After the torrid build-up they had experienced, with Chris Froome’s salbutamol case drawing to an abrupt and controversial close on Monday, Team Sky would have been hoping for a nice, quiet start to this Tour de France. No such luck. A chaotic finale after 190km of mostly uneventful racing caught out a number of riders, including Froome who was squeezed off the road and into a field with just under 6km of the stage remaining, going down heavily on his right hand side. Replays appeared to suggest he got a slight nudge from Katusha-Alpecin rider Rick Zabel. But either way, the upshot was that Froome was unable to catch back up, and ended up losing 51 seconds to quite a few of his general classification rivals. It’s going to be a long three weeks at this rate. The good news – at least, for those who are happy to see Froome in this race, which to judge from some of the banners at the start is not everyone – is that the Briton was unhurt in the crash. "Thankfully I’m ok. I feel fine," said the 33 year-old who had predicted in the build-up that the first nine days of this Tour would be “brutal”. "There were a lot of crashes out there today but it’s just one of those things. The next few days are going to be tricky and sketchy and that’s part of the game unfortunately.<doc-sep>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 Froome, a 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. Froome, though, is getting used to such mishaps and challenges — whether that means recovering from crashes or clearing his name of doping. “I saw a lot of crashes out there today,” said Froome, who went down with about three miles to go as the sprinters’ teams jockeyed for position. “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.”<doc-sep>Chris Froome’s problems multiplied in the Vendée on Saturday when he tumbled into a field during the climactic moments of the opening stage. Froome may have negotiated his way through the hostile buildup to his participation but once the racing started he could not stay upright on the fast run-in to Fontenay-le-Comte. In a frenzied finale to the opening stage when the peloton fought for space on narrow roads, the defending champion edged too close to the verge, lost control and fell heavily on his right side, starting yet another Grand Tour with a fall, as was also the case in May’s Giro d’Italia. Froome, the right side of his white jersey shredded, chased hard to catch the field but, along with his fellow Briton Adam Yates and Australia’s Richie Porte, lost just over a minute to the stage winner, Fernando Gaviria, and 51 seconds to other contenders, including his teammate Geraint Thomas, the 2017 runner-up, Rigoberto Urán, and the 2014 Tour champion, Vincenzo Nibali. “I’m just grateful I’m not injured,” Froome said. “There were a lot of crashes out there but that’s part of the game unfortunately.” Froome said much the same after his heavy crash in Jerusalem at the start of this year’s Giro, which he went on to win, but with Monday’s crucial team time trial and the following weekend’s cobbled stage to Roubaix looming on the horizon, it is a less than ideal start to his Tour. In 2014, Froome crashed in the opening week and started the cobbled stage hampered by broken bones in both hands. In driving rain, he was forced to abandon the race even before reaching the dreaded cobbled roads of what is known as the Hell of the North. Worse for Team Sky, his climbing teammate Egan Bernal also fell victim to a crash in the last 10km of racing, that left him cut adrift from the main field. Bernal’s fellow Colombian Nairo Quintana also had a torrid time, breaking both his wheels and being left to fend for himself by his all-star Movistar team. With his team car nowhere to be seen, Quintana’s wheel changes took an age and cost him well over a minute to the co-leaders, Mikel Landa and Alejandro Valverde, who survived the chaos to finish with the front group. After one stage, Quintana’s hopes of overall victory look to be receding. Ahead, a select group of the peloton’s best sprinters fought for the stage win with the Tour debutant Gaviria, of the Quickstep team, taking Colombia’s first sprint stage win from Peter Sagan. Mark Cavendish, chasing Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 Tour stage wins, was out of contention, having lost position inside the final 5km. “There’s probably 10 teams that want to be in the front,” said Cavendish’s key lead-out man Mark Renshaw. “There’s only 10 spots in the front so there’s only 10 riders who can be there. We just missed the position today.” Fernando Gaviria celebrates as he crosses the finish line. Photograph: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images After a week dominated by the polemics surrounding Froome, the first stage rolled away from the Ile de Noirmoutier in a tense atmosphere. Although Froome was cheered by some, he was cat-called by others who yelled “doper, doper” while some fans held placards saying “Cheater Go Home” and “Froome=Armstrong”. Even before the race began, rider security and the hostility directed towards Froome had become a pressing issue. But Froome’s sports director, Nicolas Portal, insisted that neither his team leader nor his team would change their strategy or tactics because of intimidation. “I am never going to ask Chris ‘please stay in the bunch’, because it is too dangerous, especially if it is a moment for him to win the Tour,” Portal said. “That is why we have to have a constructive relationship with the UCI and race organiser, so we can avoid this kind of situation.” But the focus of attention has now moved from Froome’s salbutamol levels to the credibility of Wada’s testing procedures, with the UCI president, David Lappartient, among those to call for a review by Wada. Sign up to The Recap, our weekly email of editors’ picks “The test doesn’t seem to be strong enough, to be honest, and I think that Wada will have to review it,” Lappartient told the Observer. “But I fully understand the feelings from the fans. “Froome was guilty for some of them, so they think it’s the fault of the UCI. But that’s not the reality at all, because the Froome case does not constitute an anti-doping rule violation.” Lappartient denied he was the source of the original leak, as some within the Tour convoy have suggested. “There is no truth in that, but I know who said that and I know who has an advantage in saying that,” the Frenchman said. “The reality is that it didn’t come from me or from the UCI. What could be the advantage for me to have a big crisis like this?”<doc-sep>
See more What looked like a fairly run-of-the-mill flat Tour de France stage was turned on its head in the final 10km with numerous crashes and defending champion Chris Froome one of those to hit the deck. Froome's crash was barely picked up television cameras, but was captured in full details by a handlebar-mounted camera mounted on the bike of Lotto-Soudal rider Jasper De Busyt. De Buyst was riding directly behind Froome as he rode along the right-hand side of the road with five kilometres of the road, before the road unexpectedly turned left. >>> Chris Froome uninjured after crashing and losing time in 'bonkers' final 20km of Tour de France stage one Unfortunately for Froome, as the road swung left the peloton moved right, and the Brit found himself with nowhere to go as he brushed shoulders with Katusha-Alpecin rider Rick Zabel. From there Froome had no option but to crash into the ditch, and was actually quite lucky to avoid a bollard on the outside of the bend. The footage shows Froome falling over the handlebars and onto his right side into the ditch before De Buyst, who managed to stay upright, calls his name to check he is unharmed. Froome is then quickly back onto his feet and remounting his bike, finding himself struggling to get up to speed in the middle of the road as a group of chasing riders fan around him at high speed. >>> Five talking points from stage one of the Tour de France Thankfully Froome only suffered a few scrapes and bruises in the crash, but did concede 51 seconds to the front of the race, coming home in a group that also included Richie Porte and Adam Yates who were caught behind an earlier crash. Having suffered only minor injuries, Froome will be well enough to start Sunday's second stage from Mouilleron-Saint-Germain to La Roche-sur-Yon, before the crucial team time trial around Cholet on Monday.