British rider Chris Froome took the Tour de France leader’s yellow jersey after finishing second behind Spanish veteran Joacquim Rodriguez in Monday’s crash-marred third stage, as a second straight day of chaos caused about 20 riders to fall and several to quit.
The 2013 Tour winner Froome almost caught Rodriguez near the top of the day’s final climb, but the Spaniard held on for his second career Tour stage win five years after his first.
“I didn’t expect to be in yellow this early on. Couldn’t be a better feeling,” said Froome, whose title defense ended when he crashed early in last year’s race. “I may look calm on the outside, but I assure you I’m not.
Photo: AFP
He led German rider Tony Martin — who is not considered a threat for overall victory — by just one second and is 13 seconds ahead of US rider Tejay van Garderen, who is shaping up as a dangerous outsider.
More importantly, Froome’s touted main rivals are lagging.
Froome is now 36 seconds clear of two-time champion Alberto Contador of Spain, 1 minute, 38 seconds ahead of defending champion Vincenzo Nibali of Italy and 1 minute, 56 seconds ahead of Nairo Quintana of Colombia, the Tour runner-up two years ago.
“I’d rather be in this position that I’m in now rather than having to make up time,” said Froome, who took the race leader’s jersey from Swiss veteran Fabian Cancellara. “I just hope to get through these next few days without any major issues.”
Froome’s relief was understandable, given how heavy the crash behind him was. It happened with a little less than 60km remaining, forcing the stage to be neutralized and then stopped altogether for nearly 20 minutes.
With the race moving from neighboring Netherlands into Belgium, stage 3 was 159.5km from Antwerp to Huy. It featured four short and sharp climbs, but the crash took place shortly before climb No. 1 when Frenchman William Bonnet’s wobbling bike slid forward and down.
Racing at tremendous speed, it was impossible for those behind to either slow down or get out of the way, and one after the other they went up, down, or sideways in a bewildering flash of colors, bobbing helmets and spinning wheels.
The end result was a tangled mess of bikes, spewed in all directions. Some riders lay on their backs in the grass and others were curled up in agony on the hot tarmac.
As the pack up ahead waited, riders started coming back: cuts and bruises decorating their backs and legs. Cancellara grimaced in pain, Australian Michael Matthews looked to be in tears and it was hard to see which team Johan van Summeren was riding for given how shredded his shirt was.
The stage restarted for good with about 50km remaining, but it almost seemed like a training ride as no rider wanted to speed up.
Finally, about a dozen riders surged ahead.
Exhausted, the others let them go.
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