With the 15km road to the finish being the only seriously categorised climb on the 167km route from Tarbes, Movistar set the early pace on the lower slopes towards La Pierre-Saint-Martin and such was the high tempo that 2014 Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali was unable to maintain contact.
As Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte gained control for Team Sky at the front of the remaining peleton, increasing numbers of riders were encountering difficulties and became dislodged from the leading group. With the relentless pace continuing, the sight of Alberto Contador being cast adrift was another surprise, but given the fact that his racing team-mate Ivan Basso had withdrawn from the Tour on Monday after being diagnosed with testicular cancer, there may have been emotional excuses for Contador producing a below par performance.
Froome won the stage by nearly a minute from Porte but the damage to the other main contenders had been considerable. His lead in the overall classification has now stretched to 2:52 from American Tejay van Garderen who finished two and a half minutes behind Froome on the day with Quintana now over three minutes adrift of the Team Sky rider.
For Nibali and Contador, their prospects for claiming victory in the overall classification now appear bleak and it needs a serious downturn in the form of the Team Sky riders to offer hope for any of the other contenders.
Yet on the evidence of the form produced by Chris Froome on Tuesday, there is every possibility of him extending his advantage over the coming days as both he and his team-mates actually appeared fairly comfortable on that final climb compared to the struggling peleton.
[sc:tourdefrance ]