Team Cofidis were not spared by injuries and are now forced to change their plan on the Tour de France according to the condition of their best riders.

Suffering from a groin injury after a crash, the French outfit's leader, Daniel Navarro, lies a lowly 89th overall, 44:37 behind Vincenzo Nibali after a week in the race.

“I decided to take it easy for the first week was very tough. I'm now going to focus on stage wins,” said the Spaniard, ninth in Paris a year ago.

Stage victories turn out to be the whole team's goal for now since chances to feature well in the GC look slimmer and slimmer.

Julien Simon was also a man to watch in the tough stages of the first week but the Frenchman crashed early on and spent most of the following days trying to recuperate.

“There are still nice stages that would suit him, like the two after the rest day,” said team manager Yvon Sanquer.

The other injured rider in the team was Adrien Petit and he was brave enough to join the day's break in stage 8 to Gerardmer on Saturday.

“Our plan is now to place a man in the good break and Julien, Luis Mate, Rudy Molard and Nicolas Edet are among the ones who could do it,” Sanquer added.