When rain started to fall and the peloton upped the pace dramatically, Katusha did a great job to position their leader Yury Trofimov for the final climbs in today's first mountain stage of the Tour de France but in the finale, things unravelled for the Russian team. A crash brough down Yury Trofimov who lost 2 minutes to the strongest of the GC riders.

The 2014 Tour de France reached the first of the true mountain stages in Saturday’s stage 8 from Tomblaine to Gérardmer La Mauselaine at 161 km. While not long in distance, the finale was packed with climbs, including the uphill rise to the finish line. Unfortunately Katusha’s GC leader Iurii Trofimov crashed before the final steep climb.

"We had a good plan for today’s stage, but the crash just before the final climb changed everything," said team director Dmitry Konyshev. "The team did everything possible to put Iurii Trofimov in a good position in the yellow jersey group on the first climb. He stayed there until the last 3 km to go when some riders crashed and he was involved too. 

"He tried to chase the leaders, but he was forced to seek medical attention at the same time. Besides, because of the crash he found his rear shifter broken. In the final he lost 2 minutes. That's bad luck.

"But I hope in the next days he will come back in the high mountains. The main thing is to avoid any consequences after the crash. We hope everything will be fine with Iurii."

There are two more hard days of climbing before the first rest day on Tuesday. More mountains are featured in Sunday’s stage packed with climbs. The 166 km stage begins in Gérardmer and ends in Mulhouse after six rated climbs along the way. But the last climb is more than 35 km from the finish and might not figure in the strategy of the riders.