Geraint Thomas of Team Sky is in the race leader’s yellow jersey as the 2017 Tour de France embarks on a first full road stage.
Chris Froome was sixth, 12 seconds behind, and gained time on all of his expected challengers. He gained 35 and 36 seconds on Richie Porte and Nairo Quintana, respectively.
The largely flat 203.5-kilometer Stage 2 Sunday from Duesseldorf, Germany, which hosted the short opening time trial, finishes in Liege, Belgium. The long finishing straight should lend itself to a high-
speed mass sprint.
The race has already lost Alejandro Valverde to a crash on Saturday.
Valverde, a podium finisher in 2015, crashed out of the Tour de France in the opening time trial on rain-slickened roads, dealing a blow to his teammate Nairo Quintana’s hopes of winning the race.
Quintana had been counting on Valverde, a Tour veteran, to help him overthrow defending champion Chris Froome of Team Sky.
But the Movistar rider’s wheels slid from under him on a left-hand bend on the course in Duesseldorf on Saturday, sending him sliding hard into metal barriers.
The Tour announced on its website that Valverde was out of the race and had been taken away in an ambulance. MDT/AP
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