Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/844299
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 JULY 2017 51 Sport SPORTTODAY TOUR DE FRANCE REIGNING champion Chris Froome wast- ed no time flexing his muscles at the Tour de France as he powered to sixth place in a treacherous opening time trial won superbly by Team Sky colleague Geraint Thomas yes- terday. Heavy rain turned what, on paper, had looked like a regulation 14-km circuit along- side the Rhine river into an incident-packed Grand Depart that could have major conse- quences in the three-week battle for the yel- low jersey. While it was a great start for Team Sky, with Thomas, three-times champion Froome and Vasil Kiryienka all in the top six of the 198 riders to start, Movistar's Ale- jandro Valverde's Tour is already over after a sickening crash. Several riders continued after crashing on the greasy roads but there was no getting up for Valverde, third overall in 2015, after he careered into crowd barriers after skidding off before being taken to hospital with leg injuries. It was heart-breaking for Valverde and also a huge blow for team mate Nairo Quintana who was counting on Valverde's experience in the mountain stages to come. Welshman Thomas, riding his eighth Tour, looked completely at home in the puddles as he became the eighth Briton to wear the yellow jersey -- making up for the disappointment of crashing out of the Giro d'Italia as team leader. He displayed brilliant bike-handling to cross the finish line at the huge Messe Dues- seldorf exhibition complex in 16 minutes 04 seconds. He was five seconds ahead of BMC's Swiss rider Stefan Kueng, who was two seconds ahead of Kiryienka in third. Froome, the last rider out, was 12 sec- onds slower than Thomas, but significantly quicker than all his main General Classifica- tion (GC) rivals. Quintana was 48 seconds slower than Thomas with Australian Richie Porte one second quicker than the Colombian. French GC hopefuls Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet were 50 and 51 seconds off the pace with Spain's Alberto Contador 54 down. Thomas said it had been a great day for Welsh sport after Sam Warburton captained the British and Irish Lions to victory over rugby giants the New Zealand All Blacks. "That inspired me to be honest," he said. "I didn't believe I would hang on, felt sure Tony (Martin) or someone would beat my time. This is amazing for me after what happened at the Giro and massive for the team. The jersey is a huge bonus." Hopes that Martin would mark the first German Grand Depart since Berlin in 1987 with a home win were washed away as he could only manage fourth quickest. While Porte will be concerned to be trail- ing Froome before the Tour really starts for real, he said at least he had not suffered the same fate as Valverde. "It wasn't a day to take risks," Froome's former team mate said. "It was just a mat- ter of keeping it rubber side down. I saw my team mate (Nicolas Roche) bin it and I was petrified to be honest. It was such a slippery course." Thomas wins Tour opener as Froome lays down early marker Team Sky rider Geraint Thomas of Britain wearing the leader's yellow jersey celebrates on the podium Team Sky's Chris Froome of Britain rides with teammates during a training. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier