Tour de France 2016: Chris Froome crashes but sees lead grow after being dealt a lifeline on Mont Blanc
Froome and Nairo Quintana both crashed at the same corner but were able to continue
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Your support makes all the difference.Chris Froome crashed but saw his overall lead grow as Romain Bardet won a damp, treacherous stage 19 of the Tour de France to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc.
Team Sky's Froome hit the deck inside the final 15 kilometres as rain fell late on the 146km stage from Albertville and, though he quickly swapped bikes with Geraint Thomas and got back on his way, his rivals were able to put him under pressure on the final climb of Mont Blanc as the rips in his yellow jersey revealed his scars.
But at the summit, only Nairo Quintana was able to grab a handful of seconds on Froome, with most of the damage that was done being physical.
Watch the crash below...
There were dramas throughout the peloton in the difficult conditions, with Trek-Segafredo's Bauke Mollema dropping from second overall to 10th after a crash while Adam Yates slipped from third to fourth having been dropped on the final climb.
That means Froome now leads by four minutes and 11 seconds from AG2R La Mondiale's Bardet, who moved up from fifth place, with Quintana in third, a further 16 seconds back.
After losing touch, Yates is now fourth overall, 11 seconds off the podium, but still holding the white jersey as the best young rider with only one more mountain stage left before the traditional parade into Paris.
Bardet's second career Tour stage win, and France's first of this year's race, came by 23 seconds from Katusha's Joaquim Rodriguez and his fellow Spaniard Alejdandro Valverde of Movistar, with Quintana a further three seconds back.
Froome crossed the line ninth, 36 seconds behind Bardet.
PA
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