Cycling-Peraud soldiers on despite nasty crash

RODEZ, France, July 17 (Reuters) - Jean-Christophe Peraud fell heavily in Friday's 13th stage of the Tour de France but still battled back to the peloton despite heavy bruising and blood dripping from his left arm. The Frenchman crashed on a gravelled road 134 km into the 198.5-km ride from Muret, but quickly remounted and rejoined the others after receiving treatment from the race doctor as he pedalled. The 38-year-old finished the stage 5:44 behind the winner, Belgium's Greg van Avermaet, after also bringing bottles from the accompanying car to his team mates on a searingly hot afternoon. "He's got deep wounds on his shoulder and elbow and his little finger is hurting," said team manager Vincent Lavenu. "He's a brave lad, he managed to make it back to the peloton, it's quite an achievement." Lavenu said no decision had been made yet on whether Peraud, who sustained deep bruises on his hand, elbow, hip and thigh, would continue on Saturday. Peraud had already fallen out of contention in the Pyrenees earlier this week. (Reporting by Julien Pretot, editing by Alan Baldwin)