"We are aiming for more" - Carlos Rodriguez looks to improve his sixth place overall in next two weeks

After a disappointing stage 2, where INEOS Grenadiers was only limiting losses on San Luca, it was a different story on Col du Galibier. Leadership within the team is finally clear, as only the youngest - Carlos Rodriguez was able to follow the favourites all the way up the climb, finishing sixth on the day.

Throughout the climb, Rodriguez looked very strong and never seemed to be put in trouble by the pace of UAE Team Emirates. However when Tadej Pogacar accelerated, the Spaniard couldn't respond. "In the final we were able to save the situation," is how the still only 23-year-old summarizes it. His group was able to catch Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel in the descent, but the Slovenian was outside of their reach, taking 37 seconds on Rodriguez in Valloire.

The Spaniard himself takes positive sensations from the stage. "I felt good on the Galibier and was able to follow the other GC riders. I finished sixth today, which is not a bad result. We are of course aiming for more, but we hope to improve in this Tour. We will take it day by day."

Rodriguez was not surprised to see some first fireworks had already expected a spectacle between the GC contenders. "I am not surprised by the way the race is going. After all, it is the first mountain stage and after that there are two relatively easy days. Although there are no easy stages in the Tour. So I did expect that we would race full throttle today."

For a long we have also seen his teammate Egan Bernal in the front group, but the Colombian eventually had to let go and crossed the line with a group more than two and a half minutes behind Pogacar. INEOS thus remains with two riders in the top 10 but it's clear Rodriguez holds all the trumphs.