Chris Froome suffers multiple injuries in Tour crash

The Team Sky leader suffered a grazed left hip and torn cycling shorts after a touch of wheels in the peloton on the 163.5-kilometre stage from Le Touquet-Paris-Plage to Lille.

Froome began the day in fifth overall after three stages in the United Kingdom.

Froome was swiftly back on his bike after the collision which also brought down Bauke Mollema (Belkin) and rejoined the main pack for a stage which is expected to end in a bunch sprint.

The Briton had been hoping for an incident-free day ahead of Wednesday's cobbled route from Ypres to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, which could shake up the general classification.

Froome crashed during June's Criterium du Dauphine, damaging his left side, but it was too early to determine the full impact of the latest blow to the same side.

He visited the official race vehicle's medical car to receive attention from a doctor.