Suffering from bronchitis, Rui Costa fought hard to limit the losses in today's stage of the Tour de France and the world champion managed to move back into the top 10. He received crucial support from Chris Horner who did a lot of work to pace his captain up the final climb.

Having suffered from bronchitis for a few days, Rui Costa was not too optimistic for today's first Tour de France stage in the Alps but despite claiming only to be at 70%, he defended himself well. Crossing the line in 15th, he moved into 9th in the overall standings.

Costa fought hard on the final climb and was seen being paced by his teammate Chris Horner who put himself completely in service of his captain. Costa was grateful for the support from the Vuelta champion.

"Comparing to yesterday and to Wednesday, today I was feeling better," he said. "I'm still not good enough to fight for the very first positions, but relying on the grind and on the perfect support from Chris I could limit the damage. I hope I'll contonue to improve the condition day by day."

Bbecause of the heat and the pace, the final climb was very demanding," Horner said. "I was feeling good, but not good enough to be able to battle for a top result, so I preferred to support Rui, setting a rythm that could be good for both of us. I think we succeeded in reaching the finish with only a small time loss."