With Vincenzo Nibali and Alberto Contador having already been dropped, Froome attacked his remaining rivals with 6.4km left of the climb to the ski resort of La Pierre-Saint-Martin and went on to win by 59 seconds from runner-up Richie Porte as Team Sky completed a one-two on the day.
Nairo Quintana (Movistar) finished 1min 4sec down on Froome in third, but the other pre-race favourites suffered heavy losses on the 15.4km ascent.
Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) dropped 2min 30sec, Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) lost 2min 51sec and Nibali (Astana) saw the defence of his 2014 title all but ended after he finished 4min 25sec down.
It means Froome now leads the race by 2min 52sec from second-placed Van Garderen and 3min 9sec from third-placed Quintana.
Contador’s hopes of completing the Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double are also in tatters as he now lies 4min 4sec down in sixth, while Nibali is 6min 57sec down in 10th.
Froome said: "I'm lost for words. That was unbelievable. I couldn't believe it when I asked the guys to push on a little bit and we were just hearing on the radio the big names who were getting dropped. It was textbook from the team. The guys rode such a good race there. I'm over the moon to have been able to finish it off them.
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