photo credits @ Le Tour
Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas took victory in the 2017 Tour de France stage 1 prologue and the yellow jersey as La Grande Boucle got under way in Düsseldorf, Germany, as Chris Froome took 35 seconds on his rivals, Richie Porte and Nairo Quintana.
The stage belonged to Team Sky who had four riders in the top 10, with Vasili Kiryienka, third, defending Tour de France winner Chris Froome, sixth and Michał Kwiatkowski, eighth.
Rain hammered down as the early riders took to the 14 kilometer course, with Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto) and Nicolas Roche (BMC) both hitting the floor in the wet conditions, with Roche falling over a minute down on Thomas.
Matteo Trentin (Quickstep) set the fastest time of the early starters, with more than half the riders having finished, before Team Sky’s Vasili Kiryienka eclipsed him by three seconds.
On the road the difficulties continue, with Lotto’s George Bennett were among those who crashed as Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas went fastest, finishing the stage ahead of Stefan Kung and Kiryienka.
Home favorite Tony Martin was fourth, ahead of Trentin and Froome, with tour contenders Richie Porte finishing 47 seconds down on Thomas, with Quintana a further second back.
Movistar suffered a further blow with Alejandro Valverde crashing out of the race and taken to hospital, while Team Bahrain Merida’s Ion Izagirre also abandoning the race.
Top 25 Finishers
Stage 1 Results GBR 1 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) 16:04 SUI 2 KÜNG, Stefan (BMC RACING) + 5 BLR 3 KIRYIENKA, Vasil (SKY) + 7 GER 4 MARTIN, Tony (KATUSHA ALPECIN) + 8 ITA 5 TRENTIN, Matteo (QUICK – STEP FLOORS) + 10 GBR 6 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) + 12 NED 7 VAN EMDEN, Jos (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) + 15 POL 8 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (SKY) GER 9 KITTEL, Marcel (QUICK – STEP FLOORS) + 16 NOR 10 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald (DIMENSION DATA) GER 11 ARNDT, Nikias (SUNWEB) USA 12 PHINNEY, Taylor (CANNONDALE DRAPAC) + 17 UKR 13 GRIVKO, Andrey (ASTANA) RSA 14 IMPEY, Daryl (ORICA – SCOTT) + 19 ESP 15 CASTROVIEJO, Jonathan (MOVISTAR) + 20 AUS 16 MATTHEWS, Michael (SUNWEB) FRA 17 LATOUR, Pierre Roger (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 25 SVK 18 SAGAN, Peter (BORA – HANSGROHE) CRC 19 AMADOR BIKKAZAKOVA, Andrey (MOVISTAR) + 27 KAZ 20 LUTSENKO, Alexey (ASTANA) + 29 BEL 21 GILBERT, Philippe (QUICK – STEP FLOORS) + 30 NED 22 GESINK, Robert (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) + 31 ITA 23 COLBRELLI, Sonny (BAHRAIN – MERIDA) + 32 BEL 24 WELLENS, Tim (LOTTO SOUDAL) POL 25 BODNAR, Maciej (BORA – HANSGROHE) + 33
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