It came after another Frenchman in Tour de France King of the Mountains jersey winner Warren Barguil was sent home from the race by Team Sunweb after refusing to follow orders.

Alaphilippe, riding for Quick-Step Floors, edged clear in the closing descent at the end of a 199.5 kilometres stage from Hellin.

It came after Alaphilippe had broken clear from a 21-strong breakaway on the second of two tough climbs alongside Slovenia's Jan Polanc, riding for UAE Team Emirates, and Poland's Bora-Hansgrohe rider Rafal Majka.

He eventually crossed the line two seconds clear in 4 hours 37min 55sec.

Polanc edged out Majka to seal second place.

Froome, seeking to become the third person to win the Vuelta and Tour de France in the same year, also gained time on his overall rivals after a late attack alongside Spain and Trek-Segafredo's Alberto Contador.

The British Team Sky rider now leads Orica-Scott's Colombian Esteban Chaves by 28 seconds and BMC's Irishman Nicolas Roche by 41.

Barguil had sat in 13th place, 1:43 behind Froome, at the beginning of the stage today.

His team confirmed to Cycling News that Barguil had insisted on playing a free role in the mountain stages rather than act as a domestique.

They claim that he "openly expressed that he didn't race conforming to the team's goal, which left Team Sunweb with no other option than to take this decision".

Britain's good day of cycling continued as Lizzie Deignan won the GP de Plouay one-day race in France.

The 27-year-old Boels-Dolmans rider outsprinted France's Canyon-Sram rival Pauline Ferrand-Prevot over the 121.5km lapped course to win the International Cycling Union World Tour event. 

She won by two seconds in 3:07.29 as Australia's Orica Scott rider Sarah Roy finished 10 seconds back in third.