IN GER DREAMS! KING OF THE YARDE
Welshman Thomas won his first career Tour stage and took the maillot jaune as Team Sky enjoyed a dream start to the 2017 edition on the soaking streets of Dusseldorf.
He completed the opening 14km time trial in 16mins 4secs to win by five seconds from BMC Racing’s Stefan Kung.
His team-mate Chris Froome finished sixth, 12 seconds down, as he opens his bid to win a third straight Tour crown and fourth overall.
Thomas was forced to withdraw from the Giro d’Italia in May after he suffered a shoulder injury during the ninth stage, but he put that behind him with his victory in Germany.
Thomas (right) said: “It’s unreal. The start of my eighth Tour, my 12th Grand Tour and my first stage win. It’s been a long time coming and it’s just an amazing feeling. I didn’t even dream about it last night.
“It’s been a rough time on the bike this year and it certainly makes up for most of the Giro.
“I’ve had a bit of a rough time recently so it’s nice to get this win. “It’s unbelievable. I’m lost for words. “I’ve got a tendency to go out a bit hard but I’m getting older now and I’m learning my lessons and it couldn’t have gone any ANTHONY YARDE’S dream is to become a three-weight world champion and be compared to Mike Tyson.
The east Londoner will on Saturday move closer to a first world title shot if he beats Hungarian Richard Baranyi at the Copper Box Arena.
Unbeaten Yarde, 25, is one of Britain’s most exciting prospects after 10 knockouts from 11 fights and he is aiming to win titles at light-heavyweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight.
Heavyweight Tyson was a knockout machine at his best in the 1980s and Yarde hopes to one day fight at the same weight, where fellow Londoner Anthony Joshua is world No.1.
But first Yarde – known as The Beast – is concentrating on the light-heavyweight division.
He said: “They say aim for the stars but I want to aim beyond the stars. I believe in making the impossible possible. Mike Tyson NICK PARKINSON used his height to his advantage. He was a tank. I have a similar squat physique and could grow into being a heavyweight.
“Skills are important and if I can take the speed I have now into the heavyweight division I’ll be able to cause a lot of problems. Right now, my focus is on this scene. My dreams are to unify the world light-heavyweight titles like Roy Jones did and then at cruiserweight before then the heavyweight division possibly.” TV: BT Sport & Box Nation PACKING A PUNCH: Anthony Yarde (right) on his way to victory over Chris Hobbs in May