The first Alpine stage of the race began in dramatic fashion as France’s Warren Barguil and Germany’s Marcel Kittel were among those involved in a crash after around 20 kilometres of the 183km route.

Kittel was forced to abandon the race as a consequence,.

Australia’s Michael Matthews now takes over the green jersey as leader of the points classification.

Roglic was part of a 33-man breakaway at the top of the first climb, the col d'Ornon.

A long range attack from Spain’s Alberto Contador saw him close on the group as they approached the Col de la Croix de Fer, with Belgium’s Serge Pauwels joining him on the offensive.

The pair closed on Belgium’s Thomas De Gendt and Spain’s Dani Navarro, who had pressed on from the breakway.

They were unable to sustain the effort after the col du Télégraphe and the col du Galibier, the highest peak of the Tour.

Roglic joined them as the summit approached, with the LottoNL-Jumbo rider then pushing clear to head solo towards the finish.

The general classification battle had threatened to prevent him from becoming the first Slovenian to win a stage of the race.

Race leader Chris Froome of Britain worked with rivals Romain Bardet of France and Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran to drop Aru.

The Italian had cracked in the final stages of the climb and was unable to rejoin on the descent and the Astana rider was left to try limit his losses.

Roglic, a former ski jumper, held to claim the stage win in 5 hours 07min 41sec and was greeted at the finish by Macron. 

The yellow jersey group crossed the line 73 seconds behind. 

Aru finished a further 30 seconds behind, his general classification hopes taking a blow.

"I was surprised about Fabio Aru dropping today, I expected him to attack," Team Sky's Froome said.

"But in a Grand Tour, it's the third week that really tests everyone.

"Personally, I felt a lot better than in the Pyrenees one week ago, hopefully same legs tomorrow."

Froome added: "My team was also brilliant under pressure.

"I rode behind Dan Martin because I didn't want to get into the same situation as last week when some GC riders went up the road and nobody wanted to chase.

"My legs felt good so why not keep everyone in check."

Froome now leads the race by 27 seconds from Uran and Bardet, with Aru slipping to 53 seconds behind.

The general classification contenders will face a crucial final mountain stage tomorrow,.

The 180km route from Briançon to Col d'Izoard expected to be key to the final outcome of the race in Paris on Sunday (July 23).