Thomas Voeckler went into today's stage of the Tour de France with the aim of taking the mountains jersey but was up against a strong Joaquim Rodriguez who beat him in the sprints on all climbs. The Frenchman regretted having wasted a lot of energy for very little.

Involved in the day's break, France's Thomas Voeckler was unable to collect the points he needed to challenge Joaquim Rodriguez for the KOM classification.

"Yes it was a hard day," he said. "I managed to go into a break but a favourite [Kwiatkowski] came back from behind which hampered our chances. I tried to take points for the KOM but Rodriguez was too strong. It was a lot of energy wasted for nothing. But you have to try. I'm less disappointed than tired.

"Yes I gave a little push to Tony. I remember 2004 when I was getting dropped, Virenque took a turn in front of me. It was not much, just a hand to a Frenchman in the lead, it's rather logical."