Not known as a strong time triallist, Romain Bardet was about to exceed expectations and hold onto 5th in the final time trial of the Tour de France when a late puncture saw him being leapfrogged by Tejay van Garderen by just 2 seconds. The Frenchman was devastated to have lost the prestigious spot in the top 5 due to bad luck at the very last moment.

Ousted of the top 5 by Tejay Van Garderen by two seconds after a puncture, France's Romain Bardet was extremely frustrated on the finish line.

“Three weeks of non-stop work and now this... Everything got broken to pieces with two kilometres to go," he said. "It didn't go well today. I didn't have any news until I punctured. That's sport. To miss the podium by two seconds is really frustrating.

"When you cross the line, it's a maximum effort by everyone. I had never ridden a time trial that long but I think that without my puncture I would have secured my fifth place. I'm in the wheel of Jean-Christophe for whom I have enormous respect.”