Vlasov sheds time but not GC hopes on Belles Filles: "The Tour is still long"

Aleksandr Vlasov was one of the GC riders that has suffered the most today, loosing important time at Planche des Belles Filles and falling out of the Top10 at the Tour de France.

“It was really hard for me today. I had a lot of muscle pain in my lower back and especially in the second half of the race I suffered a lot. When I lost contact to the GC group, I tried to find a rhythm to limit the time loss," he said after the finish. BORA - hansgrohe sent two riders up the road, but in such a day the support was not a clear necessity in the peloton.

After crashing yesterday in the run-up to Longwy, in which teammate Max Schachmann was vocally critical of Primoz Roglic for having caused it, Vlasov seemed to have suffered the effects as he reported lower back pain.

Vlasov is now at 2:41 minutes behind Tadej Pogacar, in 12th place. The Tour is still long with the first high mountain stage yet to even arrive. "Of course, this is disappointing, it was a bad day. But I hope to recover and then the Tour is still long," he concluded.