Tour de France organisers have announced Chris Froome will retain the yellow jersey after chaotic scenes on stage 12 where he was forced to run up Mont Ventoux after a crash.

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Froome appeared to have lost his overall lead after after farcical scenes involving Richie Porte, Bauke Mollema and a camera motorbike. As the trio broke away from Nairo Quintana inside the final 3km of stage 12, Porte then crashed into the back of the leading motorbike, possibly after interference from the watching crowd, causing a three-man pile up.

Porte and Mollema were able to retrieve their bikes and continue on. With his out of action, defending champion Froome set off on foot up the Ventoux until a replacement bike was brought to him.

The 31-year-old was then forced to switch to a third bike before eventually crossing the finishing line, shaking his head in disbelief.

Adam Yates briefly took an overall lead ahead of Mollema in second, having gained 1min and 40 seconds on Froome as a result of the chaos. The Briton sat 53 seconds behind on the provisional general classification in sixth place but Tour de France later updated the classification with Froome still top having credited him with a new finishing time.

Froome , Porte and Mollema were all given the same finishing time, giving the Briton a cushion of 47 seconds over his countryman Yates.

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Chris Froome Tour de France
Chris Froome of Britain runs on the road after a fall Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters

Thomas De Gendt had earlier crossed the finishing line to seal victory in stage 12.

Speaking after the chaotic scenes, Porte hit out at the lack of crowd control he felt caused the pile-up. "That can't stand. It can't happen like that. There has to be some sort of discretion. If you can't control the crowds what can you control? It's not the motorbike - the crowd are in your face the whole time, pushing riders."