Primož Roglič lost more than two minutes to his main yellow jersey rivals after crashing near the finish of stage 12, where the new king of sprints, Biniam Girmay, completed a hat trick of Tour de France stage wins.

Roglič hit the tarmac with some 12 kilometres to go, after a rider in front of him hit road furniture and lost control of his bike. Roglič could not avoid the crash and went down with several others.

It was the second accident in 24 hours for Roglič , a four-time grand tour champion. He got back on his bike but struggled at the back and was helped to the stage finish by his Bora-Hansgrohe teammates.

He crossed 2 minutes and 27 seconds after the winner, according to provisional results, and dropped to sixth place overall.

Girmay, who became the first black rider to ever win a Tour stage this month, edged Wout van Aert, who was boxed on the right side of the road, and Arnaud Démare to extend his lead at the top of the rankings for the sprinter's green jersey.

Démare was later demoted from second to 67th for having pushed Van Aert to the barriers, with Pascal Ackermann promoted to third place.

Two-time Tour champion Tadej Pogačar kept the yellow jersey. He said he was "devastated" when he found out that Roglič, his fellow Slovenian, had crashed.

"It's really sad to see him crash today. I hope he is fine. Normally he is a big fighter, maybe he bounces back and wins some stages."

Pogačar has a lead of 1:06 over Remco Evenepoel, with two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard in third place, 1:14 off the pace.

Roglič dropped behind João Almeida and Carlos Rodriguez, lagging 4:42 behind Pogačar.