Chris Froome on Sunday emerged through the debris of a “devastating” ninth stage of the Tour de France with his maillot jaune intact, but the race is over for Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas.
Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran of Cannondale-Drapac won the dramatic, mountainous 181.5km stage from Nantua to Chambery, France, but spectacular crashes saw Porte and Thomas taken to hospital.
Porte’s was the most sickening as he clipped the grass verge on the inside of a bend on the lightning quick descent down the fearsome Mont du Chat less than 25km from the finish.
Photo:AFP
He came off his bike and skidded across the tarmac into Dan Martin of Quick-Step Floors, clattering both into the rock face on the other side of the road.
Porte lay motionless on the road for some time being attended to by medics before being taken to hospital.
BMC Racing Team said Porte had suffered a fractured collarbone and a fractured pelvis, both non-displaced, adding that the injuries would not require surgery and would normally require four to six weeks recovery time.
Martin was saved by his helmet, which took the brunt of the impact and was destroyed.
Team Sky’s Thomas had crashed on another descent, made treacherous by rain, earlier in the day, suffering a broken collarbone.
It meant it was a bitter-sweet day for Froome who, despite increasing his lead and seeing several top rivals lose time, lost his chief lieutenant Thomas and good friend Porte.
“I feel bad, it was a really bad, bad crash,” Froome said of Porte’s spill.
“And my teammate as well, he’s broken his collarbone, but that image is hard to look at,” added Froome, watching a video of Porte’s crash. “I hope he recovers well because it’s tough to see that.”
On the road it was a good day for Froome as he extended his lead by a few seconds, thanks mostly to a four-second bonus he took on the line for finishing third.
He now leads Fabio Aru of Astana by 18 seconds, with Frenchman Romain Bardet of AG2R La Modiale third 51 seconds back.
Bardet had attacked on the descent of the Mont du Chat, soon after Porte’s spill.
He caught lone escapee Warren Barguil of Team Sunweb inside the final 15km and left him behind, but Froome, Uran, Aru and Jakob Fuglsang of Astana worked well together and mopped up first Barguil, before catching Bardet.
Uran pipped Barguil in a photo-finish, with Froome taking third.
Twice runner-up Nairo Quintana was dropped on the Mont du Chat climb and came home in a group including Martin at 1:15, but the big loser of the day was two-time former winner Alberto Contador, who lost four minutes and is now more than five minutes off the pace.
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