FONTENAY-LE-COMTE, France -- Down in a ditch, Chris Froome had to hoist himself and his bike back up to the road.
It was a startling scene when the Team Sky rider tumbled into a grassy field in the opening stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, immediately putting his pursuit of a record-tying fifth title in peril.
Stage 1 leaders
Saturday’s 124.9-mile flat ride from Noirmoutier-en-l’Ile to Fontenay-le-Comte:
1.Fernando Gaviria, Colombia, 4:23:32
2.Peter Sagan, Slovakia, same time
3.Marcel Kittel, Germany, same time
4.Alexander Kristoff, Norway, same time
5.Christophe Leporte, France, same time
6.D.Groenewegen, Netherlands, same time
7.Michael Matthews, Australia, same time
8.John Degenkolb, Germany, same time
9.Jakob Fuglsang, Denmark, same time
10.Rafal Majka, Poland, same time
ALSO
55.Tejay van Garderen, U.S., same time
56.Taylor Phinney, U.S., same time
91.Chris Froome, Britain, :51 behind
126.Chad Haga, U.S., 1:30
153.Ian Boswell, U.S., 2:44
176.Lawson Craddock, U.S., 7:50
Froome, though, is getting used to these sort of mishaps and challenges -- whether that means recovering from crashes or clearing his name of doping.
"I saw a lot of crashes out there today. It's just one of those things. We always knew the first few days were going to be tricky and going to be sketchy. It's part of the game unfortunately," said Froome, who went down with about 3 miles to go as the sprinters' teams jockeyed for position.
With grass stains on his right shoulder and blood trickling down his right arm from a gash on his elbow, Froome got back up and crossed 51 seconds behind Fernando Gaviria, the Colombian who claimed the race's first yellow jersey with a commanding sprint victory.
"I'm just grateful I'm not injured in any way and there's a lot of road to cover before Paris obviously," Froome said.
When fans at the finish were informed of Froome's crash, many cheered. Froome, who was cleared of doping in an asthma drug case on Monday, was also jeered at Thursday's team presentations.
Froome was fortunate he didn't do more damage by avoiding a post near where he fell while riding at more than 31 mph.
The Kenyan-born British rider also crashed on the opening day of the Giro d'Italia in May, while warming up for the Stage 1 time trial. But Froome eventually climbed back up the standings to win the Giro -- his third consecutive Grand Tour title.
Froome is now aiming to join Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as the only riders to win the Tour five times.
Fellow overall contenders Richie Porte and Adam Yates were also caught behind in the Froome group. And in what was expected to be a calm day for the favorites, two-time runner-up Nairo Quintana lost 1:10 when both of his tires were punctured.
The pre-race favorites who finished safely with the main pack included 2014 champion Vincenzo Nibali, Tom Dumoulin, Geraint Thomas, Mikel Landa, Alejandro Valverde and Dan Martin.
"It is a tricky finish and just the typical fight between sprinters and GC guys. Everyone wants to be on the front, especially ahead of the 3K marker," Sky sport director Nicolas Portal said. "It's the normal tension which is slightly higher than the other Grand Tours."
When overall or general classification contenders reach the 3K mark, they can relax because from there on in the results are neutralized in the case of crashes.
Gaviria, the Quick-Step rider making his Tour debut, easily beat world champion Peter Sagan and Marcel Kittel to the line.
"The yellow jersey is one that everyone dreams of wearing and to get it on the first day is amazing," Gaviria said.
Gaviria required 4 hours, 23 minutes to complete the mostly flat 125-mile stage from the island of Noirmoutier-en-l'Ile on the Atlantic coast to Fontenay-le-Comte.
Gaviria, 23, won four stages in last year's Giro d'Italia and is living up to his billing as the next big thing in sprinting.
Accounting for time bonuses in the overall standings, Froome trails Gaviria by 1:01 in 91st position.
Fans came out in large numbers for the 105th edition of cycling's biggest race, standing along nearly every stretch of the route and waving the red and white flags of the Vendee region.
Three French riders -- Kevin Ledanois, Jerome Cousin and Yoann Offredo -- attacked at the start flag and quickly established an advantage of more than a minute.
Cousin and Offredo, the last remnants of the breakaway, were caught by the main pack with just over 6 miles to go.
Lawson Craddock crashed in a feeding zone midway through the stage and the American continued with blood streaming down his face.
The Tour remains in the Vendee region for Stage 2 today, another flat leg of 113.4 miles from Mouilleron-Saint-Germain to the department capital of La Roche-sur-Yon.
The three-week Tour ends July 29 in Paris.
Sports on 07/08/2018