Geraint Thomas survives Tour de France stage three with pelvis fracture

Geraint Thomas (Sky) is improving despite a pelvis fracture stemming from a crash during Tour de France stage one. He finished today's third and final stage in Corsica, saying, "I did better than yesterday."

After yesterday's stage, Sky took him to the hospital for a CT scan, which revealed a fracture to his pelvis. This morning, ahead of the 145.5 kilometre stage up the island's coast to Calvi, the team had to help him on his bike.

"I've done so much to lose weight and get fit for this," Thomas said in Calvi to a pack of waiting journalists. "I'm not going to give up straight away."

Sky's leader, Chris Froome joked, "He's Welsh, he'll survive."

Thomas hit the deck in the final kilometres of stage one to Bastia on Saturday. He finished, but struggled since. Yesterday he placed third from last at 17 minutes back and today, 9-15 minutes back in 177th.

"I'm going to continue, to give it a good go even if my mum doesn't want me to," Thomas added in good spirits.

"Like I said, it's the Tour; it's not your average race. I'm definitely going to keep fighting. It felt a lot better today than yesterday and it felt a lot better [at the finish] than at the start today, but I got a crack at on my bone so it's always going to hurt."

After a tough classics campaign, Thomas switched to stage racing. He was key to Froome's win in the Critérium du Dauphiné, and plans to be just as helpful in the Tour de France.

"It's remarkable, he's obviously in a lot of pain," Froome added. "It's great to see the camaraderie around the team, everyone's giving him encouragement."

Thomas in fact encouraged the others today. Nearly 100 kilometres in, high above the Mediterranean Sea, he rode up alongside Froome and shouted, "Yeah! Come on!"

"That just made us all to smile," Froome said. "He's in fighting spirit and it lifts the rest of us."

Related links

Thomas still suffering after stage one crash

Tour de France 2013: Cycling Weekly's coverage index

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