Geraint Thomas was left frustrated after being caught-up in a crash in a dramatic finish to stage eight of the Tour de France.

The defending champ saw fellow Team Ineos rider Gianni Moscon’s bike snapped in half in the pile-up caused when Michael Woods crashed with around 15km left on the stage from Macon to Saint-Etienne.

Thomas chased back to the peloton after the crash, but then saw rivals Julian Alaphilippe and Thibaut Pinot attack on the final climb as they chased stage winner Thomas De Gendt.

Cardiff-born Thomas remains fifth on the General Classification but lost time to Pinot and Alaphilippe as the Frenchman regained the Yellow Jersey.

“I’m fine, but it’s just frustrating as the crash happened at a key point in the race,” said the 33-year-old.

“Woods crashed and took out Gianni and me and I just got tangled up in Gianni’s bike, it took a bit of time to get going, but the boys did a great job to get me back to the group.

“I caught up for the final ascent, was moving up a bit and by the time I got to the top 15-20, that’s when Alaphilippe and Pinot attacked over the top to take the bonus seconds and I was gassed for a bit.

“I didn’t want to ride on the front and tow everyone, Sunweb had numbers and there were a few other guys trying to ride and you’re sat there thinking ‘oh come on’.

“It’s annoying and frustrating, but at the same time, to come back like I did shows the legs are good.”

Thomas was able to chase back to the peloton thanks to teammates Wout Poels, Dylan van Baarle and Jonathan Catroviejo who guided him back to the bunch before the final climb.

However, just as he made it back to the main group, Alaphilippe and Pinot attacked on the final climb to earn bonus seconds at the peak of the ascent.

Fellow Team Ineos rider Egan Bernal and Thomas finished ninth and 10th respectively, 20 seconds behind the French duo who were six seconds adrift of De Gendt.

“You don’t want to give any unnecessary time away and if I hadn’t have crashed I could have followed them and it would have been a totally different story,” said Thomas, now one minute 12 seconds behind.

“But that’s the way it goes. There’s still a lot of racing to come.”

Stage eight result

1. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) 5:00:17
2. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama – FDJ) +6”
3. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) s.t.
4. Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) +26″
5. Peter Sagan (Bora Hansgrohe) s.t.
9. Egan Bernal (Team INEOS) s.t.
10. Geraint Thomas (Team INEOS) s.t.

Overall Standings:

1. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 34:17:59
2. Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) +23”
3. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama – FDJ) +53”
4. George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) +1’10”
5. Geraint Thomas (Team INEOS) +1’12”
6. Egan Bernal (Team INEOS) +1’16”