Yesterday FDJ and Thibaut Pinot were on a high after the team leader had done surprisingly well on the cobbles. Today everything went wrong for the French team as Pinot was caught out in the crosswinds and lost a minute while sprinter Arnaud Demare crashed for the second day in a row.

Thibaut Pinot has often lost time due to poor positioning as he is definitely not a fan of the rubbing that goes along with securing a good spot in the front end of the peloton. Hence, he was very pleased when he finished yesterday's stage on the cobbles with a minimal time loss.

Today, however, things didn't go according to plan for the French climber. When Omega Pharma-Quick Step dropped the hammer in the crosswinds, he was poorly positioned and ended up losing almost a minute to his main rivals.

"Everything happened when we passed a village 15km from the finish," Arthur Vichot said. "We were a bit too far back. As we exited the town, there was a big acceleration and we had not positioned us in time. And when the sprint teams went full gas, it was too late.

"Everything was in a crossing village, 15 kilometers from the finish, said Arthur Vichot remained all day in contact with his leader. We were a bit stuck. At the exit, there was a big blow screws and we have not been able to put ourselves in time. And when the sprinters teams were put in place, it was too late.

"Unfortunately we lost a minute. We were unable to chase down like we wanted. We did not have enough strength to bridge the gap. When the sprinters teams started organising, it was hard to make up for lost time. Yesterday we limited the damage with Thibaut, today we lost time. I hope it won't be too consequential for the future."

"One minute is not the end of the world, but it's a minute lost in a stupid way. Now we must take it back," Pinot said.

"We were not good today," added his team director Marc Madiot.

Things didn't go better for sprinter Arnaud Demare who crashed for the second day in a row and was unable to mix it up in the sprint.

"I crashed at the mid point with William Bonnet," he said. "The first part of the Tour de France has been a bit hard even though I was third in Lille. When I got up, I felt broken everywhere and I ran out of energy when the peloton accelerated. Okay, okay, I'm not badley affect and the main thing is not me but Thibaut...

"I really don't have any luck for the moment. It's more important for Thibaut than for me. I crashed and I'm a little bit broken all over. I was dropped in a group and I still saw Thibaut ahead with many other riders.

"It's a shame. It's obviosuly not easy. For the time being, cycling has always been good to me. In the last six days it's been more difficult. My third place was a little light in the gloom in the last few days. »