Chris Froome got a scare when he crashed in today's stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné but luckily he escaped the incident without any major injuries. He praises Astana and Tinkoff-Saxo for showing great sportsmanship by waiting for the race leader.

Chris Froome retained his race lead after the sixth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine despite a late crash as Jan Bakelants took a breakaway victory.

Froome suffered a big scare in the closing kilometres when he crashed on a descent and was forced to change his bike, but great work from Geraint Thomas ensured that race leader was safely paced back up to the peloton.

There was no change at the top of the general classification at the end of the stage and Froome will head into the final weekend of the Dauphine with his 12-second lead over Alberto Contador intact.

Team Sky spent the majority of the 178.5km stage from Grenoble to Poisy on the front of the peloton, with Vasil Kiryienka, David López, Danny Pate and Xabier Zandio all taking long turns on the front to keep the breakaway in check.

FDJ and Katusha briefly joined in the pace-making after missing out on the breakaway, but Team Sky were content to let the escapees have their day as they approached Poisy, with Bakelants the biggest threat at over six minutes down in the general classification.

The Belgian took the stage win in a two-up sprint with Lieuwe Westra (Astana) after the duo jumped clear of their fellow breakaway riders, with Zdenek Stybar (OPQS) winning the bunch sprint for third place.

After the stage, Froome explained that he wasn’t sure what had caused his crash on the run into the finish and praised the peloton, who slowed when they heard that the race leader had fallen.

He said: “I had bit of a crash in the final. Obviously, it is quite painful but I was OK to finish the stage. It looks OK, I am just a little bit grazed for tomorrow.

“It is more just my hip, elbow and shoulder, but more than anything I just want to thank the other riders for neutralising the race. That is really big of them – good sportsmanship.

“I am not actually sure what happened. On the descent there was a hole in the road and I hit the hole and lost my front wheel. I had a bit of a crash, I don't even know how it happened, my front wheel went into a ditch. It's painful but nothing is broken. I need a few bandages. But this is very minor.

"I was in a difficult situation but the peloton slowed down. I'm thankful to my rivals. The teams Tinkoff-Saxo and Astana were first to ask everyone to wait for me. They've showed a lot of respect for me and a great sportsmanship.

"I'll see tomorrow how I feel in the morning but we have a difficult stage ahead. It's not a climb that I know. But I know that anyone with good legs in the finale will try to attack. Anyway, it's not up to me to attack tomorrow.”