Riders John Degenkolb and Andre Greipel sound off on Twitter yesterday
Stage 1 of the Critérium du Dauphiné practically ended in a punch sprint rather than a bunch sprint yesterday! Riders jostling for position who risked wiping out in the final metres of the race included Chris Froome and Nacer Bouhanni, who narrowly won the stage from Jens Debusschere and Sam Bennett.
The race to the French village of Saint Vulbas saw head-butts between Katusha rider Alexander Kristoff and Nacer Bouhanni of Cofidis. Bouhanni had previously showed his aggressive side during Paris-Nice when he slammed into Michael Matthews and was relegated to third place. But no penalties yesterday, Bouhanni punched the air several times as he crossed the finish line - as a tribute to Muhammad Ali apparently!
Chris Froome, wearing the polka-dot jersey, wobbled twice and almost crashed into riders on either side of him but ended up retaining his third place overall, 13 seconds behind Alberto Contador.
