Cyril Lemoine has held the mountains jersey since the second stage of the Tour de France and yesterday he again defended his position. However, the Frenchman knows that his time in the polka-dots is about to come to an end.

Cyril Lemoine has been one of the great surprises of the first part of the Tour de France. The Cofidis rider has both excelled on the cobbles and worn the mountains jersey for most of the race.

Yesterday he sent his teammate Luis Angel Mate on the attack in an attempt to defend his position and it was mission accomplished for the French team as Mate scored all points on the stage. Being no climber, however, Lemoine knows that his time in the jersey is about to come to an end.

"Today's plan was to put someone in the breakaway for both keeping the polka dot jersey in the team and moreover trying and win the stage," he said. "We were hoping for teams to being tired and disorganized in chasing. It wasn't the case but once again we've had a scenario with crashes.

"It's demanding. I'm getting tired, physically and nervously. I'm also getting used to the polka dot jersey but I'm aware that it'll be very difficult to keep it beyond Saturday."