Tour de France 2016: Rain wreaks havoc as Froome retains lead despite crash

Russell Greaves

Tour de France 2016: Rain wreaks havoc as Froome retains lead despite crash image

Chris Froome retained his Tour de France lead despite crashing Friday in a dramatic Stage 19 that was won by Romain Bardet, giving France its first stage victory in the 2016 race.

Froome took a hard fall on a slippery surface with just over 10 kilometers left, forcing him to continue on teammate Geraint Thomas' bike.

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With the famous yellow jersey ripped to reveal badly scraped skin, a clearly fatigued Froome managed to limit the damage and was helped in part by nearest general classification rival Bauke Mollema also crashing.

Bardet moved into second place in the general classification, trailing Froome by 4 minutes, 11 seconds going into the race's final two stages this weekend.

Russell Greaves