Le Havre - Czech Zdenek Stybar of the Etixx-Quick Step team won the sixth stage of the Tour de France, a 191.5km ride from Abbeville on Thursday.
Slovakian Peter Sagan of Tinkoff-Saxo was second and Frenchman Bryan Coquard of Europcar finished third in a crash-marred finale.
German Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick Step) retained the overall leader's yellow jersey despite crashing in the last kilometre.
Regulations state that on a flat stage, a rider held up in an incident in the final three kilometres is credited with the same time as the winner.
Martin, however, is a major doubt for Friday's seventh stage as he appeared to be suffering from a left shoulder injury.
Among the top favourites, defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) fell in the incident, as well as Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar).
Nibali crossed the line apparently unhurt while Quintana had blood on his hand.
Polka-dot jersey
Earlier the Eritrean cyclist Daniel Teklehaimanot of the MTN-Qhubeka team, earned the right to wear the best climber's polka-dot jersey after spending most of the day at the front of the race.
He gave the thumbs up as he claimed a third point in the King of the Mountains classification with a sprint to the summit of the Cote du Tilleul, with 29.5km left before the finish in Le Havre.
Teklehaimanot, who took the jersey from Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez, is not expected to keep it once the race reaches the high mountains next week.