FROOME TO FIGHT THROUGH 'HELL' RIDE
The Tour de France is heading to 'hell' on Wednesday, and Chris Froome is going to feel the pain more than most.
Wednesday's stage five, the 155.5km route from Ypres to Arenberg Porte du Hinaut, features nine cobbled sections totalling more than 15km, explaining why the Paris-Roubaix race along these roads is known as the Hell of the North.
And for Froome, who will be feeling sore after a bruising fall on Tuesday, every bump is only going to hurt even more.
"The wrist is painful and it's certainly not ideal going into Wednesday's cobbled stage - but I have a great team around me and we'll get through the next few days as best we can," Froome said.
After coming through three days in Britain unscathed, the defending champion tumbled to the tarmac almost as soon as the Tour hit France, going down early on Tuesday after a touch of wheels in the peloton.
He got up quickly but needed treatment along the way to Lille, where Giant-Shimano's Marcel Kittel took a third stage win out of four.
Froome, who also fell on his left side during June's Criterium du Dauphine, was sent for a precautionary X-ray after his wrist bore the brunt of the fall, but Team Sky announced late on Tuesday that the 29-year-old was okay to continue.
"I took a bit of a knock but I'm happy to make it through the day and get to the finish line without losing any time to my main competitors," Froome said.
"The bumps and scrapes are fine but I fell heavily on my wrist so I needed to get it checked out by the doctors. I'm really pleased that I've been cleared to race and I'm looking forward to getting back on the bike."
Froome may not have lost time, but he dropped back from fifth to seventh in the overall rankings, behind Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).
Froome finished 42nd on the stage, while Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) was 24th to retain the race leader's yellow jersey.
The Team Sky leader's wobble could be significant over the cobbles, where punctures are common, as his team support car will be delayed in reaching him.
The forecast wet weather will make the cobbled stage even trickier for the peloton as the Tour commemorates 100 years since the start of World War One.
"I will cross my fingers for tomorrow - it will be a really difficult day," said Contador. "The weather forecast is very bad. Already without bad weather it will be a complicated stage but with rain it will be like ice-skating with bikes.
"We will have winds of about 30 km/h, which might cut the peloton into pieces even before the cobblestones. But we are concentrated and we'll ride the sections together as a team."
