World road champion Philippe Gilbert of the BMC Racing Team finished eighth on Tuesday's stage of the Tour de France on a day when he and teammate Manuel Quinziato were part of a 26-rider breakaway which produced the stage winner.

Gilbert said he knew the final 9.5kilometre climb of the 168km race would be decisive and difficult. That is where Rui Costa (Movistar Team) rode away from his fellow escapees, built nearly a one minute lead by the summit, and easily soloed to the win ahead of a splintered group behind him.

"The tailwind we had all day made it hard racing, especially on the climb," Gilbert said. "I knew Costa was the rider to follow because without the incident on Stage 13 where his teammate, Alejandro Valverde, lost time, he would have been up there with the top contenders."

Chris Froome (Sky Procycling) kept the overall lead heading into Wednesday's individual time trial. Quinziato said his role was to help Gilbert. "We spoke together to have me keep riding to keep the group together," he said. "That's what I did in the last 10 kilometres before the climb when two guys attacked. We wanted to keep the gap in check."