Orica-GreenEDGE have not had a lot of success in the Tour de France and with no climbers on the roster, the team has no chance to make an impact in the Pyrenees. Instead, they hope that Luke Durbridge and Svein Tuft can have a great ride in Saturday's time trial.

Canadian Christian Meier was ORICA-GreenEDGE’s top finisher in a short but brutal stage 17 of the Tour de France.

Meier finished the 124.5km stage in 79th position, 19minutes 37second behind Rafal Majka (TCS) who took out his second stage of the Tour.

With four ruthless climbs – three category one and a HC to finish – the stage was always going to be a tough one for the team to contest.

“Today was the first day of the whole Tour that the boys haven’t featured in anything,” sport director Matt White said.

“It was a very short day but one of the toughest days of this year’s Tour.

“There was one break from the outset, which we weren’t in, and it was a very fast day. It didn’t drop at any point today. 

“All the boys got through safely and for Durbo (Luke Durbridge) and Svein (Tuft) particularly, it was about conserving as much energy as possible to have a big ride in the time trial in a couple of days time.”