Tour de France 2017: Froome takes control as Porte, Thomas crash out

Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) has been forced to abandon the 2017 Tour de France after a hard crash on a descent during Stage 9.

Earlier, Geraint Thomas of Team Sky also crashed out of the race.

Riding in a select group of race favourites in pursuit of lone leader Barguil, the Australian left the road on the inside of a tight bend on the final descent of the Mont du Chat.

"Richie (Porte) was quite instrumental in slowing that group down, saying this is not the time to attack the leader of the race, so thanks to Richie and I hope he makes a speedy recovery".

"He was conscious, it's reassuring, he is being transferred to the hospital", Pommery said.

Martin, though, produced a remarkable ride despite his two crashes to limit his losses.

"I had a mechanical problem with my gears, I had to change bike", said three-times champion Froome.

During stage eight to Station des Rousses on Saturday, Thomas and Froome went into a corner too fast on a descent, with Thomas hitting a hay bale and taking the scab off a wound sustained in one of the earlier crashes.

Briton Froome's four bonus seconds on the line helped him increase his lead to 18 seconds over Italian Fabio Aru, who moved up a place to second with Thomas having quit the race.

Uran, who has never finished higher than 23rd in the Tour, climbed to fourth in the general classification, 51 seconds behind Bardet. Dutchman Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Italy's Manuele Mori (UAE Team Emirates) fell inside the opening 10km and both were forced out, the former with a fractured vertebrae less than a day after he finished runner-up in Stage 8.

Quick-Step Floors rider Martin got back on his bike after he took a new wheel from a neutral support vehicle.

Monday is a rest day and the fight for the overall title is set to resume next Thursday with the first big Pyrenean stage.