Crash shrugged aside by Thomas

GERAINT Thomas shrugged off his third crash of the Tour de France as Caleb Ewan won stage 16 in soaring temperatures in Nimes.

Defending champion Thomas hit the deck with around 130km of the 177km stage to go on the inside of a righthand bend but quickly returned to the peloton after dropping back to the Ineos team car for a once over.

“I just took off an old scar so it was new skin bleeding,” said Thomas, who also fell on the opening stage and stage eight to Saint Etienne.

“I just had one hand on the bars and the gears jumped and jammed and I got thrown off my bike on a corner.

“I knew the race wasn’t on so I just got back into the group, it’s just frustrating. It was such a freak thing.”

Thomas may have collected a few grazes but he remains second in the general classification, 95 seconds behind Julian Alaphilippe.

Though the Welshman is in pole position should Alaphilippe fall away as expected in the Alps, four riders are bunched within 39 seconds of him, with the Tour as wide open as it has been for many a year going into the final stages.

Astana’s Jakob Fuglsang is no longer a factor, however, as his Tour was ended by a crash, leaving the Dane to climb into an ambulance and out of a race in which he had sat ninth overall.

The spills were rare moments of drama in a stage raced in soaring temperatures of over 40 degrees in the south of France.

Afterwards, threetime former world champion Peter Sagan complained about the temperatures and suggested the Professional Cyclists Association (CPA) should do more to protect riders.

“If it’s as hot as this in the mountains” he said, imitating slitting his throat with his hand. “The CPA should do something.

“They should do something to protect us. That’s what we pay them for.”

Caleb Ewan celebrates his victory.