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Bardet wins on day of crashes at TDF

Paris - Chris Froome crashed on a slippery descent but showed grit and determination to fight on and retain his race leader's yellow jersey at the Tour de France on Friday.

Romain Bardet earned the first stage victory for a Frenchman this year and moved up to second overall after taking advantage of the rainy 19th stage conditions in which Froome faltered.

Bardet finished 23 seconds ahead of Joaquim Rodriguez after attacking on a slippery and dangerous descent where several of his rivals crashed.

One such was Froome, who was lent a bike by team-mate Geraint Thomas in order to continue to the finish, with his jersey ripped.

He finished ninth at just 36 seconds behind Bardet and even extended his overall lead.

That was because Dutchman Bauke Mollema, who started the day second, crashed once and skidded off the road a second time before coming home 4:26 after Bardet and dropping to 10th overall.

Young Briton Adam Yates also struggled in the final few kilometres and lost his third pace to Nairo Quintana.

Bardet is now second at 4:11, with Quintana at 4:27, Yates at 4:36 and Richie Porte at 5:17 in a thrilling battle for the minor podium positions.

Porte had been climbing well all Tour but had difficulty on the final descent and had to chase back up to the group of favourites before cracking in the final kilometre.

He came over the line 10th at 53 seconds, a few seconds ahead of Yates.

A 20-man breakaway group took off from the start and quickly built up a lead of more than four minutes.

But the Astana team of Fabio Aru had other ideas and took up pace-setting duties in the peloton to limit the advantage, bringing it down to just 2:30 with 60km left.

With podium places up for grabs, Aru wanted not only the stage win, but also the time bonus on the line that would bring.

As the breakaway went over the 12.4km hors category Montee de Bisanne, rain started to fall making the road slippery.

Frenchman Pierre Rolland attacked on the descent but crashed, leaving Rui Costa, the only man to have followed him, alone in the lead.

With 30km left, Costa had opened up a lead of almost a minute on the remnants of the breakaway with the peloton at 1:45.

Porte got into trouble on the downhill and lost 45 seconds to the pack, but three BMC team-mates slowed up to help pace him back into the peloton.

The Astana-led peloton passed the chasers with 25km left as Costa's lead was now 1:15.

The rain was causing havoc on the final descent before the Saint Gervais Mont Blanc climb to the finish with several riders crashing, including Froome.

With all the carnage, Bardet took the opportunity to attack, helped by team-mate Mikael Cherel, although he almost clipped a parked car.

Mollema was the worst affected of the riders who crashed and quickly lost significant time.

The crashes helped Portugal's Costa stay clear but Bardet caught him with just under 8km left.

Froome seemed to be struggling at the back of the peloton but was soon in his usual position at the front behind his super-domestique Wouter Poels.

With just over 3km left Costa lost contact with Bardet but the peloton was now at just 30 seconds.

Dan Martin and Porte both tried attacking but neither could stay clear, although Yates started to lose contact with the favourites.

In the final kilometre it all broke up as the standings were turned on their head.

Results in the 19th stage of the Tour of France, a 146km ride from Albertville to Le Bettex on Friday:

1. Romain Bardet (FRA/ALM) 146.0 km in 4h14min 08sec (average: 34,5 km/h)

2. Joaquin Rodriguez (ESP/KAT) at 0:23.

3. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 0:23.

4. Louis Meintjies (RSA/LAM) 0:23.

5. Nairo Quintana (COL/MOV) 0:26.

6. Fabio Aru (ITA/AST) 0:28.

7. Daniel Martin (IRL/ETI) 0:28.

8. Wout Poels (NED/SKY) 0:36.

9. Chris Froome (GBR/SKY) 0:36.

10. Richie Porte (AUS/BMC) 0:53.

11. Jon Izagirre (ESP/MOV) 0:53.

12. Mikel Landa (ESP/SKY) 0:53.

13. Adam Yates (GBR/ORI) 0:56.

14. Warren Barguil (FRA/GIA) 1:17.

15. Rui Costa (POR/LAM) 1:52.

16. Sergio Henao (COL/SKY) 1:57.

17. Roman Kreuziger (CZE/TIN) 1:58.

18. Damiano Caruso (ITA/BMC) 3:00.

19. Stef Clement (NED/IAM) 3:10.

20. Jarlinson Pantano (COL/IAM) 3:52.

21. Diego Rosa (ITA/AST) 3:52.

22. Alexis Vuillermoz (FRA/ALM) 3:52.

23. Bauke Mollema (NED/TRE) 4:26.

24. Emanuel Buchmann (GER/BOA) 4:42.

25. Daniel Moreno (ESP/MOV) 4:49.

26. Cyril Gautier (FRA/ALM) 6:08.

27. Rafal Majka (POL/TIN) 6:13.

28. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 6:33.

29. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/TRE) 6:33.

30. Jakob Diemer Fuglsang (DEN/AST) 6:33.

31. Tony Gallopin (FRA/LOT) 7:49.

32. Pierre Rolland (FRA/CAN) 7:54.

33. Mickaël Cherel (FRA/ALM) 8:20.

34. Mikel Nieve (ESP/SKY) 8:43.

35. Daryl Impey (RSA/ORI) 9:03.

36. Tanel Kangert (EST/AST) 9:07.

37. Sébastien Reichenbach (SUI/FDJ) 9:33.

38. Amaël Moinard (FRA/BMC) 11:04.

39. Ilnur Zakarin (RUS/KAT) 11:43.

40. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ/AST) 11:43.

41. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/AST) 11:43.

42. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO/TIN) 11:43.

43. Kristijan Durasek (CRO/LAM) 11:43.

44. Eduardo Sepulveda (ARG/FVC) 11:43.

45. Peter Stetina (USA/TRE) 11:53.

46. Steve Morabito (SUI/FDJ) 12:34.

47. Romain Sicard (FRA/DEN) 13:13.

48. Fabrice Jeandesboz (FRA/DEN) 13:13.

49. Alberto Losada (ESP/KAT) 13:30.

50. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR/SKY) 13:36.

51. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BMC) 14:29.

52. Michael Schär (SUI/BMC) 14:29.

53. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL/BMC) 14:29.

54. Jan Polanc (SLO/LAM) 14:29.

55. George Bennett (NZL/LNL) 15:02.

56. Thomas De Gendt (BEL/LOT) 16:50.

57. Frank Schleck (LUX/TRE) 17:30.

58. Martin Elmiger (SUI/IAM) 17:30.

59. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA/DEN) 17:30.

60. Bertjan Lindeman (NED/LNL) 18:01.

61. Michael Matthews (AUS/ORI) 18:32.

62. Wilco Kelderman (NED/LNL) 18:32.

63. Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP/AST) 19:34.

64. Arnold Jeannesson (FRA/COF) 19:57.

65. Tylan van Baarle (NED/CAN) 19:57.

66. Natnael Berhane (ERI/DDT) 19:57.

67. Ben Gastauer (LUX/ALM) 19:57.

68. Georg Preidler (AUT/GIA) 19:57.

69. Michael Andersen (DEN/TIN) 19:57.

70. Daniel Teklehaymanot (ERI/DDT) 19:57.

71. Jérome Coppel (FRA/IAM) 19:57.

72. Jérôme Cousin (FRA/COF) 19:57.

73. Nélson Oliveira (POR/MOV) 21:15.

74. Winner Anacona (COL/MOV) 21:15.

75. Rubén Plaza (ESP/ORI) 21:15.

76. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/FVC) 21:57.

77. Antoine Duchesne (CAN/DEN) 22:53.

78. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/DEN) 22:53.

79. Petr Vakoc (CZE/ETI) 23:00.

80. Julien Vermote (BEL/ETI) 23:03.

81. Tony Martin (GER/ETI) 23:03.

82. Alexis Gougeard (FRA/ALM) 23:46.

83. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA/ETI) 23:46.

84. Bryan Coquard (FRA/DEN) 23:46.

85. Paolo Tiralongo (ITA/AST) 23:46.

86. Laurens ten Dam (NED/GIA) 24:47.

87. Simon Geschke (GER/GIA) 25:18.

88. Imanol Erviti (ESP/MOV) 25:18.

89. Bartosz Huzarski (POL/BOA) 27:38.

90. Cesare Benedetti (ITA/BOA) 27:38.

91. Tom Slagter (NED/CAN) 27:38.

92. Jan Bárta (CZE/BOA) 27:38.

93. Luis Ángel Maté (ESP/COF) 27:38.

94. Reto Hollenstein (SUI/IAM) 27:38.

95. Pierre-Luc Perichon (FRA/FVC) 27:38.

96. Paul Voss (GER/BOA) 27:38.

97. Jan Bakelants (BEL/ALM) 27:38.

98. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/ALM) 27:38.

