Commenting on the stage and his efforts under the blistering French sun, Fuglsang said the 168km stage from Saint Girons to Bagneres de Bigorre was a hot, difficult and fantastic day of racing.

Fuglsang stayed in the front group over five mountain climbs as rival squads attacked race leader Chris Froome (Sky) and isolated him from his teammates. Fuglsang escaped in the final 30km with Irish rider Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) and stayed away from a small group to arrive at the finish for a two-man sprint in which, though, he was outsmarted, outsprinted and outclassed.

"We got over the final climb and started the descent and I was hoping that they wouldn't catch us but never certain that we could make it,” Fuglsang added on the Astana website. “Froome was alone and had to do all the work himself, but none of the other teams were attacking him. My race with Martin came to the final kilometres and then for a sprint he took the final turn ahead of me and got the win. Congratulations to him, I would have liked to win myself. In any case it was a good day for the team after losing three riders in the first week. I think we still have a lot of surprises in our legs in the next two weeks," Fuglsang said.

Fuglsang moved up in the overall classification of the three week race, from 17th to 12th, and is now 3’07” behind Froome, and within 30 seconds of the top ten.

"The goal remains the same now as it was at the start in Corsica - a Top-10 finish in the Tour de France," Fuglsang said.