Stage-hunting turns to GC battle as Romain Bardet sneaks into Top10 - "Today was a pretty good day"

Romain Bardet had high aspirations for the Giro d'Italia, where he was in the contention for the podium and overall win until suddenly abandoning during stage 13. Now at the Tour de France, he's looking to make it up.

“Today was a pretty good day, the guys put me in a good position at the bottom of the last climb then I just tried to follow the best as much as I can," Bardet said in a post-race interview. The Frenchman had said that he would be chasing stages at the Grand Boucle, however he has stayed safe in the race's tricky stages of the opening week and has ridden the first two stages that included climbing on a very high note - and now sits in sixth place in the overall classification.

"I’m pretty happy with the day, we worked well through out the stage and will look to carry on like this," he added. Riding under the radar, it only became clear that the Team DSM rider would be eyeing the overall classification as he climbed to eighth at Planche des Belles Filles, riding with the very best until the final steep ramp.

Bardet will not have a team capable of supporting him in the mountains as other teams, however the way he has until now he has the form to fight for the Top10 or even more.