GERAINT Thomas was able to laugh off a dramatic crash which saw him clatter into a telegraph pole on stage 16 of the Tour de France.
Spaniard Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida) won the 201-kilometres route from Bourg-de-Peage, leaving Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) second for a fifth time in the race and 16th time in all.
Plaza held off Sagan on a daring final descent of the Col de Manse, where Team Sky's Thomas was nudged off a precipice by Frenchman Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin).
The 29-year-old from Cardiff flipped over his handlebars and tumbled off the road.
Amazingly he recovered to finish 38 seconds behind the Froome group, which comprised the main contenders.
Thomas said: "Just stay where you are. There's only eight or 10 of us in a group.
"Everyone knows it's a dodgy descent, I just got taken out. One hundred per cent it was a mistake.
"We were just coming into a tight right, Barguil just came straight into me. Nothing you can do there.
"I'm okay, just hit my head on the lamp post, but I'm all right.
"The doctor asked me a few questions, my name and stuff. I said I'm Chris Froome."
Thomas remained sixth, five minutes 32 seconds behind Froome, entering Tuesday's rest day.
Froome, who rolled in 18 minutes 12 seconds behind Plaza, maintained his lead of three minutes 10 seconds over nearest challenger Nairo Quintana (Movistar) ahead of Wednesday's first of four stages in the Alps.
The race finishes on Sunday in Paris.
Reports off the bike, meanwhile, suggested Sir Dave Brailsford was considering releasing performance data to support his defence of Froome after the Team Sky principal was ambushed by the Tour's host broadcaster on Sunday.
Froome's performances have been closely scrutinised, particularly his win to La Pierre-Saint-Martin, and France 2 broadcast its own expert analysis after the 15th stage to say the 30-year-old had an "abnormally high" power profile.
Team Sky may choose to address the ongoing insinuations on Tuesday's rest day, insisting Froome is a clean athlete, but Brailsford has always stated it is not possible to prove a negative, that Froome is drug free, and has asked for intervention from cycling's world governing body, the UCI.
Such a data release may not be the end of the matter as it could invite more questions than answers for a media and public sceptical after years of drug-riddled performances at the Tour.
Froome was asked his weight, used to calculate power, during his post-race TV interview on France 2.
Froome, who is said to be around 67 kilograms, said: "I've actually gained a little bit of weight during the race, but not a lot."
Froome, who fought off attacks from a number of rivals, added: "There's only really four racing stages left now. Looking forward to the rest day now.
"The race is definitely not over, as we could see today. All the teams were trying to attack, as we can expect all the way til Paris."
Monday's stage was likely Sagan's final chance to claim a fifth Tour stage win and first since 2013 as the Champs-Elysees finale will likely be a battle of the pure sprinters.
The Slovakian was among the day's main protagonists and embarked on a daring descent, but Plaza won by 30 seconds.
Froome, who saw key lieutenant Pete Kennaugh abandon the Tour following illness, allowed defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) to make gains up the second and final 8.9km climb, but nullified an attack by Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo).
Nibali gained only 28secs on the Froome group to remain almost eight minutes behind.
Contador stayed fifth, 4mins 23secs behind, after his attack was foiled.
