BMC Racing Team's Damiano Caruso finished eighth Thursday at the Tour de France after being part of the day's breakaway. Caruso and teammate and Stage 1 winner Rohan Dennis were part of a group of 29 riders that broke away on the first of seven categorized climbs in the 186.5-kilometer race.

Their group split up and came back together several times before Caruso was part of an 11-rider escape that shook free on the day's highest climb, the Col du Glandon.

Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) soloed away on the descent on the way to the stage win. Competing in his first Tour de France, Caruso arrived in a small group 1:50 later. Chris Froome (Team Sky) kept the overall lead by finishing in a group 3:02 after Bardet.

"Today was very hard," Caruso said. "All day, it was à bloc (all out). We wanted to be in the breakaway, but I am not really happy with my placing. Maybe I will try again tomorrow."

Samuel Sánchez, in 15th, is the BMC Racing Team's best-placed rider overall, 18:11 behind. He finished 20th on the day, 19 seconds after the group containing the race leader.