Today was no exception.

We put four out of our five riders in the break on a formidable day in the Alps. Rigoberto Urán was in the running, until he crashed on a descent. The Colombian veteran is fine and now looking forward to attacking in the mountains during the third week.

Heading into the Tour’s second rest day, Neilson Powless is even on points with the leader of the King of the Mountains competition. The American put in a gutsy ride to pick up points on today’s alpine stage. His form is back on the rise.

Although Richard Carapaz, James Shaw, and Esteban Chaves have had to abandon the race after crashes, their teammates are racing on with the same spirit with which they attacked the Tour de France.

Read our riders thoughts from after the finish of today’s stage.

My day was a good day and a bad day. It was 50/50, because I was in the break with three guys and my feeling was better, not super, because the last four or five days, I hadn't been feeling well. Today, it was better. I was in a good position with the break, and I was unlucky. I crashed. It is cycling. You need to go full gas every day. I will focus on the next week. I believe in it, I believe in it too much, maybe. I am focused on next week. This is normal for me. The first two weeks were not super, and now the third week, I hope it is better.

Today was actually quite a lot better. I thought we got a good move in the valley before the first climb. It was uncategorized, but the first real climb of the day. Alberto set me up for a really good move. We got up the road without Ciccone, without Woods, but unfortunately we had about ten kilometers to the first climb and he has a really strong team for flat roads, so his team kept us close and pulled us back. And that effort was killing me for the rest of the day. I took a couple points, not many, but I am tied for first, so still in it.

Ciccone is coming at me quick. But I am just hoping that my fitness continues to go up, and I am hoping that he has been using a lot of energy to take those points. He has been super aggressive, going one extra climb further than I am each stage, but I just have to hope that his energy runs out and I can take advantage of that when it happens.

My legs hurt more than this morning, but they are getting better. Honestly, they are getting better. And that gives me a lot of confidence. I want to go the whole way with this thing.

I am doing alright. It was nice to actually make it into a break and do something in this race. The stage was not for me, but we gave it a try with Rigo, so that was alright. I hope to go in the breakaway again. There are not that many stages left that are looking good for me, unfortunately, but I will try. It was pretty fun to have four out of five guys in the breakaway today, but in the end you have to have the legs. On a day like today, numbers don’t matter too much.

It was another day at the Tour de France. We tried. And we will try again. But this is cycling.