Roche: “I thought I’d be a little bit better”

Nicolas Roche (BMC), 3rd overall: “The pace in the climb was brutal. Orica accelerated from the bottom with the Yates and Alberto (Contador) went at it again. I took my own pace and then tried and follow the best. It was a really really tough climb so it was all about limiting the losses. Today I thought I'd be a little bit better. I suffered already a bit yesterday. I fought well. Tomorrow is another big day. I know that climb, I've done it a few times. Tejay (Van Garderen) is obviously feeling better after his crash. He was more angry about the 25 seconds he lost than the crash. It always takes four or five days to totally recover. He was in the same group as I was and I could see he was having a hard day as well but in the end we didn't lose too much time so it's all good.”