Chris Froome surrendered the yellow jersey to Fabio Aru as Romain Bardet won stage 12 of the Tour de France in Peyragudes.

Froome faded badly on the brutal final climb of the 214.5km stage from Pau while Aru finished third to take the final bonus seconds on offer.

The Italian national champion now leads the Tour by six seconds from Froome, with Bardet closing to within 25 seconds of yellow in third place overall.

A tough day in the mountains finished with a climb of the airstrip at Peyragudes, only a few hundred metres long but with gradients nearing 20 per cent.

The group of favourites came to the foot of the climb together, but after Aru struck out first, Froome struggled to respond.

Frenchman Bardet timed his attack to perfection, taking victory ahead of Aru and Colombian Rigoberto Uran, both two seconds back but picking up bonus seconds.

Froome finished a lowly seventh, 22 seconds behind Bardet.

Irishman Dan Martin was sixth, 13 seconds behind the winner while Simon Yates came home ninth in the best young riders’ white jersey, but gave up 20 seconds to rival Louis Meintjes of UAE Team Emirates.