Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) described his ride on stage 12 of the Tour de France to the Peyragudes summit finish as "better than expected" after four crashes in previous days.
Contador crashed twice in stage 11 to Pau, but bounced back in stage 12 to attack on the Port de Balès.
"I was better than expected," Contador said. "It was a complicated day. I woke up bad, very sore.
"The attack? I tried to shake it up a little, although it is impossible against a team as strong as the Sky. They have eight men in the race, and they were there with four, but it's really complicated to break the race with a strong team [controlling it]."
>>> Chris Froome loses yellow jersey to Fabio Aru as Romain Bardet wins Tour de France summit finish
Contador followed on the heels of Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb), who wears the mountains jersey. However, the Spaniard appears far from the best that saw him win seven Grand Tours. His aims to win a stage now in this Tour.
"I've been better than expected, because this morning I felt very, very bad, but I'm not happy either."
Watch: Tour de France stage 12 highlights
Contador sits 11th overall at 7-14 minutes. He and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) are racing worse than expected in this 2017 Tour de France.
Quintana lost 2-04 minutes today to stage winner Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) and slightly less to new leader Fabio Aru (Astana). He sits eighth at 4-01.
The Sky-led group dropped the 2016 Vuelta a España and 2014 Giro d'Italia winner on the Col de Peyresourde.
>>> Will Team Sky now ride more aggressively to win this Tour de France for Chris Froome?
"Until I can regain some strength, we cannot plan anything," Quintana said. "The truth is right now I am not in condition [to win a stage], but the Tour is long and you never know.
"When I was dropped, I thought I was going to lose a lot of time. In the end, I held on as best I could and it wasn't so bad at the finish."
Quintana is one of the few in recent history to try to win the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France double. He lost the Giro on the last day to Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) and placed second overall. As it is now, it appears he may not reach Tour's podium.
"As I've said before, this is the first time we've tried the double and it didn't turn out as well as we had hoped," Quintana continued.
"Sometimes you win the bet, and sometimes you lose, and this time we didn't win, but another year we'll do it better."
Gregor Brown is an experienced cycling journalist, based in Florence, Italy. He has covered races all over the world for over a decade - following the Giro, Tour de France, and every major race since 2006. His love of cycling began with freestyle and BMX, before the 1998 Tour de France led him to a deep appreciation of the road racing season.
-
-
Training through the pain
It’s a universal truth in cycling: when the hard effort hurts too much, we back off and slow down. But can we train our ability to tolerate pain? Steve Shrubsall finds out
-
11 alternative kits with more flair than (most of) the WorldTour would know what to do with
Gravel, crit, and amateur teams have some of the best kits (fact)
-
Tour de France 2021 route: Nairo Quintana wary of time trials but relishing double Mont Ventoux ascent
Nairo Quintana has responded to the Tour de France 2021 route, saying he is excited about the two ascents of Mont Ventoux.
-
Nairo Quintana responds to Tour de France doping investigation
Nairo Quintana has responded after French authorities launched a doping investigation into him and Arkéa-Samsic at the Tour de France.
-
Nairo Quintana’s hotel room was searched by police during final week of Tour de France, according to reports
Nairo Quintana’s hotel room was searched by police during the final week of the Tour de France, according to French media.
-
Tour de France 2020: Nairo Quintana falls out of top-10 on stage 17 after being dropped on first climb
Nairo Quintana looks to be out of the top-10 at the Tour de France 2020, after being dropped on the first climb of stage 17.
-
Tour de France 2020: Video shows Nairo Quintana and Romain Bardet caught in crash as Bauke Mollema abandons
Dutchman Mollema was just outside the top-10 at the start of the day but has been forced to give up the race
-
Nairo Quintana 'not happy with fifth place' as he strives for yellow at 2020 Tour de France
The Tour de France is the only Grand Tour missing from the Colombian's palmarès
-
Watch Nairo Quintana’s rapid recovery after crash in awful weather during Tour de France 2020 stage one
The first stage of the 2020 Tour de France has been a hectic day of racing as countless crashes hindered the peloton in awful weather.
-
Connor Swift will make Tour de France debut in support of Nairo Quintana
Connor Swift has become the third confirmed Brit to ride the 2020 Tour de France, racing in support of Nairo Quintana.
