A 10-rider breakaway group, including stage 13 winner Warren Barguil of France, developed at the start of the 189 kilometre stage.

They were joined by a further 18 riders as the race reached the second of four climbs of the day, which came with nearly 100km remaining.

Germany’s Tony Martin sought to use his time trial expertise when he launched a solo attack with around 66km to go, as the race approached the Col de Peyra Taillade.

There was drama down the road in the yellow jersey group when AG2R-La Mondiale picked up the pace to boost Romain Bardet’s general classification hopes.

With the Frenchman’s team setting the pace, Froome suffered a mechanical problem, with the Team Sky rider requiring a spare wheel from Michal Kwiatkowski of Poland.

He was then paced back to the group by team-mates Mikel Nieve and Mikel Landa of Spain.

Barguil and Mollema were able to chase down the leader on the road, Martin, before launching their own individual bids for the stage win.

While Barguil would eventually fade, Mollema was able to stay clear to claim the stage win in a time of 4 hours, 41min and 47sec.

"It's really amazing, I'm so happy to win a stage at the Tour de France," Mollema said.

"I've worked for it so hard in the last few years, that was a big goal for me.

"This is the biggest win of my career so far.

"The Tour de France has always been my dream.

"I'm incredibly happy."

The general classification contenders would mostly finish together, although Ireland’s Dan Martin was able to gain 14 seconds on the yellow jersey group with a late move.

Froome remains as the overall leader, with Italian national champion Fabio Aru still lying in second place 18 seconds behind.

Bardet is third at 23 seconds off the race lead, with Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran and Martin at 29 seconds and 1:12 off the pace respectively.

The International Cycling Union WorldTour race will continue on Tuesday (July 18), following tomorrow's rest day.