Brussels dismounts
Reigning champ falls early on
Geraint Thomas crashed again on his first day wearing the No. 1 bib at the Tour de France – but this time the fall guy got away unhurt.
Britain’s defending champ was brought down in a chaotic f inish a mile from the end of the 121-mile Grand Depart in Brussels.
Thomas was quickly back in the saddle after the pile-up left him with nowhere to go near a crash barrier.
But the scare was a timely reminder that his defence of the Yellow Jersey could be over in the blink of an eye if luck deserts him.
The Prince of Wheels had been forced to abandon his warm-up Tour of Switzerland after a crash left him needing stitches above his right eye.
And six years ago he broke his pelvis in an almighty pile-up in Corsica – but still rode for 2000 miles in support of Chris Froome’s first Tour de France triumph.
Thomas brushed off the superficial damage and turned his attention to today’s 21-mile time trial, where Team Ineos are seeking the stage win.
He said: “It’s typical but I’m fine though. I was going pretty slow by the time I hit the riders in front and I just toppled over, so it’s all good.
“I gave myself enough space to avoid the actual crash in front of me but I just had nowhere to go at the barriers.
“It was good to get back in the groove with the boys. We’ve started on the front foot and the first week is about coming through unscathed.
“Obviously we’ll try to win the time trial – there are lots of good teams who will be thinking the same way but we’ll see what we can do.”
Fortified by Froome’s return home from hospital, after the four- time champion broke bones in his neck, hip, ribs and leg in a horrific crash last month, Team Ineos rode impressively towards the front of the peloton.
One of Thomas’ main rivals in the general classification, Jakob Fuglsang, was not so lucky – he needed stitches above his right eye and collected a sizeable portion of gravel rash when he came off 13 miles from home.
But the Danish form horse shrugged off his spillage and said: “S*** happens.”
In a photo finish, Dutchman Mike Teunissen took the leader’s fabled yellow jersey when he pipped Peter Sagan by a spoke’s width on the line.
Teunissen had been assigned as a lead-out man for his Team Jumbo-Visma sprint specialist Dylan Groenewegen – but when Groenewegen went down down, his compatriot seized the opportunity to snatch a stage win.
Teunissen said: “I can’t believe it. We were working months to bring Dylan a stage victory and the leader’s yellow jersey but then it disappears when he goes down in a crash.
“But I thought, ‘I’m still fresh, I can try’ – and when everyone was dying near the end, I was catching Peter Sagan and caught him on the line.
“I hope Dylan can smile when I take this jersey to the team room back at the hotel.”
Meanwhi le, axed sprint legend Mark Cavendish’s wife has branded Team Dimension Data boss Doug Ryder a “coward” after leaving him out of the Tour de France.
Ryder had stated: “Mark is a legend of the race. It is sad for the race that he is not here. It was a team decision.”
But Peta Cavendish fired back and said: “There is a fair amount of f iction in that statement. Unfortunately this is no surprise. The truth always comes out in the end. Cowards can’t hide forever.”