Romain Bardet did a splendid ride in today's mountain stage of the Tour de France to move into fourth overall and take the white jersey for best young rider. The Frenchman found himself under pressure earlier in the stage when rival Michal Kwiatkowski made a long-distance attack but decided to remain calm and was rewarded by the lead in the youth classification.

Romain Bardet is one of the favourites to win the white jersey in the Tour de France and he went into today's mountain stage sitting in second in the youth competition. However, he risked losing all his chances when leader Michal Kwiatkowski attacked from afar and at one point had a five-minute lead.

In the end, Kwiatkowski cracked and as he finished fifth in the stage, Bardet moved into fourth overall and took the white jersey. However, he keeps his feet on the ground and remains focused on an overall top 10 and the youth competiton.

“This was a very hard day," he said- "Many things happened, including Contador's retirement, which is a pity for the spectacle. For now I'm fourth on GC at the rest day but I don't want to be caught up in the moment.

"Last year I managed to do well in the third week of the Tour. It has to be the case again this year in order to achieve my goal, which is the top ten overall.

"I wore the white jersey at the beginning of the Tour when Sagan was the leader but it's completely different to get it here. When Kwiatkowski went away, I knew it was all or nothing. Either he was going to increase his lead, or he'd crack at the end and that's what happened.”