Froome survives day of carnage
Briton remounts after crash but Porte is out Thomas still second as riders head for the Alps
Britain’s trio of contenders for the 105th Tour de France all declared themselves relieved to have survived a crash-ridden day on the cobbles of northern France yesterday, adding they were now looking forward to getting into the mountains.
Team Sky’s twin-pronged attack of Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome, and Mitchelton-scott’s Adam Yates, managed to finish safely in the main group of general classification contenders, half a minute or so behind the stage nine winner, John Degenkolb, of Treksegafredo.
But it could easily have been very different. Froome survived a crash with 45 kilometres remaining of the 156.5km stage, just as the riders entered one of the sectors of pavé at Mons-en-pevele. Fortunately for the six-time grand tour winner, who had nowhere to go when his team-mate, Gianni Moscon, went down in front of him, he was back up on his bike in no time.
Others were not so lucky. Richie Porte, one of best climbers in the world and a serious contender for this race, crashed after just 9km – before the race had even hit any cobbles – and was forced to abandon, apparently with a fractured collarbone. It was tough on the Australian, who also crashed out on stage nine last year, following a spectacular high-speed wipeout.
“It was a brutal stage,” said Froome, his body caked with grit from all the dust kicked up over the course of the day. “I feel sorry for Richie that he didn’t make it. I’m just grateful to have got through that without any major issues. Now we’re heading into the mountains, where the real racing starts for me.”
The riders will enjoy a rest day first, having flown down to Annecy last night. They will need it after a stressful first nine days. The only surprise yesterday was that more GC contenders were not affected.
It had been billed as a potentially race-defining stage, with 15 sectors of pavé to negotiate – 12 of them straight out of this year’s Paris-roubaix, a race known as L’enfer du Nord, the Hell of the North.
In the end, most of the yellowjersey contenders came home together, including some of the lighter riders who were expected to struggle. Riders such as Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Yates and Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates), the last of that trio arguably the rider of the day considering he could hardly walk following a heavy crash in Saturday’s stage to Amiens.
Romain Bardet (AG2R-LA Mondiale) and Mikel Landa (Movistar) both lost eight seconds, having looked at one time as if they might lose far more. Bardet had numerous mechanical issues but managed to catch up to the peloton each time – there was controversy over the fact that he appeared to slipstream motorcycles to do so – while Landa suffered a crash with 31km remaining.
They were helped by the fact that there was a headwind coming into Roubaix, and also by the fact that most of the pavé specialists had leaders in trouble behind them and were not inclined to make the race more difficult than it already was.
In the end, Degenkolb broke away with fellow Paris-roubaix winner Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) and Belgian hard man Yves Lampaert (Quick-step Floors) with 16km remaining, managing to beat both of them in the final sprint. It was an emotional win for Degenkolb, who in January 2016 suffered fractures and a serious finger injury after he and some team-mates were hit by a car during a training ride.
Perhaps the true impact of this stage will only be felt in the coming days, as the riders hit the Alps. It may take them a few days just to clear their lungs, with most coughing as if they were 50-a-day smokers at the team buses afterwards.
Assuming they do, Thomas looks well set to take the yellow jersey in tomorrow’s stage from Annecy to Le Grand-bornand, which features five categorised climbs. The Welshman currently trails Van Avermaet by 43 seconds, with the next real GC threat, Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde, a further 48 seconds back, and Froome another 11 seconds behind Valverde.
Could Thomas be allowed to race for himself rather than the fourtime winner, he was asked? “We’ll see how the Alps go, see how I feel, see how Froomey feels and go from there,” he replied with his best poker face.
“We’re just happy to have got through the first nine days. But now the race is going to change completely. I’m looking forward to it.”