Romain Bardet's successful Tour de France didn't end the way he preferred as he lost his fifth place due to a late puncture in the time trial. However, the young Frenchman tries to keep things in perspective after having been among the best riders in his second grand tour.

Sixth overall, only two seconds behind American Tejay Van Garderen, Romain Bardet vowed to see the bright side of a fine Tour de France for him and his AG2R-La Mondiale team.

"Of course, I keep the bright side of things, the rest are the ups and downs of the race, there are worse things," he said. "Second and 6th, we would have signed on the dotted line at the start in Leeds. What I regret is the little bit of hard luck, the puncture on the TT without which I would have kept my 5th place.

"But it's only my second Tour de France, I lack a little bit of experience at times. But 6th is early a great performance. There is really a big generation in France. With Thibaut, we're going to battle it out in the years to come, but there is also a good international opposition.

"To ride that fast and that young at such a level, it's good for the future. Now we're going to spend a good evening together with the team and the family. We achieved a great collective performance in the first place."