Chris Froome has held onto the Tour de France leader's yellow jersey following a dramatic and bizarre stage 12.
Froome lost around a minute and a half on his rivals on the road and slipped to sixth on the provisional general classification, 53 seconds behind fellow Briton Adam Yates, before the race jury intervened.
A crash near the end of the stage left Froome running up the famous Mont Ventoux trying to limit his time losses.
While attacking alongside BMC's Richie Porte and putting time the rest of his rivals, Porte ran into the back of a camera bike which was forced to stop by the huge crowds encroaching on the mountain roads.
The Kenyan-born English rider was right behind the Australian and ran into the back of him, damaging his bike. Bauke Mollema also fell, but he was able to resume.
Froome was separated from his team car and was left with no choice but to begin running up the hill. He grabbed a spare bike from neutral assistance before taking back his own, but was shaking his head furiously as he crossed the line.
The initial classification showed Yeats leading race from Dutch rider Bauke Mollema and Nairo Quintana, seen by many as Froome's biggest pre-race rival.
"Chris Froome and Richie Porte have been given the same time as Bauke Mollema due to the incident in the finale. Froome retains the yellow jersey," organisers said in a statement.
Ireland’s Dan Martin started the day in third, but he also lost time on a gruelling final climb and is now ninth, 1:56 down on the yellow jersey.
Thomas De Gendt won the day's stage for Lotto-Soudal from the breakaway.
Froome began the day 28 seconds ahead of Yates in the overall standings, and was looking good to lead by more than a minute as he and Porte raced towards the finish.
The day finished at Chalet Reynard - midway up Mont Ventoux with gale-force winds at the summit forcing the stage to be shortened by six kilometres.
Froome and Porte had been joined by Trek-Segafredo's Mollema and the trio were leading their rivals by around 35 seconds when Porte collided with a television bike which had been stopped by the huge Bastille Day crowds on the mountain.
All three riders hit the deck, and while Porte and Mollema got back on, Froome was left with a broken bike and, almost in a panic, he set off running up the road.
He took a bike from neutral service but soon handed it back as he struggled to get any traction, and took back his own repaired bike for the final few metres.
.@ChrisFroome à pieds dans le final de l'étape / @ChrisFroome is running in le Ventoux 💪 #TDF2016https://t.co/o3fgyrRRST
— Le Tour de France (@LeTour) July 14, 2016
Froome now has a 47 second lead over Yeats. He was the first to break the news that he was still leading, tweeting: "Still in the yellow jersey."
Mollema is third, 56 seconds down, and Quintana is 1:01 back.
