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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Bakelants grabs early lead

Belgian wins Stage Two race at Tour de France

Associated Press

AJACCIO, Corsica — Behind Jan Bakelants, the Belgian who rode with guts and guile to win Stage Two at the Tour de France, there were other smaller but no less impressive victories Sunday, that don’t get so widely noticed – by the race’s riding wounded.

In other circumstances, logic would prescribe rest, recovery and TLC for the likes of Geraint Thomas, who was among the more badly beaten up of the dozen or so riders who slammed into the tarmac in a vicious high-speed pileup a day earlier in the frenetic end of Stage One.

But the moving circus that is the Tour waits for no man, even those with deep cuts, evil bruises or, like Thomas, teeth-grinding pain in his left hip that made it difficult for him to walk, let alone hold his place in the world’s toughest bike race.

So a whopping 17 minutes and 35 seconds after Bakelants gave the chasing pack the slip and got the stage win that, for now at least, also secured him the race leader’s yellow jersey, Thomas hauled himself across the finish.

“It feels a bit like a win in itself,” said the 27-year-old Welshman who rides for Sky, the team of Chris Froome, this year’s favorite.

At 97 miles, the stage from the east to the west coast of Corsica, from Bastia to Ajaccio, both of them ports, was one of the shortest of this 100th Tour. But for Thomas, it felt “like an eternity.”

Bakelants got to celebrate on the podium and share his joy.

“It’s fantastic,” the RadioShack team rider said.