When the dust settled after 242 gruelling kilometres with the Mont Ventoux finish, Bauke Mollema and Laurens ten Dam maintained second and fifth in the Tour de France's overall.

Yellow jersey Chris Froome (Sky) was in a league of his own in stage 15, but working together, the Dutchmen held off the rest of the competition in terms of maintaining their positions in the GC.

"I'm glad I was able to help Bauke today and I'm happy with the fact that we both successfully defended our positions in the GC. I felt really good on the Ventoux. Unfortunately, I could not follow Froome but that is no surprise. This whole year he has been too strong," Laurens ten Dam explained.

Bauke Mollema described his sufferings on the ascent:

"I'm not sure if I've ever had to go so deep,” Bauke Mollema said after the gruelling climb. “In the last ten kilometres I was really suffering. Laurens was very strong and did a lot of work. That was great. During the climb, some small gaps were made, but in the end I'm still second in the GC. I had to give everything I had, but I guess you can take a lot of pain when you're second overall."