The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Froome safe as crashes take toll
Briton extends overall lead as Thomas and Porte forced out by injuries
Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte crashed out of the Tour de France on a chaotic day which saw Chris Froome extend his lead in the yellow jersey as Rigoberto Uran won stage nine.
The 181.5km stage from Nantua to Chambery had it all: a succession of crashes, Fabio Aru attacking the yellow jersey when Froome had a mechanical problem, and Uran beating Warren Barguil in a photo finish despite losing the use of most of his gears in the finale.
Amid all of that, several contenders shipped time after seven categorised climbs – three of them hors categorie – and 4,700m of ascent.
When the dust settled, Froome’s lead in yellow increased from 12 seconds to 18 – now over Astana’s Aru rather than his Sky team-mate Thomas – after he finished third in a sprint between the general classification hopefuls to take the final bonus seconds.
Thomas suffered a broken collarbone in a crash on the damp descent of the Col de la Biche, the first hors categorie climb of the day.
Meanwhile there was clear concern for Porte after a high-speed crash on the way down the Mont du Chat.
The Australian was travelling at 72.5kmh when he ran on to the grass on the inside of a corner, hit the deck and then slid across the road into an embankment, collecting Irishman Dan Martin of Quick-Step Floors as he went.
BMC later said Porte suffered a fractured collarbone and pelvis, but had remained conscious throughout.
Froome suffered a mechanical problem on the way up the Mont du Chat, the last of three hors categorie climbs on the day, and as the three-time Tour winner was calling for the team car Aru attacked in a clear breach of cycling’s protocol.
Froome’s other rivals followed the Italian, seemingly to remonstrate.
“I wasn’t aware of Fabio attacking,” Froome said. “I only found out at the finish. At the time I was too busy looking for my team car to get a spare bike. From what I understand it looked like Richie (Porte) had said to my other rivals, ‘Listen guys, this is not the moment to attack when the leader of the race has got a mechanical’.
“I want to say thank to you Richie and thank you to the rest of the group for not taking advantage.”
Froome appeared to ride into Aru after he caught back up, but insisted it was not a barge in retaliation.
“I just had a bit of a wobble on a switchback,” he said. “It wasn’t a swipe at Aru or anything like that.”
After being caught in Porte’s crash, Martin fell again on the way to the foot of the mountain.
After picking himself up, Martin finished in a group including Movistar’s Nairo Quintana and Orica-Scott’s Simon Yates, one minute and 15 seconds behind the leaders.
Martin dropped from fourth to sixth overall, one minute 44 seconds down, 18 seconds ahead of Bury-born Yates, who retains the white jersey as the best young rider.
Frenchman Romain Bardet is up to third, with Uran fourth after his stage win.