Jarlinson Pantano wins brutal 15th stage of Tour de France

Froome’s short acceleration had no impact and the group crossed the finish line together, slightly more than three minutes behind stage victor Jarlinson Pantano.

Majka, who nearly crashed on the day’s final descent from the Lacets du Grand Colombier, got the stage’s combativity prize.

Majka was also present in the breakaway and began claiming the points which would eventually move him back into the King of the Mountains jersey at the close of the day, with the Polish national champion having previously triumphed in the classification back in 2014.

The 160 kilometre stage from Bourg-en-Bresse to Culoz saw just a handful of half-hearted attacks against the yellow jersey and Team Sky were able to cover them to keep Froome nearly two minutes clear overall.

The 23-year-old Brit slipped to third overall behind Mollema after the time trial on Friday. “It’s a dream come true”. It’s incredible. The last climb has been extremely hard. “I knew that if I was catching him in the descent I’d have a good chance to win”.

“I’ve always been good – I was third at the Tour de l’Avenir that Quintana won”. There was one loser on the day, American Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing), who suffered up the final climb of the day, the Lacets du Grand Colombier.

“I came to the Tour de France for that, but I didn’t believe it could happen. I’m a lot more patient than I was previous year”. All the hard work and sacrifices pay off now.

There has been speculation throughout the Tour that Cavendish would at some point withdraw to focus on Rio, but with such strong form he will have an eye on a fifth career victory on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

“There’s two more sprint opportunities, I think”, he said. During the race I expected them from Movistar in particular because they had two strong guys in the breakaway. Obviously Bardet tried his move at the top but I had the feeling that no one had the legs to make a difference. “I’m pretty p*****. But I don’t want to point the finger at Cavendish, he’s a great champion”.

“After the crash with Froomey, I was riding up trying to gain some time back because I’d already started my attack to try to get across”, Yates explained.

“I didn’t see it”, Cavendish said of the incident with Kittel. “I really thought today’s stage was a ideal opportunity for the other teams to put us under pressure, especially with (his Sky teammate) Geraint Thomas getting a puncture on the second last climb out there – we were one man down”.

Swiss Sebastien Reichenbach, who started the Tour as Frenchman Thibaut Pinot’s lieutenant, was the best-placed rider in the overall standings as he started in 17th place, 11:41 off the pace.