99. Paul Martens (GER/LNL) 27:38.

100. William Bonnet (FRA/FDJ) 27:38.

101. Oliver Naesen (BEL/IAM) 27:38.

102. Sondre Enger (NOR/IAM) 29:56.

103. Vegard Breen (NOR/FVC) 29:56.

104. Ian Stannard (GBR/SKY) 29:56.

105. Luke Rowe (GBR/SKY) 29:56.

106. Florian Vachon (FRA/FVC) 29:56.

107. Leigh Howard (AUS/IAM) 31:28.

108. Adam Hansen (AUS/LOT) 31:28.

109. Sep Vanmarcke (BEL/LNL) 31:28.

110. Jürgen Roelandts (BEL/LOT) 31:28.

111. Fabio Sabatini (ITA/ETI) 31:28.

112. Chris Anker Sorensen (DEN/FVC) 31:28.

113. Oscar Gatto (ITA/TIN) 31:28.

114. Matteo Tosatto (ITA/TIN) 31:28.

115. Timo Roosen (NED/LNL) 31:28.

116. Kristjan Koren (SLO/CAN) 31:28.

117. Geoffrey Soupe (FRA/COF) 31:28.

118. Robert Wagner (GER/LNL) 31:28.

119. Christophe Laporte (FRA/COF) 31:28.

120. Iljo Keisse (BEL/ETI) 31:28.

121. Brent Bookwalter (USA/BMC) 31:28.

122. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 31:28.

123. Patrick Konrad (AUT/BOA) 31:28.

124. Gregory Rast (SUI/TRE) 31:28.

125. Michael Albasini (SUI/ORI) 31:28.

126. Ramon Sinkeldam (NED/GIA) 31:28.

127. Albert Timmer (NED/GIA) 31:28.

128. Matteo Bono (ITA/LAM) 31:28.

129. Matthew Hayman (AUS/ORI) 31:28.

130. Luka Pibernik (SLO/LAM) 31:28.

131. Tsgabu Grmay (ETH/LAM) 31:28.

132. Lawson Craddock (USA/CAN) 31:28.

133. Marcel Kittel (GER/ETI) 31:28.

134. Nicolas Edet (FRA/COF) 31:28.

135. Jasper Stuyven (BEL/TRE) 31:28.

136. Serge Pauwels (BEL/DDT) 31:28.

137. Alexander Kristoff (NOR/KAT) 31:28.

138. Luke Durbridge (AUS/ORI) 31:28.

139. Alex Howes (USA/CAN) 31:28.

140. Armindo Fonseca (FRA/FVC) 31:28.

141. Dylan Groenewegen (NED/LNL) 31:28.

142. Markel Irizar (ESP/TRE) 31:28.

143. Jeremy Roy (FRA/FDJ) 31:28.

144. Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA/ALM) 31:28.

145. Andriy Grivko (UKR/AST) 31:28.

146. André Greipel (GER/LOT) 31:28.

147. Brice Feillu (FRA/FVC) 31:28.

148. Roy Curvers (NED/GIA) 31:28.

149. Angel Vicioso (ESP/KAT) 31:28.

150. Sam Bennett (IRL/BOA) 31:28.

151. Andreas Schillinger (GER/BOA) 31:28.

152. Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU/CAN) 31:28.

153. Christopher Juul-Jensen (DEN/ORI) 31:28.

154. Arthur Vichot (FRA/FDJ) 31:28.

155. Anthony Roux (FRA/FDJ) 31:28.

156. Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA/DDT) 31:28.

157. Maarten Wijnants (BEL/LNL) 31:28.

158. Davide Cimolai (ITA/LAM) 31:28.

159. Marco Haller (AUT/KAT) 31:28.

160. Yohann Gene (FRA/DEN) 31:28.

161. Jacopo Guarnieri (ITA/KAT) 31:28.

162. Maciej Bodnar (POL/TIN) 31:28.

163. Adrien Petit (FRA/DEN) 31:28.

164. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/DDT) 31:28.

165. Greg Henderson (NZL/LOT) 31:28.

166. Yukiya Arashiro (JPN/LAM) 31:28.

167. Stephen Cummings (GBR/DDT) 31:28.

168. Lars Ytting Bak (DEN/LOT) 31:28.

169. Marcel Sieberg (GER/LOT) 31:44.

170. Bernhard Eisel (AUT/DDT) 31:44.

171. Cyril Lemoine (FRA/COF) 31:44.

172. Peter Sagan (SVK/TIN) 31:44.

173. John Degenkolb (GER/GIA) 31:44.

174. Maximiliano Richeze (ARG/ETI) 31:47.

175. Daniel McLay (GBR/FVC) 35:39.

. Tom Dumoulin (NED/GIA) - withdrew

. Daniel Navarro (ESP/COF) - withdrew

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