Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin) ended a frustrating Tour de France on a high when he finished third in the final mountain stage to Alpe d'Huez.

“I think we finished it off in our style, and really pushed the race right until the end,” Hesjedal told VeloNews. “You cannot ask for much more than that, almost winning on Alpe d’Huez.

“I think I lost the wheel in the Dutch corner. That was pretty intense. That was pretty exciting.”

“The team has really come around, unreal in the last week with Dylan [Van Baarle] in his first Tour being up in the break yesterday," he added to Cyclingnews. "We had Ramunas [Navardauskas] riding off the front today and that was crucial. He was keeping it at 50kph an hour and I was dreaming about finishing it off for the team with a victory on Alpe d’Huez.

“I was really in a bad way two days ago when I was helping in the break for Andrew [Talansky]. My stomach was rough and I was in survival mode. Tomorrow I‘ll finish up anther Tour and I think that we can be happy. A lot of big riders came away from this race with nothing and that just the way it is. We’ll be in a good mood and partying on Sunday.”