Tour de France: Jury hands yellow jersey back to Froome after crash

Froome was reduced to running up the mountain after his bike was broken when he, Richie Porte and Bauke Mollema collided with a television bike on the crowded mountain.

Froome lost around a minute and a half on his rivals on the road and slipped to sixth on the provisional general classification, 53 seconds behind fellow Briton Adam Yates, before the race jury intervened. Froome had been looking to extend his overall lead when he attacked alongside BMC’s Richie Porte late on a stage which was won from the breakaway by Lotto-Soudal’s Thomas De Gendt.

The pair were joined by Trek-Segafredo’s Mollema and were comfortably ahead of a group including Yates of Orica-BikeExchange and Movistar’s Nairo Quintana.

But trouble followed as a camera motorbike was forced to stop by the huge Bastille Day crowds on the mountain, and Porte rode straight into it before Froome and Mollema fell on top of him. Froome’s bike was broken and as the others picked themselves up, he desperately looked around for assistance before setting off running up the road.

He took a bike from the neutral service car but could not find traction on it and handed it back before taking a spare bike from the team car and finishing the stage, shaking his head furiously as he did so.

The provisional standings showed 23-year-old British rider Yates in yellow, before the race jury had their say.

Froome now leads the overall standings by 47 seconds from Yates, with Mollema third at 56 seconds behind and Quintana fourth, one minute and one second back.

Yates said he was happy with the decision. “I don’t want to take the jersey like that,” the 23-year-old Briton said. “I’d rather take it with my legs and not a crash in a bad situation.

“Everyone saw it, I don’t think anyone would want to take it that way. If I was in the same situation in the yellow jersey, I’d want the same outcome.”