<h1>Tour de France: Chris Froome extends lead despite crash as Romain Bardet wins stage</h1>

Britain's Chris Froome extended his overall lead of the Tour First State France despite flaming on stage nineteen, that was won by European Romain Bardet. Froome, 31, crashed falling in wet conditions, however the wander champion continued athletics when borrowing team-mate Sir Geraint Thomas' bike. Team Sky's Froome currently leads by four minutes and eleven seconds from stage winner Bardet, World Health Organization is up to second. Colombian Nairo Quintana is third, whereas Briton Adam Yates is currently fourth. With 2 stages currently remaining, as well as the finale into Paris on Sunday, Bardet's ending was the primary for a French rider within the 2016 Tour.

As it happened: Tour First State France - stage nineteen

Treacherous stage ends up in many casualties

Froome, World Health Organization improved his lead by nineteen seconds, was in a veryll|one amongst|one in every of} many fallers in a treacherous finish to the 146km stage, because the rain turned the road into AN ice rink. In general classification terms, the most important casualty was Dutch rider Bauke Mollema, World Health Organization started the day second overall. But his fall on one descent meant he finished over four minutes behind Bardet to tumble down the classification, seven minutes and forty two seconds behind Froome. Compatriot Tom Dumoulin, World Health Organization has won 2 stages on this year's Tour and is one among the favourites to win the Olympic time trial in urban center next month, had to withdraw due to AN earlier crash. The 25-year-old suffered what was delineated as a "severe articulatio plana trauma" however it's not been confirmed whether or not it absolutely was a sprain or fracture.

Froome shows winners' grit over again

Froome's injuries were superficial as compared, however his yellow jersey showed the extent of the slide he took across the road, and he appeared on the ending platform at the tip with a bound knee. Astana's Vincenzo Nibali additionally weakened right behind the 2013 and 2015 winner, whereas BMC's Richie royal court was another leading rider to suffer from a fall because the race descended into chaos. The fact that Froome stayed in grips together with his main rivals was all the way down to 2 factors: the selflessness of his team-mates and his determination to carry onto the jersey. With the Team Sky automobile approach behind, Thomas gave up his bike so Froome didn't lose time looking forward to a replacement and Dutch team-mate Wout Poels did a sterling job of serving to Froome close the opposite contenders for the final classification. But having already run up to the end of Mont Ventoux on stage twelve when flaming into a bike, Froome showed similar resolve as he power-driven up the 10km climb to the end, despite Thomas's bike having a distinct gear set-up. "Ironically, i used to be attempting to remain safe however I hit one among the white lines and lost my front wheel," Froome told ITV4. "I'm lucky nothing is seriously dislocated. I lost some skin and banged my knee a bit bit however these days i am grateful to possess that four-minute advantage to fall on. "It was nice to possess team-mates around ME, Wout Poels specifically. It feels smart to be in some unspecified time in the future nearer to the end. these days showed precisely why i believed the Tour wasn't over." On exploitation Thomas' bike, he added: "I knew the automobile was quite whereas back and my bike wasn't rideable, therefore thanks a great deal to Sir Geraint for his bike. it absolutely was alright."