Froome not only finished in yellow to supersede Sir Bradley Wiggins as the Briton to have spent the most days in the maillot jaune — today will take him to 15 — but dropped his three main rivals in the process. The manner in which he accelerated away from Alberto Contador on the concluding climb in pursuit of stage winner Joaquim Rodriguez is sure to give him confidence.

But it was 50km earlier that the real carnage occurred and which led to race leader Fabian Cancellara having to pull out of his final Tour with broken bones in his back.

The sickening crash happened when William Bonnet seemingly caught the rear wheel of the rider in front, taking 20 or so down with him as the yellow jersey wearer was sent somersaulting through the air.

Three riders were forced to abandon the race immediately with a variety of broken bones while a dazed Cancellara suffered for the remainder of the stage, finishing almost 12 minutes adrift and ending up in hospital.

A further crash shortly afterwards, again involving some 20 riders and this time marking the end of the race for Dmitry Kozonchuk, led to the unprecedented decision to stop the race for about 10 minutes.

As the race organisers explained afterwards, it was not to give Cancellara the opportunity to rejoin the peloton but because the medical services were now spread across two crash sites and therefore unable to support the majority of riders who remained upright. As Team Sky’s Sir Dave Brailsford said: ‘Life is about taking a set of rules and applying them to a given circumstance. I am all for that kind of decision-making.’

He was just as supportive of Froome’s decision to lead the peloton up the Mur de Huy, the 2013 Tour winner attacking his main rivals as the 1.3km climb reached a torturous 25 per cent in gradient and putting yet more time between himself and his rivals. Only Rodriguez finished ahead of Froome, with Vincenzo Nibali and Nairo Quintana 11 seconds behind and Contador a further seven seconds adrift.

Quintana, the Colombian climbing specialist seen by many as the favourite coming into this race, is now almost two minutes down on Froome. Contador, who is chasing an ambitious 2015 double after winning the Giro, looked like a man still feeling those Italian climbs in his legs.

With 13km of cobbles and rain a distinct possibility today, there could be more crashes on what, at 223.5km, will be the longest stage of the Tour. As Brailsford pointed out, Sky will at least have the advantage of being the lead car.

‘Anything could happen but I have a strong team and I’m sure they will protect me,’ said Froome.

(dailymail.co.uk)