Tejay van Garderen of the BMC Racing Team finished 10th on Tuesday's first day in the mountains at the Tour de France while remaining second overall. Van Garderen conceded 2:30 to race leader Chris Froome (Team Sky), who soloed to the stage win. Froome's teammate, Richie Porte, was runner-up, 59 seconds later, with Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) in third, a further five seconds back.

"Sky definitely put on quite the performance," van Garderen said. "I tried my best to stay with them. When it got too much for me, I tried to stay in my rhythm and focused on getting to the top. I don't think today was my best day. But it wasn't all bad. I am still keeping a good GC (general classification) position."

In the overall standings, Froome leads van Garderen by 2:52. Quintana is third, at 3:09. Spanish national road champion Alejandro Valverde is fourth, at 4:01, and one of five riders still within five minutes of the overall lead.

Froome, the 2013 Tour de France winner, attacked in the last seven kilometers of the 167-km race that finished with a 15 km climb. Van Garderen was one of several riders who lost contact with a rapidly-dwindling lead group just before Froome's attack.

"The first mountain day is always tricky," van Garderen said. "We have done almost two weeks without climbing any real mountains. So it can be quite a shock to the system, especially after a rest day. I feel like it should go better from here. I am definitely still happy about where we are sitting."

BMC Racing Team President/General Manager Jim Ochowicz said with two more days in the Pyrenees to come, "people have a good observation of the challenges that lie ahead."

"It was a good race for us, generally speaking," Ochowicz said. "We came into today in second and we held second place. Now we keep moving forward with another challenge tomorrow. But the team looks strong. They're OK. They can do this stuff."