For the second time in this year's race, Alessandro De Marchi animated  stage of the Tour de France when he rode solo on the front in the Alps until only 10km remained. Having lacked legs and luck to finish it off, the Italian promises to try again.

Cannondale may mostly be focused on Peter Sagan but in the mountain stages, Alessandro De Marchi has put the team in the spotlight. After his great showing in Sunday's stage to Mulhouse, the Italian was again on the attack in today's first big Alpine stage.

De Marchi was the last rider from the early break to get caught and got close to a solo win like the one he took in Risoul in last year's Criterium du Dauphiné. However, he scored important points for the mountains classification and earned the award for most aggressive rider and now promises to attack again.

"It's been a very hard," he said. "I did my best to try and win the stage. Had the breakaway behaved differently, I would have been happier. But at the Tour, many things happen.

"Today I've lacked a bit of luck and a bit of legs too. I kept a steady pace all the time I was alone in the lead. I'm going well. My form is good but I have to find the perfect day to achieve a good result. I'm convinced that I'll make it. I'll try again for sure.

“The stage victory was the goal. In the Tour, you must have a lot of things perfect. Some of the stage wasn’t. I tried for as long as I could, and it was the best I could.

"I’ll try again. Not tomorrow. But the Tour is long, so I will try again before the race is over. We’ll try and try and try. We’ll find a stage for Peter. We’ll try again for sure.

"Tomorrow I know the finish very well, as I won in Risoul at the Dauphiné last year. It's a beautiful memory. But with the efforts I've done today, I'm not sure I'll be able to break away again tomorrow."

“We were hoping for the break to survive til the finish," Sagan said. "I still have the Green Jersey and wearing that into Paris is important.”