ROUBAIX, France — Richie Porte sat on the pavement grasping his right shoulder and grimacing in pain. A fan helped Chris Froome get going after he tumbled onto grass lining the road. Romain Bardet recovered from three punctured tires.

And they were only the highest-profile riders to face mishaps in the action-packed cobblestoned Stage 9 of the Tour de France on Sunday.

Every cyclist who reached the finish was covered in dust — many with jerseys torn to shreds from crashes.

John Degenkolb won a three-man sprint to take victory in a memorable stage, while overall contender Porte crashed out of the race.

Yellow-jersey holder Greg Van Avermaet crossed second and increased his overall lead to 43 seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas, a teammate of Froome’s at Sky. Yves Lampaert of Quick-Step finished third.

“It was a pretty hectic day,” Van Avermaet said after the dust settled.

Added Thomas, “It was just hard all day from kilometer zero. You’ve got to be in the right position but you also need the luck because it’s easy to puncture or get caught up in something.”

Froome, the four-time champion, crossed in the main pack, 27 seconds behind, overcoming a crash with 45 kilometers (28 miles) to go that saw him go over the top of teammate Gianni Moscon.

“I’m relieved to get through today and looking forward to getting into the mountains now,” Froome said.