Tour de France Stage 19: Bardet wins as Froome crashes (+ videos)

Romain Bardet of AG2R-La Mondiale has given the home counry its first stage victory in the 2016 Tour de France on  a day of drama in the Alps in which race leader Chris Froome crashed and crossed the line on a bike borrowed from a team mate and in evident discomfort with his yellow jersey in tatters and blood seeping from cuts on his back and arm.

- Video: Chris Froome crashes on wet descent during stage 19

The Team Sky rider came down on a descent with a little more than 10 kilometres of the 146 kilometre Stage 19 from Albertville to Saint Gervais-Mont Blanc remaining, and grabbed team mate Geraint Thomas’s bike to tackle the final summit finish of this year’s race.

Finishing in ninth place, 36 seconds behind Bardet, Froome managed to take time out of the other two riders occupying podium positions this morning, Trek Segafredo’s Bauke Mollema, who tumbled down the overall standings, and Orica-BikeExchange’s Adam Yates.

Bardet was the day’s big winner, and not just because of the stage victory he claimed when he hunted down and passed Lampre-Merida’s Rui Costa, who had attacked solo from the break, on that final climb.

The 25-year-old moves second overall, and his win today also means that France will avoid going an edition of the race without a home stage win – something that has only ever happened twice before, in 1926 and 1999.

Despite his crash, the race leader extended his overall lead to 4 minutes 11 seconds ahead of Bardet, with Movistar's Nairo Quintana moving into third overall, 16 seconds down on the Frenchman and 9 seconds ahead of Yates, who drops to fourth.

Froome’s was just one of a number of crashes today apparently caused by a combination of the rain and a newly laid road surface, with the descents proving particularly hazardous.

The most high profile of those, besides the one that saw the race leader come down, involved  the favourite for the Olympic time trial next month, Tom Dumoulin, who crashed out of the race with a little more than 60 kilometres left.

The Giant-Alpecin rider, winner of two stages in the race and second to Froome yesterday, was in tears as he waited for his team car.

The race doctor said that the Dutchman had hurt his wrist and was in pain, and while an x-ray will be needed to ascertain if there are any fractures, it looks as though his Rio dream may be over.