Reigning champion Vincenzo Nibali complained of “bad luck” after he lost almost a minute and a half to two of his main rivals for overall victory.
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The 30-year-old Sicilian was caught up in a crash around 50km from the end of the 166km second stage at a time when Etixx-Quick Step were driving the pace on the front of the peloton as heavy rain and crosswinds caused havoc.
Astana leader Nibali could not get back up to the lead group and lost 1min 28sec on Chris Froome and almost as much to two-time former winner Alberto Contador.
To compound matters he also suffered a puncture 25km from home but managed to fight his way back.
Colombian Nairo Quintana of the ‘fantastic four’ was also caught out and he remains 18sec behind Nibali.
Nairo Quintana and Vincenzo Nibali lose over a minute to Alberto Contador and Chris Froome having been caught out by the wind #tdf2015
— Cycling Weekly (@cyclingweekly) July 5, 2015
“We were following (the pace-setters) all day. I was behind (a crash) and I didn’t quite understand what was happening,” said Nibali. “I managed to stay on my bike but I lost some ground there and to compound matters I also punctured.
“It was a question of bad luck, not my legs. That’s cycling, you also have to accept these things.”
Quintana also blamed chance on his being caught out.
“With the rain and the crashes we had a bit of bad luck and we lost a bit of time, but we hope to get that back day by day,” said the 25-year-old Colombian. “But we managed to maintain the team and worked with Astana to avoid losing more time.”
Froome was grateful to teammates Ian Stannard and Geraint Thomas for keeping him out of the firing line and ensuring that he is now ahead of all his main rivals for the final victory.
Well today lived up to all the hype!! Chaos, but a great outcome. Won the first battle, only another 19 to go!! @letour #bonkers
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) July 5, 2015
He described his Sky team’s performance as “epic” while praising the “phenomenal” Stannard and Thomas.
“It was great to be up there with G (Thomas) and Yogi (Stannard) at the end. They did a great job in keeping me protected,” said Froome. “This is their playground and the classics style of racing is what they were born to do.
“This is a huge advantage for us now. We’re two days down and I couldn’t have hoped for much more at this point in the race.”