Lilian Calmejane claims stage eight of the Tour de France on Saturday

Having attacked out of a breakaway on the final climb of the day, Calmejane cramped up around five kilometres from the finish of the 187.5 kilometre stage from Dole to Station des Rousses, allowing the chasing Dutchman Robert Gesink to close in.

But Direct-Energie's Calmejane got going again to win by 37 seconds from the LottoNL-Jumbo rider.

Froome and Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas had gone off-road when they misjudged a corner on a descent with around 45km to go.

"We came into a very tight right-hand corner and I think Geraint hadn't got his line quite right," Froome said. "That corner sprung up on us a little bit, we were going too fast and we didn't expect it to turn back on itself as much as it did.

"A couple of us went off and I think Geraint went into the barriers. Luckily I just went over the gravel, managed to turn around and get back in."

Thomas did not hit barriers, but did collide with a hay bale before picking himself up and pacing his way back in.

"The boys went into the corner a bit hot and I was just looking to my side for a split-second so I was late braking," the Welshman said.

"I went into the gravel and still had a bit too much speed so it was either go off down into the woods or into a hay bale. I chose the hay bale. But I'm fine. I front-flipped over and landed on my back.

"It took off the scab from the other day so it looks worse than it is."

Froome leads the general classification by 12 seconds from Thomas, with Italian national champion Fabio Aru of Astana third, 14 seconds back.

Irishman Dan Martin, fourth overall at 25 seconds back, tried a late attack as the flamme rouge approached but the Quick-Step Floors man was quickly shut down by Sky.

A stage filled with attacks and counter-attacks was ultimately decided on the category one climb of the Montee de la Combe de Laisia Les Molunes, which crested a little under 12 km from the finish line.

Calmejane was first over the top, holding a 29-second lead over Gesink and 90 seconds on the peloton.

It looked to be all going wrong for Calmejane when he slowed dramatically on a short uphill section to stretch out his right hamstring, his advantage over Gesink tumbling.

But his legs came back to him and he pulled clear once more.

Olympic champion Greg van Avermaet of BMC had begun the day as one of the favourites for the stage but after looking strong in the break, he blew up early on the final climb and went backwards.

Team Dimension Data's Steve Cummings had also been tipped to have a go but the veteran Briton remained in the peloton to the finish.

Froome's Welsh road captain Luke Rowe was dropped early and came home with the stragglers, leaving him second last on the general classification, ten minutes clear of FDJ's Olivier Le Gac who carries the lantern rouge as last man in the Tour.

Final leading positions after Stage 8 (Dole - Sation des Rousses - 187.5km): 1 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie 04hours 30mins 29secs 2 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 037secs, 3 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty - Groupe Gobert at 50secs, 4 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team, 5 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott, 6 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team, 7 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Astana Pro Team, 8 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, 9 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac, 10 Romain Hardy (Fra) Team Fortuneo - Oscaro, 11 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team, 12 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates, 13 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors, 14 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, 15 Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky, 16 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team, 17 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team ,18 Christopher Froome (Gbr) Team Sky, 19 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo, 20 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team all at same time

Selected Others: 29 Simon Yates (Gbr) Orica-Scott at50secs, 33 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky at the same time, 112 Ben Swift (Gbr) UAE Team Emirates at 20mins 56secs,115 Scott Thwaites (Gbr) Dimension Data at 20mins 56secs,178 Daniel Mclay (Gbr) Team Fortuneo - Oscaro at 31mins 34secs,179 Stephen Cummings (Gbr) Dimension Data at 31mins 34secs,190 Luke Rowe (Gbr) Team Sky at 37mins 33secs,

General classification after stage 8: 1 Christopher Froome (Gbr) Team Sky at 33hrs 19mins 10secs,2 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky at 12secs, 3 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team at 14secs, 4 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors at 0mins 25secs, 5 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team at 39secs, 6 Simon Yates (Gbr) Orica-Scott at 43secs, 7 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 47secs, 8 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo at 52secs, 9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team at 54secs, 10 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe at 1mins 1secs, 11 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac , 12 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 1mins 7secs, 13 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates at 1mins 24secs, 14 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe at 1mins 29secs, 15 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team at 1mins 33secs, 16 Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky at 1mins 47secs, 17 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac at 1mins 57secs, 18 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data at 2mins 0secs, 19 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team at 2mins 14secs, 20 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty - Groupe Gobert at 2mins 23secs

Selected Others: 117 Scott Thwaites (Gbr) Dimension Data at 40mins 28secs, 119 Ben Swift (Gbr) UAE Team Emirates at 41mins 15secs, 166 Daniel Mclay (Gbr) Team Fortuneo - Oscaro at 53mins 34secs, 173 Stephen Cummings (Gbr) Dimension Data at 56mins 42secs, 192 Luke Rowe (Gbr) Team Sky 1hrs 18mins 30secs