Marco Frigo gave it a go yesterday too, in the stage that finished at Orcières-Merlette, but there was no way to get into the thick of the action. In his first Tour de France, he never held back, even when his legs perhaps didn't respond as he would have liked. His instinct to find the right breakaway proved he has it even on the most prestigious stage, he finished 4th at Foix, but then he never found those same sensations again.

What remains, however, is his debut at the Grande Boucle, after three Giros d'Italia and two Vuelta a España. "Everyone told me it would be a special race, but deep down I thought that, after all, once you're racing it would be fairly 'normal'" - says the rider from Bassano della NSN -. "Instead it's something unique: I have 5 Grand Tours under my belt, but the sensations I've experienced these past weeks are something totally different. The pace is relentless, but it's also the organization behind it all that struck me... and then the public, 100 km from the finish the roads are packed. Everything is taken to the nth degree, everything is bigger. For me it was honestly a shock".

The objective was not to be a mere spectator and that's what happened: "I'm quite satisfied with my Tour, I tried to make the most of every opportunity I had - Frigo explained further -. I didn't get a full result, but I'm happy I didn't race anonymously. In the first week my legs were turning well, then in the second week I felt a drop in performance. At the end of the Tour we'll sit down to understand what we did right and wrong in our preparation for the race, maybe we peaked a bit too early. Here to get a result you need to align a few things - legs, head and luck. If even just one small detail is missing, it becomes really difficult to hope for anything".

Today and tomorrow it's the Alpe d'Huez: a first time you don't forget. "I think these two stages will be a matter for the overall contenders. I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy the spectacle of the Alpe d'Huez and the final days of my Tour de France".