Barring disaster, Matthew Busche will finish his first Tour de France in 98th place, nearly 3 hours and 42 minutes behind Vincenzo Nibali and the American rider discovered in the last three weeks what makes the Tour the greatest race in the world.

"It's definitely a mental and physical battle," he said to letour.fr, having suffered from the cold, the rain, the stress and several crashes.

"Even without the weather or the crashes, the level of racing is incredible. I see why it' the greatest race in the world," said the Wisconsin rider, who had to wait to be 29 to have his first taste of the Tour.

His debut was not helped by the withdrawal of Andy Schleck and the mixed results of his Trek Factory team on the Tour, who still placed Haimar Zubeldia in 8th place overall.

"We didn't quite achieve what we were looking for, which was a stage win. But in the same time we were aiming at a top 10 finish and we have Haimar Zubeldia who makes it in the top ten for the fifth time. Chapeau to him," he said.

Impressed like everybody else by the huge crowds in Yorkshire, he ends his first Tour in such a weary state that he almost wonders whether it was worth it.

"Sometimes you wonder why you should come back through all this stress again, but then with time, you forget and it's the Tour. It's the greatest race in the world."