Amidst the drama of the Granon Pass finisher on stage 11, only one of the Tour de France's top 70 overall finishers remained where they were when they left Albertville in the morning.

Jonas Vingegaard took the yellow jersey from Tadej Pogachar, while Romain Bardet and Nairo Quintana put in strong runs in the steep summit finish to break into the top five.

Between the former yellow jersey holder and the Colombian, Ineos Grenadier co-leader Geraint Thomas held firm in fourth place overall. The Welshman moved into fourth place, 1:38 behind Vingegaard and 1:13 behind Pogachar, and although he was further from the yellow than in the morning, he was only 10 seconds behind second-place Bardet.

After the stage, Thomas assessed the day's racing and his own results with his typical understatement, saying it had been a "solid day" for him.

"It was a solid day, hard fought. It all came down to the last climb. I didn't expect Pogachar to crack like that.

"I think Vingegaard has a clear advantage now. 'But he's 10 seconds behind Balde, and Pogachar is still between him and Quintana.' [Adam Yatesy is also still there. It's all a game."

"Obviously Vingegaard and Yumbo are super strong, but nobody expected that today, just like Pogachar did. So we don't know about Vingegaard.

While the events of the final climb would make the day's headlines, the race exploded much earlier when Jumbo-Visma was attacked hard by Primoš Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard with 60km remaining on the Galibier Pass.

Ineos Grenadier initially selected Thomas, Yates, and Tom Pidcock for the main group. The latter two dropped out of the pack, but Yates passed Pogachar on the final climb to finish in sixth place.

"I expected to be a bit off, but it really happened. Jumbo Visma was super strong and had a clear plan. I expected Telegraph and Galibier to be tough, but I didn't expect the four of them to go 30-30 down Galibier.

"The feeling was good. Honestly, I wanted to be in the group behind [after Galibier]. But you never know, you just have to be there."