DM1ST
mirror.co.uk/sport WEDNESDAY 24.07.2019 DAILY MIRROR^55
CYCLING: TOUR DE FRANCE
STAGE 16
NIMES - NIMES, 109MILESIT’S ALL WRITE BY ME!
Lowry’s name is on Claret JugSHANE LOWRY is still
refusing to allow the Claret
Jug out of his grasp – three
days after his maiden Major
triumph at The Open.
Lowry says Sunday’s
stunning win on Northern
Irish soil at Royal Portrush
is still far from sinking in.
And the Irishman even
replaced wife Wendy in bed
with the famed trophy.
“I haven’t taken it out of
my hands,” said Lowry.
“There’s so much history
on it, there are names from
1872 on this.
“The fact that my name’s
on there, I can’t believe it.
“I don’t know if I thought
I’d ever win a Major, but to
win The Open at Portrush
is a dream come true.
“When the dust settles at
the end of the week I’ll start
to realise what I achieved.
“I’m enjoying this now
but then I’ll begin to enjoy it
a bit more as it’s been a
crazy couple of days.
“The celebrations are still
kind of ongoing, so I’m
going back home. It will be
good fun.
“I had a good party on
Sunday night when we got
back to Dublin and had a
nice day with friends on
Monday.”
Lowry, 32, claims to have
been swamped by the
emotion across the island
of Ireland, with a home
winner on The Open’s
historic return to Portrush
for a first time in 68 years.
Reflecting on the huge
backing of the partisan
Irish crowd, Lowry added:
“Come the weekend, when
I’m able to sit at home and
read about it and see the
magnitude of it, I’ll realise
what it is.
“The support in Portrush
was just incredible.
“I said to Bo (caddie
Brian Martin) walking down
18 on Saturday, ‘We might
never experience anything
like this again, so let’s enjoy
it as much as we can’.”
Lowry can prolong his
celebrations after it was
confirmed he would not be
at this week’s World Golf
Championships in Memphis.Lowry: No
letting go
of Jug yet
GOLF
Another stage,
another crash
for Thomas
who hit the
deck for the
third time
in this
year’s race
FALL
GUY
GERAINT THOMAS reached
for the scars after surviving
his third spill on the Tour de
France and admitted: “The
crashes seem to come
looking for me.”
Britain’s defending champion
rolled home safely enough, still
1min 35secs behind leader
Julian Alaphilippe and second
overall, in the blast-furnace
heat of Nimes.
But as temperatures topped
100 degrees, Thomas was
baffled by his “freak” visit to the
tarmac, around 31 miles into
stage 16, when his gears
jammed on a right-hand corner.
Thomas, his left shoulder
grazed and with a bonus helping
of gravel rash, marvelled at his
gift for attracting misfortune.
Fortunately for the Prince of
Wheels, like his tumble on the
Grand Depart in Brussels and
the collision with team-mate
Gianni Moscon, which snapped
the Italian’s bike in two on the
run-in towards St Etienne 11
days ago, it was not costly.
But after his crash on the
warm-up Tour of Switzerland,
the Team Ineos leader has now
tasted asphalt in four of his last
20 competitive rides.
And although the 110-mile
stage was largely flat, and the
corner where Thomas went
down innocuous enough, it was
a reminder that it only takes a
second for a Tour de France
campaign to hit the buffers.
He said: “I just took off an old
scar, so it was new skin
bleeding. I just had one hand
on the bars when the gears
jumped and jammed, and I got
thrown off my bike on a corner.
“I knew the race wasn’t on,
so I just got back into the
group, but it’s frustrating. It
was such a freak thing.”
Asked if he sometimes feels
like crashes come looking for
him, Thomas replied: “Yeah, it
feels like that.”
As Australian Caleb Ewan
claimed his second stage win
of this edition in a sprint finish,
Denmark’s Jakob Fuglsang –
who had come into Le Tour as
the peloton’s form horse after
an outstanding season – was
not so lucky.
He crashed 20 miles from the
finish, climbed into an
ambulance, and abandoned the
race where he had been ninth
in the general classification.
Ewan admitted he suffered
badly in the sauna-like condi-
tions, saying: “I felt so bad –
the heat really got to me.”
Slovakia’s Peter Sagan,
who leads the race for
the sprinters’ Green
Jersey, called for the
cyclists’ trade union to
intervene after the
heat was almost too
punishing to race.
Sagan said: “The CPA
should do something.
I don’t know why we
pay them if they don’t
protect us.”ation.
suffered
e condi-
bad –
me.”
an,
orA
g.
we
on’tBY MIKE WALTERS
@MikeWaltersMGMBLOODY AND GUTS
Thomas in the wars yesterday
and (below) his previous two
falls in the tour and the one in
Switzerland (below, right)DOWN AGAIN
Thomas on the floor
yesterday despite it
looking a harmless
stretch (top)