FALL GUY FROOME!

Fans give Brit a hard time before he tumbles

That’s Le Tour in a nutshell. One minute the champion is cruising, the next he’s carrying his bike out of a field.

Froome said: “I’m OK – we saw a lot of crashes out there, but we knew the first few days were going to be tricky, a bit sketchy, and that’s part of bike racing.

“We were up near the front of the peloton so there’s not much more the guys could have done – it was just a bit chaotic with some of the sprint teams up there.

Relief

“I’m just grateful I’m not injured in any way and there’s a lot of ground to cover between here and Paris.”

Froome’s relief at remaining in one piece was tempered by some of his rivals for the general classification – Tom Dumoulin, Mikel Landa, Vincenzo Nibali, Romain Bardet and Rigoberto Uran – finishing in the main group, 61 seconds ahead of him.

But Richie Porte was held up by Froome’s crash and clocked the same time, while Nairo Quintana punctured two miles from home and lost a further 24 seconds on the GC contenders.

Froome’s loyal Team Sky wingman, Geraint Thomas, was safely among the leading group, however, and the double Olympic champion said: “The first 180km were fine, but the last 20km was a bit bonkers.

“I didn’t even know Froomey had crashed until I heard it on the radio a few seconds later. I think he just got really unlucky and got hit off the road on a corner.

“It’s not ideal, but it’s not the end of the world – Froomey was with Richie, and Quintana finished behind him, and arguably those two are going to be his closest rivals.”

Froome’s charm offensive to win over a sceptical French public had suffered an early banner in the works. Booed at the pre-race parade of teams in La Roche-suryon on Thursday, he was greeted