TOUR DE FRANCE FLYING DUTCHMAN
DUTCHMAN Mike Teunissen was meant to be helping a team-mate take the yellow jersey but ended up slipping it on himself after winning a thrilling bunch sprint at the end of stage one of the Tour de France yesterday.
With a crash involving 2018 Tour champion Geraint Thomas causing mayhem 1.7km from the end of the 194km opening stage, Team Jumbo Visna rider Teunissen seized his chance for glory.
A lung-busting bunch sprint ended with Teunissen holding off sprint specialists Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-soudal) to become the first Dutchman to wear the yellow jersey for 30 years. Thomas went down along with other riders while his Team Ineos co-leader Egan Bernal was held up in the aftermath.
Because the race was inside the last 3km, however, they lost no time and Thomas, whose preparations were hampered by a crash at the
Tour de Suisse, was okay. “I’m fine. I gave myself enough space and avoided the actual crash,” the Briton said. “The main thing is that it didn’t do any damage – the bike took the hit and I just toppled over!”
The same could not be said of Astana’s Jakob Fuglsang, one of the big threats to Thomas, after he crashed 17km from the finish, his glasses cutting his eyebrow with blood trickling down his face.
Initially it looked as though the 34-year-old Dane might lose touch but his team-mates helped him recover and he worked his way back to finish safely in the peloton although he went straight to the medical area afterwards.
A relatively uneventful 194km opener around the Wallonia and Flanders countryside exploded into life after the bunch reeled in an audacious late breakaway from French debutant Stephane Rossetto as the race re-entered Brussels.
Teams were jostling to get their sprinters in prime position to strike when the pile-up occurred, taking down Dylan Groenewegen, a prestage favourite. It left his lead-out man Teunissen without a job but he took matters into his own hands to claim the first yellow jersey of the 106th Tour de France.
“I can’t believe it, we’ve been working for months to bring Dylan to the victory and the jersey then he crashes,” Teunissen, 26, said. “Now I’m in yellow. It’s crazy.”