For the first time in this year's Tour de France, Joaquim Rodriguez played an active role in the race when he joined today's big 28-rider breakaway. Despite fighting hard to score mountain points, the Spaniard still hasn't made up his about about the polka-dot jersey and insists that his main goal is to build his condition for the Vuelta.

Active on the day was Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez, sprinting for points on the climbs and banking them as the Spanish rider thinks about challenging for the polka dot jersey. Meanwhile a dominating performance by Tony Martin and a yellow jersey for Tony Gallopin made it a good day to be named ‘Tony’ in the 101st Tour de France on Sunday’s stage 9.

"I go step by step on my way to find good condition," Rodriguez said. "So today in a hard mountain stage I went in the break to test myself and to look at where I am at this point. I think it was a very good test to be in front and to feel the active racing.

"Today I tried to win some points in mountain classification. For the moment I can't say if I’ll fight for the jersey, but one never knows. For the moment my main purpose is to continue work on my shape."

Stage 9 was a second day in the Vosges mountain region of France, this time with six climbs facing the peloton on the 170 km stage from Gérardmer to Mulhouse. The course started right off with climbs so it took awhile for the break to be established, but in the first hour a large group finally went clear. Included in the group were Simon Špilak and Joaquim Rodriguez. Rodriguez was active throughout the day, focusing on the KOM points available at the top of each climb and moving himself into possible contention in the polka dot competition in fifth place. 

In a team note, Alexander Kristoff suffered from stomach problems today, an issue he’s been faced with for several days. Today was a hard one for the Norwegian rider but he fought all the way to the finish to stay in the race.

Bastille Day’s stage 10 on Monday is the final day in the Vosges region and the last stage before a well-deserved rest day. Four category-1 climbs, including a tough mountaintop finish, are featured on the 161,5 km stage from Mulhouse to La Planche des Belles Filles.