Chris Froome hit the deck but retained the overall leader's yellow jersey after the 19th stage of the Tour de France - a crash-marred 146km mountain trek won by Frenchman Romain Bardet.
The Briton crashed 12km from the finish on a slippery descent after breaking hard and skidding on a white line on the road and ended the stage on teammate Geraint Thomas' bike with cuts and bruises on his back and right elbow.
Australia's Richie Porte moved up to fifth in the overall general classification but was left thinking what might have been after he was forced off his bike with 28km to go so the BMC team mechanics could work on a problem.
Thanks to some stellar work by his teammates, Porte managed to finish in 10th spot, one place behind Froome after rejoining the peloton, but remains more than five minutes behind his former Team Sky colleague, who looks well set for a third Tour victory on Sunday.
Shortly after Froome's crash Bardet lit up the race with an attack on the tricky descent towards the foot of the final ascent.
AG2r-La Mondiale rider Bardet, who gave France their first win on this Tour, quickly caught early attacker Rui Costa in the climb, a 9.8-km effort at an average gradient of eight per cent and went solo with 3.5km left.
Froome, who crossed the line 36 seconds behind Bardet, now leads the Frenchman, who moved up from fifth to second overall, by 4:11 minutes.
Dutchman Bauke Mollema, who started the day in second place overall, also crashed and eventually lost a massive 4:25 to drop down to 10th spot.
Reuters
