Italian Jonathan Milan has claimed his second victory in this year's Tour de France by winning a crash-disrupted sprint in the 17th stage.
Milan prevailed in a 10-man sprint after the peloton was held up behind a massive crash with just 1 kilometre to go as riders went down on slippery roads in a rainy finish in south-eastern France.
Eritrean Biniam Girmay was attended to by race doctors.
Defending champion Tadej Pogacar crossed the finish line safely to retain the overall leader's yellow jersey.
"I'm really happy and without words, I have to say," said Milan, holder of the green jersey for the points classification.
"After surviving [the ascent to the Mont Ventoux on Tuesday], I didn't survive alone.
"I survived all this with the help of my teammates … maybe I would have already dropped in one of the climbs [of the day].
"So, with the help every single day of my teammates, we achieved this result. Today was a really tough stage … we controlled it from the beginning, of course, with the help of some other teams.
"But they helped me also when I dropped. In the first climb, in the second one, they really did a good pace."
France's Quentin Pacher and Mathieu Burgaudeau — as well as Jonas Abrahamsen of Norway and Italian Vincenzo Albanese — broke away early but stood little chance against the collective power of the sprinters' teams.
With the peloton breathing down their necks, Abrahamsen went solo with 11km remaining, only to be reined in 4.3km from the finish line.
Milan was the strongest in the reduced sprint, edging out Jordi Meeus of Belgium and Denmark's Tobias Lund Andresen, who were second and third, respectively.
Jarrad Drizners (Lotto) was among a host of Australians in a group who crossed the line together to claim 13th position.
Ben O'Connor (Team Jayco AlUla) is the best-placed Australian in 12th on the overall standings, 31:08 adrift of Pogacar.
Thursday's 18th stage is a brutal mountain trek between Vif and the Col de la Loze, one of the most feared ascents in the Tour de France.
Reuters/ABC
