Shaky day for riders

ROUBAIX, France — Richie Porte sat on the pavement grasping his right shoulder and grimacing in pain. A fan helped Chris Froome get going after he tumbled onto grass lining the road. Romain Bardet recovered from three punctured tires.

They were only the highest-profile cyclists to face mishaps Sunday in the actionpacked cobblestoned ninth of the Tour de France. Every cyclist who reached the finish line was covered in dust — many with their jerseys torn to shreds from crashes.

John Degenkolb won a threeman sprint to take the victory in a memorable stage, while Porte, an overall contender, crashed out of the race for the second straight year.

Race leader Greg Van Avermaet crossed second and increased his overall lead to 43 seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas, a teammate of Froome’s, and Yves Lampaert was third.

“It was a pretty hectic day,” Van Avermaet said after the dust settled.

Added Thomas: “It was just hard all day from kilometer zero. You’ve got to be in the right position, but you also need the luck, because it’s easy to puncture or get caught up in something.”

Froome, the four-time Tour champion, crossed in the main pack, 27 seconds behind, overcoming a crash with 28 miles to go in which he went over the top of teammate Gianni Moscon.

Froome moved up to eighth overall, 1:42 behind Van Avermaet, who is not a threat in the looming mountains.

Porte, the BMC team leader, crashed six miles into the 97-mile leg — before any of the 15 cobblestone sections — and later was diagnosed with a fractured right clavicle.