Sam Bennett went into this Tour de France with a real chance of emulating his home-town hero Sean Kelly and winning one of the sprint stages but a crash in the last few hundred metres of stage one saw those dreams slowly fade away.
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Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) didn’t crash but wilted on the 9.8km final climb and has dropped to 4min 36sec adrift in fourth, while Mollema has plummeted to 10th overall, 7min 42sec down, after losing more than four minutes.
“I am okay, I’m lucky, nothing seriously injured”, Froome said.
Battered and bruised, his jersey torn and riding a team-mate’s bike to the finish, Froome lost only a handful of seconds to some of his rivals, while actually gaining time on others and extending his overall lead.
Colombian Nairo Quintana, runner-up in 2013 and 2015, is now third overall, 4:27 off the pace with one competitive stage left on Saturday, a 146.5-km mountain ride from Megeve to Morzine.
The Brit was floored and cut his knee but continued racing after borrowing Team Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas’ bike and improved his lead by 19 seconds.
But for the second time in this Tour, Froome emerged from a crash in yellow with his overall lead increased, this time by 19 seconds. I’m sure I’m going to be a bit sore and stiff after today, but hopefully I can rely on my team-mates.
“I think in the end, if he has a good night, with the physio and everything, he should be OK”, Froome’s mountain helper, Wout Poels said.
Despite the myriad crashes, Bardet fully deserved the accolades that came his way.
Sunday’s final stage into Paris is largely processional and will not contested by the general classification contenders. “Right now I’m on a cloud”, the 25-year-old Frenchman said.
Dumoulin won a silver medal in the time-trial world championships two years ago.
Bardet’s second career Tour stage win came by 23 seconds from Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez and his fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde of Movistar, with Quintana a further three seconds back. To win, you have to take risks.
“It is ironic really as I was just trying to stay safe and out of trouble”.
“I was hearing comments that there have been no attacks in this Tour, but we are all very tired I also knew I am in the best shape of my life”. Finishes, sprints, stages, interviews, incidents: you will miss nothing.
“I’m over the moon”, said Bardet afterwards.
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“Now I am more relaxed, and if I manage to finish on the podium in Paris, it will be like a fairytale”.
