Mass crash fails to stop Thomas wearing yellow
GERAINT Thomas survived a mass pile-up during the second stage of the Tour de France to hold on to the yellow leader’s jersey.
Wales’ twice Olympic track gold medallist and most of his Sky teammates, including defending champion and race favourite Chris Froome, were brought down at a rain-soaked roundabout with 31km remaining of the 203.5km second stage between the German city of Dusseldorf and Liege in Belgium.
It happened at the front of the peloton when Katusha Alpecin’s Reto Hollenstein slid off to set off a chain of events, which saw about 20 riders hit the deck in the slippery conditions.
Thomas quickly remounted and finished safely in the peloton, saying afterwards: “We (Sky) were all in a decent position, the top 10-15, going into a roundabout and a couple of guys came past.
“They were going a bit quick and went down, and we didn’t have anywhere to go. It wasn’t super-fast at the time and we were all up pretty quickly.”
Froome, who had a hole in his shorts and lost skin off his backside, had two bicycle changes and a lengthy chase before regaining contact with his major rivals.
Sky’s other Welsh ace and road captain Luke Rowe hurt his ribs and may be scanned to assess the extent of the damage. He rolled over the finish line 13min 56sec after the peloton with only Hollenstein and Dutchman Tom Leezer (Loot NLJumbo) behind him.
Thomas hopes to hold on to the yellow jersey for at least a few days, although his primary job is to help Froome as the Briton attempts to win a third consecutive title and fourth in total.
“Wearing the yellow jersey was a special feeling, to walk off the bus in it and start the stage,” he beamed.
“The weather wasn’t great but having the morale from the jersey helped but, as ever at the Tour, it was a stressful day. You can’t take anything for granted. As we saw with the crash, anything can happen.”
Fortunately, the rain abated soon after the pile-up and the road had dried before the riders entered Liege with the sprinters’ teams setting the pace to catch the final two riders of a four-man breakaway, American Taylor Phinney (Cannondale Drapac) and Frenchman Yann Offredo (Wanty Gobert) with just 1.1km remaining.
Germany’s Marcel Kittel won the sprint ahead of France’s Arnaud Demare and German powerhouse Andre Greipel with Briton Mark Cavendish fourth.
Thomas had on Saturday become the first Welshman to win a stage and lead the Tour when he powered to victory in the time trial.
The 31-year-old beat Switzerland’s Stefan Kung (BMC Racing) by five seconds and Team Sky team-mate Vasil Kiryienka by seven.
He is the eighth Briton to wear the yellow jersey after Tom Simpson, Chris Boardman, Sean Yates, David Millar, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Froome and Cavendish.
The victory was extra sweet for Thomas, who was given the chance to lead Sky in the first Grand Tour of the year but saw his dream of winning the Giro d’Italia end in a freak crash caused by a police motorbike at the end of the first week.
“The Giro was a massive disappointment and in the Tirreno-Adriatico we had our fair share of bad luck to be honest, so it’s nice not to have any bad luck,” he said.
“Almost immediately after leaving the Giro I set the goal to come here and do the best job I could. If I didn’t do that I would be three or four kilos heavier now and going pretty slow. I still can’t quite believe it. It makes up for that disappointment.”
While Thomas and Sky celebrated his stunning succes, others were left to lick their wounds, many quite literally, after being victims of the greasy conditions.
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and fellow Spanish star Jon Izaguirre Jon Izaguirre crashed out. Valverde fractured a kneecap and an ankle, as well as suffering deep cuts and had a three-hour operation in hospital to repair the damage. He is unlikely to race again this year.
Bahrain-Merida leader Izaguirre suffered a lumbar fracture of the lower spine and also had surgery. Stage 2 result, 203.5km Dusseldorf to Liege: 1, Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 4hr 37min 6sec; 2, Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ same time; 3, André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal st; 4, Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data st. Overall standings: 1, Geraint Thomas (Wales) Team Sky 4hr 53min 10sec; 2, Stefan Keung (Switzerland) BMC Racing at 5sec; 3, Kittel at 6sec.