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SPORTS Monday 16 July 2018
Degenkolb masters cobblestones as Porte crashes out of Tour

By ANDREW DAMPF Paris-Roubaix this year and
ROUBAIX, France (AP) — injured his knee.
Richie Porte sat on the "You start doubting if you
pavement grasping his can still do it," Degenkolb
right shoulder and grimac- said. "That is the hardest
ing in pain. A fan helped part to don't lose the trust
Chris Froome get going af- in yourself and that you
ter he tumbled onto grass can still be up there. I am
lining the road. Romain Bar- so happy that my wife and
det recovered from three my family gave me the
punctured tires. strength to do this to give
And they were only the it 100 percent and work
highest-profile riders to hard. It is amazing."
face mishaps in the action- Degenkolb became the
packed cobblestoned third rider to win both Par-
Stage 9 of the Tour de is-Roubaix and a cobbled
France on Sunday. stage at the Tour after Rog-
Every cyclist who reached er De Vlaeminck and Ber-
the finish was covered in nard Hinault. His average
dust — many with their jer- speed over the stage was
seys torn to shreds from 45.9 kph overall and 39.8
crashes. kph on the cobbles.
Spanish rider Gorka Iza- The route starting in Ar-
guirre had the unusual ex- ras contained the highest
perience of his rear wheel number of cobblestone
buckling to the point that sections since the 1980
it looked like something out Tour, with nearly 22 kilome-
of a scrap heap. ters altogether.
John Degenkolb won a While it wasn't rainy and
three-man sprint to take muddy like in April for the
victory in a memorable Paris-Roubaix race, the
stage, while overall con- heat and sun made it dry
tender Porte crashed out and dusty.
of the race. Others who crashed includ-
Yellow-jersey holder Greg ed: Dylan Groenewegen,
Van Avermaet crossed the Dutch rider who won
second and increased his the previous two stages;
overall lead to 43 seconds Froome's Sky teammates
ahead of Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal and Michal
a teammate of Froome's Kwiatkowski; American
at Sky. Yves Lampaert of hope Tejay van Garderen
Quick-Step finished third. and Italian sprinter Sonny
"It was a pretty hectic day," Germany's John Degenkolb celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the ninth stage of the Colbrelli.
Van Avermaet said after Tour de France cycling race in Roubaix, France, Sunday, July 15, 2018. After the first rest day Mon-
the dust settled. Associated Press day, the Tour resumes in
Added Thomas, "It was just the Alps on Tuesday with
hard all day from kilome- leader, crashed out of the the last two years, finished of a serious training acci- a 158.5-kilometer (98.5-
ter zero. You've got to be Tour 10 kilometers into the only seven seconds behind dent in January 2016 when mile) leg from Annecy to Le
in the right position but you 156.5-kilometer (97-mile) the main pack despite hav- a car drove into oncoming Grand-Bornand featuring
also need the luck because leg — before any of the 15 ing to be paced back to traffic. Then he crashed in four serious climbs.q
it's easy to puncture or get cobblestone sections. He the peloton three times.
caught up in something." was later diagnosed with a Among the favorites in the
Froome, the four-time fractured right clavicle. overall standings apart
champion, crossed in the Porte also crashed out of from Froome: Alejandro
main pack, 27 seconds be- last year's Tour in the ninth Valverde is fifth (1:31 be-
hind, overcoming a crash stage, on a mountain de- hind); Rafal Majka sixth
with 45 kilometers (28 miles) scent. (1:32); Jakob Fuglsang sev-
to go that saw him go over "It won't be easy for him enth (1:33); Adam Yates
the top of teammate Gi- to get back in his mind," ninth (1:42); Landa 10th
anni Moscon. teammate Van Avermaet (1:42); Vincenzo Nibali 12th
"I'm relieved to get through said. "The good thing is that (1:48); Tom Dumoulin 15th
today and looking forward his crash is not as bad as (2:03); and Bardet 17th
to getting into the moun- last year so he will recover (2:32).
tains now where the real faster." It was the first career vic-
race for GC (general clas- Rigoberto Uran, last year's tory at the Tour for Degen-
sification) will start," Froome runner-up, and Mikel Lan- kolb, who rides for the Trek-
said. da, one of three leaders Segafredo team. The Ger-
Froome moved up to of the Movistar team, also man rider won the Paris-
eighth overall, 1:42 behind each crashed and lost Roubaix single-day classic,
Van Avermaet, who is not a time. which covers much of the
threat in the mountains. Bardet, the French hope same course, in 2015.
Porte, the BMC team who finished on the podium Degenkolb was the victim