Tour de France observes minute of silence for Nice attack victims

The pack with Peter Sagan of Slovakia, wearing the best sprinter's green jersey, Britain's Chris Froome, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, Britain’s Adam Yates , wearing the best young rider's white jersey, and Belgium’s Thomas de Gendt, wearing the best climber's dotted jersey observe a minute of silence to commemorate the victims of the Nice truck attack. (Peter Dejong/AP)

VILLARS-LES-DOMBES, France — A minute of silence was observed at the start of the 14th stage of the Tour de France on Saturday following the truck attack in Nice that claimed 84 lives.

Yellow jersey holder Chris Froome and the other leaders of the Tour took their helmets off and stood still at the start line to honour the victims.

It’s the first of three days of national mourning in France and fans waved the country’s flag all along the 208.5-kilometre (130-mile) route from Montelimar to Villars-Les-Dombes.

Four riders in a breakaway — Martin Elmiger of Switzerland, Alex Howes of the United States, Jeremy Roy of France and Cesare Benedetti of Italy — opened up an early advantage of 4 1/2 minutes.

The stage started 15 minutes early due to a strong headwind.

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