Thomas and Porte crash out on Tour’s stage of carnage

Tour de France organisers were accused of “getting what they wanted” after a day of carnage and controversy on the road from Nantua to Chambery yesterday.

No fewer than five riders were forced to abandon the race on stage nine, including Team Sky’s perennially unfortunate Geraint Thomas who suffered a broken collarbone when another rider came down in front of him, and – in a truly sickening crash – BMC leader Richie Porte, one of the big pre-race favourites. Thomas and Porte had begun the day second and fifth on the general classification.

Porte’s crash was utterly terrifying. The Australian lost control of his bike on the high-speed descent of the final mountain of the day, the hors catégorie Mont du Chat. It was a descent which had been flagged up in advance as a dangerous one, having been used at last month’s Criterium du Dauphiné where riders had described it as “crazy”.

With rain having fallen earlier in the day, the surface – which looked as if it had recently been resurfaced in places – was treacherous.

Veering off the road on the inside of a left-hander, Porte flew across the tarmac at an estimated 72.5kmph, smashing into the solid banking on the right-hand side of the road and collecting Quick-step Floors’ Dan Martin in the process.

Martin was able to get back on his bike, only to crash again further down the mountain. The Irishman ended up losing over a minute to race leader Chris Froome, dropping from fourth to sixth overall.

The cost to Porte was far greater, although in the end he managed to escape relatively lightly considering the impact of the crash.

Having been attended to by medical staff, the Australian was placed in a neck brace and taken by ambulance to hospital. It was later announced that he had suffered a fractured collarbone and hip, as well as a nasty bang to the head.

The BMC sports director, Fabio Baldato, said the 32-year-old had remained conscious throughout. “He had a lot of pain but we need to wait for the doctors,” Baldato said outside the BMC bus after the stage. “What was important, he was always conscious, he knew what happened. He was asking for his helmet, his glasses.”

Thomas, meanwhile, crashed heavily on the fast descent off the Col de la Biche midway through the stage. He said he let Bora-hansgrohe’s Rafal Majka in front of him, only to see the Pole come down.

“Everyone was nervous, everyone wanted to be at the front and a few people were battling to get between myself, Froomey and the rest of the boys,” Thomas told teamsky.com.

“I let Majka in and then he came down right in front of me on a straight bit of road. I had nowhere to go, went over the top of him, and landed on my collarbone.”

Thomas got back on his bike and made it to the bottom of the descent, but soon realised he would not be able to continue.

What a difference one week makes. The previous Sunday, Thomas had led the peloton out of Düsseldorf clad in the yellow jersey of the race leader, having triumphed in the opening day time trial. The Welshman’s misery will be the more acute for the fact that this is the second grand tour he has been forced to abandon in the space of two months.

At the Giro d’italia in May, when Thomas finally got an opportunity to lead Team Sky outright, the 31-year-old was brought down in a crash caused by a poorly-parked police motorbike. He soldiered on for a couple of days, even finishing second in a time trial to eventual winner Tom Dumoulin, but eventually abandoned in agony.

It remains to be seen how Thomas’ exit will affect Froome’s chances of a fourth yellow jersey. Froome ended up gaining time on his rivals yesterday, finishing third in a sprint finish behind Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-drapac), who won after a photo-finish, and Warren Barguil (Sunweb) and collecting four bonus seconds.

But he will miss Thomas over the next fortnight. The Welshman has been a hugely reliable lieutenant to Froome in recent years and gave Sky another card to play as long as he remained high up in the race.

Some riders clearly felt that sort of carnage was what organisers were hoping for. Martin said: “Richie lost it on one corner – it was so slippery, I guess the organisers got what they wanted. It was so slippery under the trees. I was very, very lucky to get away as lightly as I did.”