Matthews beat Olympic road race champion Greg van Avermaet into second on the 181.5km route between Blagnac and Rodez. It was the second stage win of the Sunweb rider’s career.

‘I think it was as expected,’ said Matthews. ‘We rode all day, and when we kept the breakaway so close, I knew it was going to be hard to have a lot of teammates in the final, because we had to ride quite hard to bring [Thomas] De Gendt back.

‘We rode all day and were still able to have two or three guys there with me in the final. It was a perfect day.

‘I think last time we finished here two years ago, I had four broken ribs and skin off all over my body, and it was one of the stages I was really targeting before I crashed. Now, to come back on the same finish and to win like that, it’s really a dream come true.’

Meanwhile, Italian Fabio Aru’s poor sprint saw Froome, who finished seventh, regain the yellow jersey. The defending champion now has an overall lead of 19 seconds.

‘It did help to know the finish from two years ago, but I’m back in yellow because the team kept me at the front. Without their job, there’s no way I could keep my position,’ said Froome.

‘In the last 500m, I heard shouting in the radio, “push, push, push” . It’s amazing to hear that. Every second here is worth fighting for. It is still so close.’