Vincenzo Nibali further tightened his grip as Tour de France race leader after finishing second on stage 14's summit finish behind Rafal Majka.
The Italian finished 24 seconds adrift of Polish rider Majka, who recorded his first stage win on his debut Tour.
Nibali extended his lead over second-placed Spaniard Alejandro Valverde to four minutes, 37 seconds.
British duo Geraint Thomas and Simon Yates were in a break that was caught on the final climb to Risoul.
Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford indicated after Friday's stage, when their lead rider Richie Porte dropped out of contention, that the rest of the squad would look to "animate the race" in the remaining eight stages.
Thomas and team-mate Mikel Nieve responded to those words at the earliest opportunity by getting in a 17-man break, that also contained Orica GreenEdge rider Yates, at the start of Saturday's second and final day in the Alps.
Race leader Nibali was content to sit in the peloton, which was being led by his Astana team-mates as they allowed the break to build up an advantage of more than five minutes as they ascended the first of the day's three categorised climbs, the 34km Col du Lautaret.
The breakaway group's advantage was cut to three minutes as they reached the summit of the day's toughest climb, the Col d'Izoard.
Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez, second in King of the Mountains classification behind Nibali but wearing the polka dot jersey because the race leader always wears yellow, was first over the top to collect 25 points and win the Souvenir Henri Desgrange - the prize awarded to the first man to reach the highest point in the race at 2,360m.
The points, added to the 10 he collected for being first up the Col du Lautaret, lifted Rodriguez to the top of the mountain classification, despite him falling away on the last ascent to Risoul.
Thomas and Yates also found the going tough on the 12.6km climb to the finish and were passed by Nibali and Valverde among others.
Majka, one of the 17 riders to make the initial break, kicked on though and he managed to hold off the fast-finishing Nibali to take a first stage win.
He dedicate his win to injured Tinkoff-Saxo team-mate Alberto Contador, who crashed out of the race on stage 10.
"This is a victory for Alberto because we came here trying to win the Tour for him," said the 24-year-old Pole.
"This is my first victory and maybe it's not finished. If I can get in another long breakaway I can try win another stage."
Stage 14 result
1. Rafal Majka (Pol/Tinkoff - Saxo) 5hrs 08mins 28secs
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Astana) +24secs
3. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra/AG2R) +26secs
4. Thibaut Pinot (Fra/FDJ) +50secs
5. Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R) Same time
6. Tejay van Garderen (US/BMC Racing) +54secs
7. Fraenk Schleck (Lux/Trek) +1min 01secs
8. Laurens ten Dam (Ned/Belkin) +1min07secs
9. Leopold Koenig (Cze/NetApp) +1min 20secs
10. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +1min 24secs
General classification after stage 14
1. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Astana) 61hrs 52mins 54secs
2. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +4mins 37secs
3. Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R) +4mins 50secs
4. Thibaut Pinot (Fra/FDJ) +5mins 06secs
5. Tejay van Garderen (US/BMC Racing) +5mins 49secs
6. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra/AG2R) +6mins 08secs
7. Bauke Mollema (Ned/Belkin) +8mins 33secs
8. Leopold Koenig (Cze/NetApp Endura) +9mins 32secs
9. Laurens ten Dam (Ned/Belkin) +10mins 01secs
10. Pierre Rolland (Fra/Europcar) +10mins 48secs
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