Thomas scarred by his run of luck

GERAINT THOMAS reached for the scars after surviving his third spill on the Tour de France and admitted the crashes seem to come looking for him.

Britain’s defending champion rolled home safely enough, still 1min 35secs behind leader Julian Alaphilippe and second overall, in the blast furnace heat of Nimes.

But as temperatures topped 37C, Thomas was baffled by his “freak” visit to the tarmac about 31 miles into stage 16 when his gears jammed on a right-hand corner.

Thomas was left with a grazed shoulder, a bonus helping of gravel rash and marvelling at his gift for attracting misfortune.

Fortunately for the Prince of Wheels, like his tumble on the Grand Depart in Brussels and the collision with teammate Gianni Moscon, which snapped the Italian’s bike in two on the run-in towards St Etienne 11 days ago, it was not costly.

But after his crash on the warm-up Tour of Switzerland, the Team Ineos leader has now tasted asphalt sandwiches in four of his past 20 competitive rides.

He said: “I just took off an old scar, so it was new skin bleeding. I just had one hand on the bars when the gears jumped and jammed and I got thrown off my bike on a corner.

“I knew the race wasn’t on so I just got back into the group but it’s frustrating. It was such a freak thing.”

Asked if he sometimes feels like crashes come looking for him, Thomas replied: “Yeah, it feels like that.”

As Australian Caleb Ewan claimed his second stage win of the race in a sprint finish, Denmark’s Jakob Fuglsang – who had come into the Tour as the peloton’s form horse after an outstanding season – was not so lucky. He crashed 20 miles from the finish, climbed into an ambulance and abandoned the race, having been placed ninth in the General Classification.