Chris Froome narrowly avoided a late crash on stage six to remain in second place overall at the Tour de France. The Brit was forced to unclip on the steep finish of the Cote d'Ingouville after a group of contenders, including race leader Tony Martin, fell into his path.

 

Froome stayed upright but was forced to stop metres later, eventually finishing the stage without time-loss alongside his team-mates due to the three-kilometre rule. The maillot jaune of Martin (Etixx - Quick-Step) checked up following a touch of wheels and fell across the road, taking down Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and also collecting Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) in the process.

 

While all the riders were able to remount and finish the stage in Le Havre, Martin looked visibly injured as he crossed the line with the help of his team. Another team-mate of the German's, Zdenek Stybar, pushed clear in the final metres to hold off the chasing pack by two seconds and win the stage.

 

With the GC largely unchanged, Froome retained second overall, 12 seconds back on Martin. Once again Team Sky ensured that their team leader remained positioned towards the head of affairs.

 

After the stage Froome talked TeamSky.com through the late crash and admitted he was happy to come through a difficult moment unscathed.

 

He confirmed:

 

"I took a knock on my knee bone and there was a little bit of blood there, but nothing more than that, I'm absolutely fine. I had to wait on the roadside as my rear wheel was buckled and I couldn't ride on.

 

"Until the finish today's stage was definitely the most straightforward we've had so far. We had good weather, no crazy winds, and the pace of the racing was a little more relaxed. For me, it was about staying out of trouble and the guys did a good job in keeping me towards the front of the bunch.”

 

"As I've said before, I'm really happy with how things have gone up to this point and couldn't have asked for any better. Hopefully we can keep that."

 

With much-feared winds never fully materialising across the 191.5km test the stage was able to settle into a rhythm under bright skies.

 

After five kilometres three riders - Kenneth van Bilsen (Cofidis), Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka) and Perrig Quemeneur (Europcar) - headed up the road but saw their advantage pegged, with a number of teams willing to lend their weight to the front of the peloton.

 

Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) attacked briefly after the intermediate sprint but was hauled back by the peloton. van Bilsen the final man to be reeled in with 3km to go as the fight for position, and ultimately a dramatic crash, rounded out the stage.