The mountain stage began with a 12-man breakaway move, which included Germany’s Marcel Kittel and Australia’s Michael Matthews, with the pair aiming to secure sprint points for the green jersey.

Both riders gradually dropped back after the intermediate sprint, with Belgium’s Thomas De Gendt and then Britain’s Steve Cummings breaking clear of the group to pursue a potential stage win.

The pair had an advantage of around four minutes on the penultimate of six climbs on the route, with Cummings eventually passing the Belgian to go solo.

Riding on the 50^th anniversary of the death of Tom Simpson, the first British rider to wear the race leader’s yellow jersey, Cummings was targeting a stage victory for the third consecutive Tour de France.

His lead would continue to diminish as the general classification contenders raised the pace on approach to the Col de Peyresourde.

Despite the advantage increasing when Froome and Italian national champion Aru briefly went off road, Cummings was eventually caught and passed by a select group.

With his Team Sky team-mates peeling off the front, Froome appeared certain to attack in the closing kilometres.

The Briton, though, was surprisingly dropped in the final 200 metres of the stage as Bardet came through to claim victory in a time of 5hr, 49min and 38sec.

Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran continued his renaissance to end as the runner-up at two seconds back, alongside Aru.

Spain’s Mikel Landa was fourth at 5sec, with South Africa’s Louis Meintjes and Ireland’s Dan Martin at 7sec and 13sec.

Froome rolled over the line in seventh, finishing 22sec off the pace of the stage winner.

Due to the time bonuses gained by his rivals, the three-time winner lost the yellow jersey for the first time in his career.

“I looked behind and I saw Chris Froome a bit behind,” said Aru, the new race leader.

“Calculating quickly, I thought the yellow jersey was mine and I felt a formidable emotion when I got confirmation of it.

“It's a great satisfaction.

“I don't want to think of tomorrow because I know since I looked at the route that this is a very dangerous stage.

“We know from previous stage races that short stages can make some serious damage.

“Despite their injuries, my team-mates will be on my side to defend the yellow jersey, I'll start tomorrow's stage with the same serenity I had those past few days.”

Aru is 6sec ahead of Froome in the general classification after the stage, with Bardet raising French hopes at 25sec.

The impressive Uran is 55sec off the pace in fourth overall.

A tough 101km stage from Saint-Girons to Foix could cause further changes to the general classification tomorrow.