Lutsenko formed part of the breakaway early on the 191 kilometre sixth stage from Le Teil to Mont Aigoual, with the move instigated by Ireland’s Nicholas Roche.

Spain’s Jesus Herrada, France’s Rémi Cavagna and Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet also featured in the move, with United States’ Neilson Powless, Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen and Italy’s Daniel Oss also joining.

The breakaway at one stage enjoyed an advantage approaching seven minutes over the peloton as they approached the category one Col de la Lusette climb.

Powless, who was celebrating his 24th birthday, went on the offensive on the climb.

He was tracked by Lutsenko with the Astana rider then surging on alone with 17.5 kilometres of the stage remaining.

Lutsenko was able to remain clear to seal the stage victory in a time of 4 hours, 32min and 34sec.

Herrada crossed the line 55 seconds behind the stage winner as the runner-up, with Van Avermaet ending 2:15 down in third.

Powless finished a further two seconds adrift.

Lutsenko has now won two stages at Grand Tour races in his career, following a stage win at the 2017 Vuelta a España.

"This victory is very important for me," Lutsenko said.

"This is the Tour de France, the most important race in the world.

"I’m very happy, I’ve worked so hard to get this victory.

"All this work has paid off.

"Since I had lost quite some time in previous stages, I had the chance to go in the breakaway.

"I did my best on the last climb to win, I never actually get dropped, I just kept a steady pace.

"The team car was telling us on the radio there were two very hard kilometres at the second part of the climb, so I rode my tempo and gave it all at those to create a gap big enough to win."

France’s Julian Alaphilippe led the general classification group over the line, with the Deceuninck-Quickstep rider producing a late surge.

The effort saw the Frenchman gain a second over the remainder of the group, one day after he lost the yellow jersey after being deducted 20 seconds for an illegal feed.

Alaphilippe ended 2:52 behind the stage winner.

Britain’s Adam Yates retains the lead in the general classification by three seconds from Slovenia’s Primož Roglič.

Tadej Pogacar, also of Slovenia, remains third at seven seconds off the race lead.

Tomorrow will see the riders complete a 168km flat stage from Millau to Lavaur, with the first two mountain stages of the race on the horizon.