Chris Froome hit the deck but retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey in the Tour de France on the 19th stage, a crash-marred 146-km mountain trek won by Frenchman Romain Bardet in vintage style yesterday.

Froome fell about 13.5kms from the finish on a slippery descent and ended the stage on a team-mate’s bike with cuts and bruises on his back and right elbow.

Shortly after the 25-year-old Bardet lit up the race with an attack on the tricky descent towards the foot of the final ascent to Le Bettex, Froome crashed on a right-hand bend. He was back on Geraint Thomas’s bike and held firm in the favourites’ group.

AG2r-La Mondiale rider Bardet, who gave France their first win on this Tour, quickly caught early attacker Rui Costa in the climb, a 9.8km effort at an average gradient of eight per cent and went solo with 3.5kms left.

Froome, who crossed the line 36 seconds behind Bardet, now leads the Frenchman, who moved up from fifth to second overall, by 4:11 minutes.

Dutchman Bauke Mollema, who started the day in second place overall, also crashed and eventually lost a massive 4:25.

Colombian Nairo Quintana, runner-up in 2013 and 2015, is now third overall, 4:27 off the pace with one competitive stage left today, a 146.5-km mountain ride from Megeve to Morzine.

“I’m on cloud nine. That’s instinctive racing... no plan. I rode up the climb as fast as I could,” said Bardet, whose move forced his rivals to take risks in the descent.

Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, one of the favourites for the Olympic Games time trial in Rio next month, also crashed with about 62kms left before pulling out with a “severe wrist trauma”, according to a race doctor.