“All our ambulances and medical vehicles were mobilized at the back of the race because of the crashes”.
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The 30-year-old Briton was second on Monday’s 159.5km third stage from Antwerp to the Mur de Huy in Belgium.
The incident took place with William Bonnet (FDJ) appeared to clip the wheel of a rider in front of him while travelling at around 50kmh.
Race leader Fabian Cancellara saw his hopes of clinging onto the yellow jersey disappear after he was caught up in the melée, and Laurens Ten Dam (LottoNL-Jumbo) dislocated his shoulder but bravely carried on to finish the stage.
Froome, however, earned six extra seconds with his second finish and took over the yellow jersey by just one second from German Tony Martin of Etixx-Quick Step. I won Fleche-Wallonne here and so know the Mur well.
The race restarted behind the Tour director’s vehicle on the first categorised climb of this year’s race, the category-four Cote de Bohissau, with 53 kilometres left to ride. “I may look calm on the outside, but I assure you I’m not. A huge thank you to my teammates today”, Froome said.
With the exception of Van Garderen – the American rider is four seconds ahead of Froome in eighth overall – none of the others in the top 10 is a threat for the Tour victory.
In ferocious winds and thunderous rain, Chris Froome and Alberto Contador managed to use the conditions to their advantage on the second stage of the Tour de France.
More importantly, he gained valuable seconds over his main rivals in the general classification – Contador, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar). It all begs for a high-speed crash, which can sometimes end with terrible fates.
This year’s Tour de France “is over broke a few bones on my back again as in spring”, he said referring to back injuries he suffered at the E3 Harelbeke race in Belgium in March.
Cancellara was able to continue despite feeling “groggy”, as reported by Alain Gallopin, who is a sports director for Cancellara’s Trek Factory Racing team. He was one of the many injured, and video shows him flying over his handlebars as the accident played out.
“I wasn’t sure that I could win but I realised that I had a chance and I accelerated and it felt as if it was the longest ever time I’ve spent going up the Mur de Huey”, he said.
“We have had a lot of crashes and injuries since the start of the season, and we finally had a great 24 hours but now it’s back to bad luck”.
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At the same time, spring classic specialist will see this day as their big chance to get a win and will make their own squads work in order to secure a good position before the peloton hits the wall.
