Bennett hits the skids in Tour

New Zealand rider George Bennett took a spill on the opening stage of the Tour de France.

Riding for Team LottoNL-Jumbo, Bennett slid off his bike on the wet streets of Dusseldorf, Germany, during the opening-stage 14km time trial yesterday, but still finished the stage.

Bennett was going around a corner and hit a wet patch and came off his bike.

‘‘Well, not our best start with 3 of us lotto boys on the deck. It was slipperier than Bill English out there. 20 days to go,’’ Bennett Tweeted after the stage.

Bennett was 162nd, 1 minute 37 seconds behind leader Geraint Thomas, who won his first Tour de France stage and took the yellow jersey, giving his Team Sky a good start to the tour.

Thomas completed the time trial in 16 minutes 4 seconds, to win by five seconds from BMC Racing’s Stefan Kung.

Jack Bauer (Quick-Step Floors) was the best of the Kiwi riders on day one, in 56th place and 49 seconds off the pace.

Dion Smith, riding for WantyGroupe Gobert, was 178th, 1 minute 47 seconds behind the leader.

Patrick Bevin (Cannondale-Drapac) was 182nd, 1 minute 48 seconds behind Thomas.

Stefan Kueng of BMC finished second in the stage, five seconds behind, and Vasil Kiryienka of Sky was third, seven seconds back.

Defending champion Chris Froome was sixth, 12 seconds behind teammate Thomas, and gained time on all of his expected challengers. He gained 35 and 36 seconds on Richie Porte and Nairo Quintana, respectively.