Chris Froome makes up for lost time as Sky misses the third leg of the Tour | sport

Chris Froome began the process of gradually eroding the time lost in the first phase of the Tour on Saturday after Team Sky finished second in the first major test, the 35.5km team time trial. .

"He said," We gave everything and everything went well. We can never say who will be a good day or not, but overall it worked well for us.

"Since I have not run since the Giro, it was nice to open a little bit.The last two days have been a little nervous and not necessarily physically, but more mentally Today was the first day we could open ourselves properly. "

Froome lost 51 seconds on the first day of the Tour after tumbling into a field near the end of the first stage in Fontenay-le-Comte. "The Tour has not started very well but it's the bike race," he said. "Fortunately, it was a soft landing in a field – no injury."

Froome described as rebaduring that his team had been able to take time out of key rivals. "It would have been nice not to have lost it in the first place," he said. "But there will be a lot more time lost in the general clbadification group [of overall contenders] before reaching the mountains.One day you win, one day you lose.It is the nature of the game." [19659002] Among the big losers in Monday's collective effort, Vincenzo Nibali and Romain Bardet, whose benefits they had over the leader of Team Sky were dashed. Another big loser was Mark Cavendish's Dimension Data team, whose disastrous start to the Tour continued when they finished third

Sky was not enough to raise Froome's teammate Geraint Thomas in the yellow jersey, with Welshman lost to BMC. Racing Greg Van Avermaet, winner of the men's road race at the Rio Olympics, by three seconds. Van Avermaet's teammate Richie Porte, one of the favorites before the race who also lost time Saturday, is now, like Froome, going up the rankings.

"Throwing time like that hurts but a lot of other great favorites were in the same boat," said Porte. "It's good to be back on an equal footing." As shown on Saturday, you can waste time anywhere.

"That's okay to be very agitated the next days. Steps five and six are unpleasant, and there is a potential danger there, everywhere. The stage of Finistère [from Brest to Mûr-de-Bretagne] can really upset the race.

For Thomas, who wore the yellow jersey during last year's Tour, it was a near-painful absence. "I'm a little disappointed not to win," he said. "We were there or so, there was a lot of wind, a lot of changes of direction, from top to bottom, you really had to ride well as a team and we did it. disappointing not to win when it's so close. "

Thomas said that he had been so wrapped up in the team's performance that he had hardly thought about his personal ambitions. "You probably will not believe me but I did not think about it," he said. "It was trying to win the stage, the jersey would have been a good bonus at the top." We've been close in the past against the Tour team time trial and we were close but not fast enough. "

While Froome and Porte are preparing to lock the horns at Lawson's approach Craddock, of the First Education team, is hoping to just hold on. Craddock, who he was also crushed during the first stage, is a victim of a broken scapula and a nearly closed left eye. He stubbornly hooked on the wake of his team. "The pain was easier to manage today, but after a 40-minute effort compared to a four-hour effort, "he said, after declaring Sunday that he was taking the run minute-by-minute, he asked Craddock when he was now taking it step by step. "No," he says. "Maybe 90 seconds by 90 seconds "