Tour de France 2019 news: Jakob Fuglsang crashes on opening stage, recovers to finish in pack

ByBen Snowball

Updated 06/07/2019 at 21:50 GMT

Jakob Fuglsang was caught up in a crash on the opening stage of the Tour de France, but recovered to finish in the peloton in Brussels.

The highly-fancied Dane was pictured with blood streaming down his face and right arm after the incident with 18 kilometres remaining.

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Four Astana teammates held back to help their GC leader bridge the 25-second gap back to the peloton, successfully making touching distance before the end of the stage.

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Third favourite Fuglsang down in nasty crash on Stage 1

He was later taken by his team for medical check-ups, but was cleared for Sunday's second stage.

"A rider crashed in front of me at the moment we were going to the front of the peloton to stay out of trouble, it was impossible to avoid him and so I crashed," he said.

"It’s not the way you want to start the Tour. I’m happy that there were no fractures, so I’m able to continue the race. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow."

Fuglsang is third favourite to win the Tour with many bookmakers behind Team Ineos duo Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal.

Mike Teunissen edged Peter Sagan in a thrilling photo finish on Stage 1, moments after another crash had wiped out a large chunk of the peloton.

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