Chris Froome admitted extending his overall lead of the Tour de France on stage 13’s individual time trial had been overshadowed by Thursday night’s terror attack in Nice.
The Team Sky rider is now 1min 47sec clear of his closest rival at the top of the general classification after finishing second behind Tom Dumoulin on a rolling, 37.5km course in the Ardeche department.
Race organisers held a crisis meeting to discuss whether the stage should go ahead and decided to continue as planned as a tribute to the victims.
Froome said: "[Racing today] was an important message. This is definitely a time for people to stand together. It definitely puts things into perspective for us here at the race.
"I'm happy with how that went, but really, everyone's thoughts here are with those affected down in Nice.
"It's a special place for me also, close to where I'm based, and I can't imagine what those people are going through down there.
"To see the promenade with all the dead bodies and the horrific scenes is devastating. I express my deepest sympathy and my condolences to those who lost their loved ones."
Bauke Mollema is now Froome's closest challenger in the general classification, while Adam Yates is 2min 45sec adrift in third and Nairo Quintana is 2min 59sec down in fourth.
Froome appears firmly on course for a third Tour victory, but his Team Sky sports director, Nicolas Portal, insisted the Briton would not now ride defensively.
Portal said: "Chris put 40 seconds into Mollema and he was super-great yesterday. He also put around two minutes into Quintana and that's great.
"On paper the gaps might be big, but we're never happy and we always want more."
The Tour continues on Saturday with a mostly flat 208.5km 14th stage from Montelimar to Villars-les-Dombes. Find out more about the stage in our race guide and follow the action with our live blog from 1pm BST.