One day after his bad day on the Port de Bales, Romain Bardet bounced back with an aggressive showing in the queen stage of the Tour de France. Having worked hard for Jean-Christophe Peraud in his attempt to gain time on Alejandro Valverde, he made it clear that he has no problems sacrificing himself for his teammate.

Yesterday Romain Bardet suffered on the Port de Bales but today he was back in his usual aggressive mood when he attacked on the descent from the penultimate climb in the queen stage of the Tour de France. When he was brought back, he took some huge turns for his teammate Jean-Christophe Peraud who managed to gain time on Alejandro Valverde.

Having been awarded the prize for most aggressive rider and sitting in 5th overall, he makes it clear that is fully ready to work in support of Peraud but still hopes to finish in the top 5 himself.

“This is the kind of stage I like," he said. "I've tried something in attacking downhill but it hasn't worked out. At least, the spectacle and the images will remain. I wanted to make it up for my disappointment the day before.

"I'll keep trying to make the final top 5. At the end of the day, the legs do the talking. Péraud is the only rider able to follow Nibali uphill in this Tour. I've got no problem being behind him. We're two riders from the same team targeting the final top 5 of the Tour de France and our cooperation is perfect.

"It was obviously a positive day. We still had a numerical advantage and the team was once again excellent with Ben (Gastauer) and Blel (Kadri) who positioned me well. The headwind has just stopped my desires and I managed my climb. I was able to work in support of Jicé and then I just had to control his direct opponents for the overall standings.”