Finishing on the sunny slopes of Mont Ventoux, the Argyle Armada kept the fight up despite being battered, bruised and sick. Tyler Farrar crashed during the stage but managed to finish chin up. Trent Lowe maintained his GC position despite being beat up from his bike-breaking crash yesterday. And David Millar kept it together for the finish while suffering from a slight fever and regular cough.

Said Directeur Sportif Vaughters: “David has a slight fever. He’s coughing every two minutes. It’s not good.”

“But he’s going to try and start tomorrow to keep morale on the team up,” continued Vaughters. “He wants to show the young guys he appreciates their hard work for him earlier this week.”