Froome still in yellow as Matthews takes stage

Chris Froome fought through fierce crosswinds to retain the yellow jersey as Michael Matthews won a frantic stage 16 of the Tour de France to Romans-sur-isere.

Froome’s Team Sky took the initiative in causing late splits in the peloton, protecting his narrow lead as Irishman Dan Martin was caught out and lost 51 seconds.

Only 22 riders made it into the front group, but that was still enough for a select sprint, with Australian Matthews claiming his second stage win of this Tour in a photo finish ahead of Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen.

German John Degenkolb finished third but remonstrated with Matthews afterwards, claiming the Team Sunweb rider blocked his sprint.

The peloton battled strong winds over lengthy stretches of the 165-kilometre stage from Le Puyen-velay, but the muchanticipated splits did not come until late in the day as Sky decided attack was the best form of defence.

Froome said: “For us it was more about just being on the right side of it. Knowing it was going to kick off on that open section in the last 20 kilometres to go, the guys committed to that and we saw the gaps opening out straight away.

“We weren’t really concerned about what the other teams were doing. It was more about what we needed to do and being in the right place and the right time for us.”

Froome leads the Tour, the closest in history at this stage in the race, by 18 seconds from Italian national champion Fabio Aru, with Frenchman Romain Bardet a further five seconds back. Colombian Rigoberto Uran is fourth, only 29 seconds down.

Martin dropped to seventh overall, two minutes and three seconds back.

Matthews’ stage win and an intermediate sprint success cut his deficit in the points classification from 79 to 29 as Marcel Kittel struggled in the green jersey, finishing in a group more than 16 minutes behind.