Geraint Thomas was sitting nicely in 2nd on GC in Paris-Nice when all his dreams were ruined by a bad crash just 4km from the line in today's penultimate stage. Luckily, the Welshman finished the stage and has no broken bones but his dreams of winning the Race to the Sun have been dashed.

Geraint Thomas dropped out of contention at Paris-Nice after suffering a late crash on the penultimate stage.

Thomas had been well positioned heading into Biot for the final time of asking, but took a tumble with four other riders after colliding with a barrier on the final descent of the day.

Luckily, the Welshman was able to get back on his bike and complete the stage, but his general classification hopes were left in tatters after he crossed the line over seven minutes adrift.

It was Tom-Jelte Slagter who was celebrating on the day, with the Garmin-Sharp rider timing his kick to perfection to win a reduced-bunch sprint ahead of Rui Costa (Lampre – Merida) and yellow jersey holder Carlos Bentancur (AG2R).

Those results ensured Betancur stayed top the overall standings and the Colombian holds a 14-second advantage over Costa heading into Sunday’s concluding stage. Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) sits 13 seconds back in third position, with Thomas now 38th in the general classification.

Doctor Richard Usher was pleased to report that the Welshman’s injuries weren’t as serious as originally feared.

“Thankfully nothing appears to be broken,” he told us. “Geraint’s got multiple bruises and abrasions but we’ve cleaned him up and he won’t need a trip to the hospital. He’s travelled back to the hotel with us this evening and we’ll monitor his situation closely overnight.”

Sports Director Nicolas Portal admitted it had been a relatively straightforward day before Thomas suffered his crash and revealed his riders would still try to go out with a bang on Sunday.

“We’d been able to put G in a good position and were able to cover any moves which put him under pressure,” he said. “It’s such a shame G fell because the team have worked brilliantly all week and he was in great condition. That’s bike racing though so we have to look forwards now. Tomorrow we might try to put someone in the break, and we also have other guys here that could go for a stage victory.

“It’s going to be another hard day on Sunday and a lot of riders will drop off the pace before the finish. We’ll aim to be right there though, because it would be nice to end this race on a high.”