Stage 8 of the Tour de France may have ended in a stalemate between the yellow jersey contenders, but the ruthlessly quick stage was nonetheless significant for Richie Porte and his BMC Racing teammates.
The Swiss sponsored, American backed team helped animate the first stage in the Jura with Greg Van Avermaet and Nicolas Roche posted into the early break, while Porte tried as best he could to save his legs for Sunday's mammoth stage to Chambery.
In the end, the team came up short with Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) picking up his maiden Tour stage. Roche took fourth, with Van Avermaet fading on the final climb. Porte finished safely in the main field to retain his fifth place overall, 39 seconds down on Chris Froome (Team Sky).
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The stage result only told part of the story on a tense, rather than dramatic day.
"That was pretty full on all day. It was tricky all day," Porte said, fronting up to reporters before his warm-down.
"In the final there, everything evened out but we'll feel that in the legs for sure," he added, looking ahead with one eye on stage 9.
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