CHRIS Froome has backed himself to stay in the yellow jersey and gain more time in Saturday's time trial in Marseille despite conceding four seconds to Romain Bardet on the Col d'Izoard.

Froome was alongside Bardet on the finish line but it was Frenchman Bardet who finished third behind stage 18 winner Warren Barguil and Darwin Atapuma to collect four bonus seconds and trim his deficit in second place to 23 seconds.

Colombian Rigoberto Uran, who began the day level with Bardet on the general classification, was a further two seconds back on the road, and now trails Froome by 29 overall.

"It would have been nice to take a bit of time today but all in all I'm happy with that," Team Sky rider Froome said at the end of the stage.

"The team was fantastic in the final (part). It was great having the numbers there to be able to control things and having that card to play with Mikel Landa. I tried to to give it a bit of a dig behind, I thought I had a gap, but Rigoberto Uran brought it back.

"They have both ridden a very impressive race up to now. Romain Bardet taking the bonus seconds today, he can be pretty happy with that. I think it's all still to race for now in the final time trial to Marseille."

Though Froome has seen his advantage cut slightly, the main goal was to retain yellow on the final summit finish of this year's Tour.

The Team Sky rider must now defend it over relatively flat territory on tomorrow's stage to Salon-de-Provence before Saturday's time trial in Marseille, where he is expected to gain time.

When asked if he could win his fourth Tour de France title, Froome added: "It's still close. Everything to race for. If everything goes well I would fancy my chances in the time trial against the other guys.

"Anything could happen still, it's still very close."