Chris Froome crosses finish line on foot but retains Tour de France Yellow Jersey as Thomas De Gendt wins 12th stage

Chris Froome retained the yellow jersey in the most bizarre circumstances after stage 12 of the Tour de France, which was clinched by Thomas De Gendt, ended in chaos on the slopes of Mont Ventoux.

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 troubled 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 in the incident 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.

After Froome finished around one minute and 40 seconds behind his rivals, 23-year-old Briton Adam Yates was shown as the new leader of the provisional general classification.

However, Froome then took to Twitter to confirm that he did indeed retain the Yellow Jersey. His lead was soon confirmed by the Tour de France official Twitter handle as well.

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.