FDJ have not had a lot of success in the Vuelta a Espana but today they showed themselves when a resurgent Arnaud Courteille joined the successful break.

"I had been fighting for a place in the breakaway for a few days. It was a fast start. I am happy I was in the front but I came up short in the finale. In the last climb I was not as well as in the previous two or three days," he said.