Cycling-Froome and Contador back in control on Tour

We died. It’s disappointing, Tony’s [Martin] disappointed. “I’ve gassed it. I could get a job as a lead-out man for those three guys”.

Chris Froome was content after an opening stage of the Tour de France where an Australian overhauled an Englishman’s record at the start of an Ashes summer.

Cavendish is out of contract with Etixx-QuickStep at the end of the year and the Tour could be pivotal in determining what the future holds.

“That was my plan, it went that way but it took a while for me to be 100 percent happy with that decision”.

Cavendish has won the points classification’s green jersey once – in 2011 – despite his phenomenal tally of stage wins. Problem is, social media & TV are platforms for them to be heard.

“If I could hang on for 3rd, I could hang on for the win”, he wrote. “Some imbeciles think cycling is a computer game”, he fumed.

But he was caught behind when the peloton split up due to crashes and as he was alongside reigning champion Vincenzo Nibali at that time, he put his BMC team leader Tejay Van Garderen’s interests before his own and waved goodbye to the jersey.

Froome (Team Sky) was seven seconds behind Nibali, clocking 15mins 46secs to place 39th, as the four main contenders for the maillot jaune in Paris on July 26 were separated by 18 seconds. They are back this year, and Fabian Cancellara made the majority on Sunday to erase the disappointment of his opening time trial.

Never been one to mince his words, Cavendish let everybody know just what he thought of their criticism on Twitter afterwards.

“We’re two days down now and I couldn’t have hoped for much more at this stage”.

The 34-year-old Cancellara, who first wore the Tour yellow jersey in 2004, is riding in his last Tour.

Such hard, treacherous racing conditions are typical of Thomas and Stannard’s favoured hunting ground, the spring one-day Classics of northern Europe, and allowed them to protect their leader perfectly during the fraught, high-speed, 90-minute breakaway. He abandoned after several crashes before he’d even reached the much-feared cobbles on the French-Belgian border in Stage 5.

The Tour swings into nearby Belgium on Monday.

Cancellara was able to get back on his bike and returned to the peloton but Bonnet pulled out of the race alongside Dutch time trial specialist Tom Dumoulin, who was also injured and received treatment in an ambulance. “I feel that I couldnt handle the heat, especially in the second half where I felt weaker.”.

Cancellara added that an encouraging text message from sports director Josu Larrazabal he received on Saturday night lifted his morale.

“I think we can really be proud of this performance. Nibali is with me.’ It was the best thing for the team”. This was maybe the key I needed to open the door. “I will try, knowing that it’s going to be a long way to the finish”.

Their rivalry resumes Saturday, when the Tour gets under way with a short and sharp 8.6-mile individual time trial in the cycling-mad Dutch city of Utrecht.

Spectators cheer as the pack passes a yellow-colored bridge on the outskirts of Utrecht during the s …