Froome stays in control, but rival Porte crashes out

CHAMBERY: Chris Froome escaped unscathed after an actionpacked ninth stage of the Tour de France as one his main rivals and his Team Sky lieutenant crashed out of the race yesterday.

The defending champion, who was attacked by Fabio Aru just as he suffered a mechanical problem on the last climb, ended up third at the end of a 181.5km trek in the Jura mountains won by Colombian Rigoberto Uran ahead of France’s Warren Barguil.

“I had a problem with my gears, I had to change bike,” said threetimes champion Froome.

He had his rivals to thank, however, as none of them took turns in front while he was changing his bike in the lung-busting ascent to the Mont du Chat.

He was already without team mate Geraint Thomas, who abandoned after crashing in the slippery descent of the Col de la Biche, one of three out-of-category ascents of the day.

In the final descent to Chambery, Australian Richie Porte, regarded as Froome’s main challenger ahead of the three-week event, went off the road into a wall of rocks.

“He was conscious, it’s reassuring, he is being transferred to the hospital,” race doctor Florence Pommery said.

Last year’s runner-up Romain Bardet of France pedalled away in the final descent but was reined in by Froome, Uran, Barguil, Aru and his Astana team mate Jakob Fuglsang two km from the finish line.

Overall, Froome leads Aru by 18 seconds and Bardet by 51 as twotimes winner Alberto Contador of Spain cracked on the last climb and dropped out of contention.

Three-times podium finisher Nairo Quintana of Colombia also struggled, losing 1:15 to Froome and his group.