertebra in his neck and was out of the race before it had started.
Froome insisted his injuries were no more than ‘superficial’ and would not impact on his chances of becoming the first man since Bernard Hinault to hold the titles of all three Grand Tours simultaneously.
‘I never thought I would win this race in the time trials when Tom is the world champion,’ he said. But 37 seconds is a nice cushion to kick off with and Dumoulin, boasting later that he had handled his own TT bike rather well, suggested it could yet prove significant. ‘Usual cliche, take it day by day,’ he said. ‘But being the badass I am, I’m going to take it hour by hour.’
It marked the conclusion to a miserable few days for Froome and his team after a build-up dominated by the controversy around the 32-year-old’s participation when he remains at risk of a ban for failing a drugs test at last year’s Vuelta a Espana.
Angered by Sky’s failure to inform them of Froome’s situation when they negotiated the team’s seven-figure appearance fee, the race director made no secret of his desire to see Dumoulin successfully defend his crown.
On such a technically difficult course it was by no means guaranteed that the Dutch poster boy would succeed. ‘It’s pretty complicated with bumpy off-camber corners at high speed,’ said Ben King after his own practice ride around the circuit. ‘Already three riders, including Chris Froome, have crashed... ghost holes.’
But Dumoulin was magnificent, blasting his way to victory when it seemed Dennis had posted a time that would not be beaten.
That Alex Dowsett finished fifth and Simon Yates seventh meant is was not an entirely unsuccessful day for British cycling.