Drama hits the Tour as the rain falls, riders fall, the classification implodes, and the French get a win with Bardet moving to 2nd overall

If this was the drama you felt was sorely lacking in this years Tour thus far, then you got it all in spades today. A reminder that the Tour is never over until it reaches Paris, or at least until it gets itself out of the high mountains...especially a mountain range in which the rain decides to descend upon it. It was unfortunate that a lot of the drama came by way of general classification riders crashing, but action packed it was nonetheless and while the rain played a big part, the tactics of Astana to drive the pace all day left me wondering why they had waited until three days to go to turn this kind of race on?

As it was the French got a win. Until today it had been a terrible Tour for the home nation. No winners and nobody seriously contending, or so it seemed. Romain Bardet has quietly gone about his Tour until today, sticking around, marking moves, hanging tight and keeping without touching distance of the podium without really being noticed. Now suddenly the French have a race win and Bardet is up to second overall and from a terrible Tour they are just one disaster day for Chris Froome away from having their man win it!

That may be unlikely but it may not be as unthinkable as it might have been twenty-four hours ago when Froome won the time-trial leaving some to write the Tour off as finished. It was hard not to, but today served to remind us that on days like this anything can happen. Tomorrow is another day of high mountains, tough climbs and dangerous descents and, according to the forecasts, more rain is a certainty.

Yes, Froome was tested severely toady and he'll be glad he had the buffer he did. And that this Tour isn't over came in the reminder of him hitting the ground on a wet corner on his way towards the final climb of the day. Vincenzo Nibali cam down with him and for a moment the Tour held its breath as Froome slid across the road. Banged up, bruised and his jersey ripped he was quickly on his feet however and in search of a team-mate. I am not sure if Sky played it on purpose to have all of Froome's helpers descending at the back of the pack just in case their man should go down and they would find themselves right on top of him to help, but it worked out perfectly. Froome had his pick of bikes to choose from when he noticed his own was damaged and always thinking, Froome turned to Geraint Thomas; a man of a similar height to Froome.

He was soon on his way and soon back with the main pack but he didn't look comfortable. Either he was injured or he wasn't quite comfortable on the Thomas bike, or probably a bit of both. He hung around near the back of the group either in trouble or hoping the Sky Team car could come up to him and allow him back onto his own replacement bike, but once it became clear that wasn't going to happen, Froome knuckled down, got back to the front and went about surviving up the final climb.

With this is mind, or perhaps with the knowledge that Bardet was sailing up the mountain and onto the podium, or the fact that coming into the day 2nd to 6th was separated by a mere 1min 8sec, the rest began to attack one another. Richie Porte went first, but he was bluffing and was soon caught and dropped. Fabio Aru kicked and the rest followed, with Nairo Quintana noticeably the first onto his wheel. Froome was suffering and the gap was opening.

Up front Bardet took the win to the delight of the French and with it the 10 second time bonus and the whole of France began to count. Next home were the Spanish duo of Joaquim Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde at 23sec; Quintana was at 26sec; Aru at 26sec; Froome laboured home with the support of his ever faithful helper Wout Poels at 36sec and Porte came home at 53sec.

But what of the two other podium men, Adam Yates and Bauke Mollema. Yates had it hard and lost 56sec, but the Dutchman had a disaster. He crashed earlier on the previous descent and lost contact and in trying to chase back he cracked. Much in the vain of Tom Dumoulin (who crashed out today with a suspected broken wrist) at last years Vuelta and Steven Kruijswijk at this years Giro, a Dutchman got within spitting distance of a top finish at a Grand Tour only to see it all unravel in the late stages. Mollema arrived home 4min 26sec down and plummeted from 2nd overall this morning to 10th overall tonight, 7min 42sec behind Froome.

As for Froome, well the funny thing is, despite this testing day in which he had a solid time advantage with which to play with, he actually extended his lead. He now hold a 4min 11sec lead over the second place of Bardet with Nairo Quintana, the man who seems set to follow wheels all around France in search of a podium finish, is up into third.

The battle for the podium has lost a man tonight in Mollema and realistically is now is limited to perhaps just four: Bardet, Quintana, Yates and Porte. All will fancy their chances, separated by 1min 6sec with Yates specifically just 19sec behind Quintana and Porte within a minute. Of course, I say realistically but with a stage like tomorrow's to come and that forecast of rain, the only realistic thing is that anything could happen.

How will each man respond tomorrow to the demands of today? Will Froome be banged up? Will Bardet still have the legs to contain the push from behind never mind try force Froome into a mistake? Can Porte or Yates bounce back? Or can Astana take control again and somehow try vault Aru up into contention and onto the podium.

Who said this Tour was boring with nothing left to offer? Who said that before they had rode through the Alps?

Overall standings after 19 stages:

1. Chris Froome (Sky) in 82h10'37"

2. Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) @ 4'11"

3. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) @ 4'27"

4. Adam Yates (Orica BikeExchange) @ 4'46"

5. Richie Porte (BMC) @ 5'17"

6. Fabio Aru (Astana) @ 6'00"