Having flown under the radar for the first two weeks of the race, Joaquím Rodriguez (Katusha) jumped from his group as they passed under the flamme rouge on Sunday’s Tour de France stage to the Mont Ventoux, hoping to make up a few seconds.

But ahead of him, Froome rolled over the line, with a large smile on his face and still enough vigour to rejoice.

"It was a difficult stage, from the beginning,” said 'Purito'. “In fact, as usual, in the first hour the group kept an impressive average speed. On the last part of the climb, I preferred to keep a regular pace, without replying to the attack and accelerations. Thanks to this, I could give my best in the very last part and recover as many seconds as possible."

Rodriguez finished 01’23” down on the day and trails the Briton by 07’11” in 8th place overall.