Chris Froome denies barging into Tour rival Fabio Aru

Race leader Chris Froome has described suggestions that he deliberately barged into rival Fabio Aru during a gruelling Tour de France stage as "crazy."

Froome, who leads Aru by 18 seconds after nine stages, said during Monday's first rest day that he just made a mistake.

Many race observers thought the British rider might have barged into Aru in retaliation after the Italian champion appeared to launch an attack when Froome had a mechanical problem on the Mont du Chat climb.

"It was clear to me I had to change bikes straight away and it appeared that Fabio Aru accelerated at that moment," Froome said.

"I think certainly in the peloton there's a bit of an unwritten rule that when the race leader has some kind of an issue that prevents him from racing, then the group doesn't take advantage of a situation like that."

Froome later caught the Aru group but said the contact with the Astana rider was unintentional.

"Once I got back to the group I think the very next hairpin we went round I lost my balance a little bit and swerved to the right," he said.

"Aru happened to be on my right and he had to swerve as well. It was a genuine mistake and I think Fabio was the first to recognise that. I apologised straight away on the road as soon as it happened.

"Any suggestion that it was on purpose is just crazy. First of all, it's not anything I would ever do, and I was already on my spare bike, so to risk putting my derailleur into Aru's front wheel - it's just crazy. I wouldn't risk that at all."