Froome knocked down after being accosted by gendarme

Paris, July 27: A bad day for Chris Froome took another turn for the worse when he was accidentally knocked off his bike by a gendarme after stage 17 of the Tour de France.

Froome's hopes of winning a record-equalling fifth Tour title are all-but over after he ran out of steam on the last of three brutal climbs on a gruelling 65-kilometre route from Bagneres-de-Luchon to Saint-Lary-Soulan.

Geraint Thomas strengthened his grip on the yellow jersey with another strong ride, while a weary Froome dropped back to third in the general classification – two minutes, 31 seconds adrift of his Team Sky team-mate.

To make matters worse, Froome came off his bike as he was accosted by a police officer during his ride back down the Col du Portet to the team bus.

Team Sky and Froome made no comment on the incident, but team boss Dave Brailsford apologised for putting hostilities his riders have faced during the race down to a "French cultural thing".

He said: "My intention was never to criticise the entire French nation. I'm a Francophile. I think anybody who knows me knows that wasn't my intention but I was pretty agitated about the attention we were getting.

"Of course, I don't believe that spitting is a French cultural thing, but my point was that we only get that kind of thing at the Tour de France.

"There was a certain section of the crowd misbehaviour that I don't think any fair-minded people would think was acceptable,

"France has given me such a fantastic experience over so many years that I'd never be ungrateful for that. The issue was more security. It's been quieter, it's been calmer since we came towards Spain."