Ag2r left today's windy stage of the Tour de France with mixed emotions. On one hand Samuel Dumoulin did a fantastic sprint to take third but on the other hand, one of the team's captains Romain Bardet was involved in a heavy crash.

Samuel Dumoulin is known as a fast rider but he is usually not among the best in the big bunch sprints. Today, however, he did surprisingly well by finished third in stage 6 of the Tour de France.

Dumoulin was surprised by the result and wrote it down to the nervous, fast stage that had made it a tough day in the saddle.

“Today, I benefited from crahes, wind and a pretty difficult finish," he said. "We were all physically tired. We were four riders of the team in front with Sébastien Minard and our captains Jicé (Péraud) and Romain (Bardet). We remained well grouped and we held on when there was an acceleration in the crosswind. 

"I helped Romain 10 kilometers from the finish when he was close to missing a split because of wind and we worked in order to make him come back to the pack. Then, I was focused on my sprint.

"This morning Christophe Riblon showed me the final of this stage in 2010 and it provided good indications about the turns. Three kilometers from the finish line I was not well-positioned but I kept my speed up in the last bend and I found myself just behind the wheel of Kristoff. I’m close to 2nd place but for victory, I don’t pretend to beat Greipel.

"It’s been a while since I obtained such a good result and this is a great 3rd place. We did a great collective work by helping our leaders to make the splits. We can say that the team  started this Tour de France very well.”

Unfortunately, Bardet went down in a crash but he managed to rejoin the peloton and avoid any time loss.

“I crashed around hundred kilometers from the finish," he said. "The road was quite slippery, riders crashed in front of me and I was not able to avoid them. You can safely finish a tricky stage as yesterday and make a mistake in a quieter stage like today's. This is the case in the Tour de France and I have a good team around me to make me well-positioned every time.

"I crashed hard but my priority was to get up as soon as possible to quickly go back to the peloton. Tonight, it could be a bit painful but I have full confidence in the team’s staff who will get me back on my feet for tomorrow and especially for next weekend in the Vosges.”