Sick in the first two stages in the Pyrenees, Romain Bardet recovered to take third place at Plateau de Beille.

“It was not enough today but I'm back from very far," he said. "I was in the doldrums, I had my worst day in the Tour de France, a catastrophe. I couldn't follow the peloton for ten days and it was a hard blow to my morale as I had come here for a Top Five.

"I was in hell during the last ten days, I could not follow the rythm of the peloton. Today I found some new energy like the rest of the AG2R LA MONDIALE team. However, this Tour still represents the biggest failure of my career because my main goal was to reach the top 5.

"At least, I gained in confidence today, which is quite good for the Alps. I am more than pleased with my Plateau de Beille climb. Honestly, my best friend Mickael Cherel did an amazing job but Rodriguez was better than us.

"This is a morale booster for the team before the week in the Alps. The hardest is not to reach that level but to reproduce it everyday. I'm going to continue to work hard to fight with the best.

"Hats off to Mikael (Cherel) who is my best friend and did a fantastic job. But Rodriguez was the strongest. I can't have any regrets.”

"The whole team showed a real fighting spirit, my riders have never lost confidence," manager Vincent Lavenu said. "We demonstrated that the last two days did not destroy with our team value. I am really proud of my riders because they were united. Romain has even moved up three places in the genaral classification but this is not our main objective. Now, we need to rest a little bit in order to ride for a stage victory in the Alps."

"We were really motivated this morning and we decided that the AG2R LA MONDIALE jersey had to shine again," said Mikael Cherel who finished 8th" "That is why we were three teammates in the break and we planned to win the stage with Romain but Rodriguez was the best rider. Today we proved that our team was not dead. Personally, I was in great shape without any diseases anymore. I am also glad to have finished before the GC leaders."

"Our riding sensations are back again," Alexis Vuillermoz said. "We did a great job today with three riders in the large break. Romain was really strong which is a good news for us.

"Personally, I tried to follow the GC leaders on the Plateau de Beille climb and overall, I had good legs. The last days were really complicated for the team but we will never give up."