Chris Froome
Chris Froome carries his bike after crashing on the 12th stage of the Tour de France. Getty Images

Friday’s race didn’t exactly go as planned for Chris Froome, but he is still in control at the 2016 Tour de France. After crashing on stage 19, the British professional cyclist maintained his sizable first-place lead.

Froome has a four-minute, 11-second lead over France’s Romain Bardet, who won Friday’s stage and moved up to second overall in the standings. Froome finished 36 seconds behind the Frenchman, crashing just 13.5 kilometers away from the finish line.

"I think that I hit one of the white lines on the road and lost my front wheel," Froome said after the race. "I'm okay, I'm lucky that nothing is seriously injured. A crash like that could have gone either way and I'm grateful that nothing is injured. You never have a quiet day at the Tour."

Froome quickly got back up, switching bikes with teammate Geraint Thomas. The two-time champion was clearly in pain after falling off his bike while riding at 45 kph.

"I just lost a bit of skin but today is a day when I'm grateful for that four minute-advantage to fall back on a bit," Froome said. "It was great for me to have teammates all the way up until the finish there, with Wout in particular and all the guys. It was a great team effort and it feels great to be one day closer to Paris."

Colombia’s Nairo Quintana moved up to third place, while Adam Yates goes from third to fourth place overall.

Overall Standings After Stage 19

1) Chris Froome

2) Romain Bardet, 4'11"

3) Nairo Quintana, 4'27"

4) Adam Yates, 4'46"

5) Richie Porte, 5'17"

6) Fabio Aru, 6'00"

7) Alejandro Valverde, 6'20"

8) Louis Meintjes, 7'02"

9) Daniel Martin, 7'10"

10) Bauke Mollema, 7'42"

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