On the 198.9-kilometre mountain stage from Sorgues to Malaucène, riders had to ascend Mont Ventoux twice, with the Belgian making his move with more than 30km to go at the foot of the mountain.

He pulled away from a group of renowned climbers, pulling out a gap of more than a minute by the time he reached the peak - and was able to hold his own on the descent, winning in 5 hours 17min 43sec.

Trek-Segafredo pair Kenny Elissonde and Dutch rider Bauke Mollema attempted to stay with the Jumbo-Visma cyclist, but eventually were stranded as the lead chasers.

Despite a surge from Van Aert's team mate Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark near the top of the second climb, the duo maintained their second and third spots and finished 1min 14sec behind the Belgian.

After looking dangerous as he hit downhill, Vingegaard would be recaptured by leader Pogačar who looked set to lose more than half a minute on the youngster.

The Slovenian finished fourth on 1:38 alongside Colombian Rigoberto Urán of EF Education-Nippo, Ecuador's Richard Carapaz of Ineos Grenadiers and Vingegaard.

Close behind were Kazakhstan's Alexey Lutsenko of Astana and Dutch rider Wilco Kelderman of Bora-Hansgrohe on 1:56, while Spaniard Enric Mas of Movistar completed the top 10 more than three minutes off the pace.

Crucially, Pogačar extended his lead at the top of the general classification by more than three minutes after AG2R Citroen's Ben O'Connor - who was just over two minutes behind the leader before the stage - lost nearly four minutes on the Slovenian.

The Australian is now 5:58 off Pogačar in the general classification in fifth, while Urán moves into second, 5:18 behind the defending Tour de France champion.

Vingegaard is a further 14 seconds behind the Colombian and one second in front of Carapaz.