Revelation Mathieu Burgaudeau excited to finish third in tough mountain stage: "When you give everything, you have no regrets"

Mathieu Burgaudeau is one of the revelations of this Tour de France. The French rider who already finished runner-up in a stage to Belleville-en-Beaujolais three days earlier, grabbed another opportunity to make a name for himself in stage 15.

"I was feeling really bad almost the whole day, but I think that's almost the case for everyone, there is a lot of fatigue," begins Burgaudeau. "I couldn't have hoped for better, I fought hard, it's a nice third place. The best came out ahead and there was nothing to do. But frankly, I'm very, very happy today because on Forclaz (first climb of the day, ed.), I was on the verge of breaking."

Two Wouts - Wout Poels and Wout Van Aert - eventually turned out to be outside Burgaudeau's reach, but the young TotalEnergies rider at least managed to beat other strong climbers such as Mikel Landa, Thibaut Pinot or Guillaume Martin - something he can be proud of.

"Being third on a high mountain stage means a lot to me. I worked a lot in this area and I'm starting to be rewarded. It's a very nice Tour for me. I give everything I have and that resulted in two good places, even if it's not victory. But when you give everything, you have no regrets," concludes the 24-year old French rider.