Sky woes continue with Thomas crash

Subsequently, he went headlong into a telephone pole and stumbled down an embankment before coming to a rest. He bounced off it and disappeared into a dark thicket of woods, with his bike, scattering roadside spectators who leapt out of the way.

The same descent provided one of the most famous incidents in the race’s 112-year history in 2003 when Josep Beloki crashed in front of Lance Armstrong and the American, on his way to winning the fifth of the seven titles he has since been stripped of, had to go across a field to rejoin the race after avoiding the Spaniard. “I didn’t do it on goal”.

Thomas meanwhile lost just 37 seconds despite that crash and remains sixth overall. So much so that when asked if he still remembers his name, Thomas jokingly replied: “Chris Froome”.

“Everyone knows it’s a dodgy descent, I just got taken out”.

“I feel all right for now”. “A nice Frenchman pulled me out”.

Froome’s performances have been closely scrutinised, particularly his win to La Pierre-Saint-Martin, and France 2 broadcast its own expert analysis after the 15th stage to say the 30-year-old had an “abnormally high” power profile. “He’s a tough guy”.

Racing was extremely fast due to a tailwind and numerous riders tried to make the day’s breakaway, desperate to seize a potentially final chance to take a stage win before four days in the Alps and the ceremonial finish in Paris on Sunday, which is likely to conclude in a sprint.

John Degenkolb of the Giant-Alpecin team was second, Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff third and Peter Sagan of Tinkoff-Saxo finished fourth on the 183-kilometer (114-mile) stage from Mende.

Nibali gained only 28secs on the Froome group to remain nearly eight minutes behind. But the Italian is still 7:49 off the lead, in eighth place. The Spanish rider left that group of escapees on the final climb, the mid-grade Manse pass, and held them off on the 12-kilometer (7-mile) descent to the finish at Gap in the foothills of the Alps.

Slovakian Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) was among the day’s main protagonists, but had to settle for second for a fifth time in this year’s Tour – and a 16th time in all – as Plaza (Lampre-Merida) won on the 201-kilometres route from Bourg-de-Peage. I’ve got no doubt about it.