Pushing hard at the front of the chase group to Mende on stage 14 of the Tour de France, Louis Maintus was not looking for a stage win, just some time and perhaps a little revenge.

The Intermarché Wanty-Gaubert Materieux rider surged from 13th to 7th on GC, 11:22 ahead of his overall rivals, after putting in a tremendous effort to join the 23-man attack on the day.

"Early in the stage, the early breakaway battles were intense. [I attacked about 20 times, but it was clear that several teams would not acknowledge my presence at the front unless they were there too. Eventually I managed to get away, but after all these efforts I felt that I no longer had the legs to fight for the stage win."

Meintjes finished second to Tom Pidcock in the L'Alpe d'Huez, but on the road to Mende, a top GC finish was the goal for the day.

"It was important to keep the group as large and cohesive as possible in order to gain as much time as possible in the peloton.

Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco) attacked with 50km to go and others did too, but Meintjes still maintained his pace and kept the gap to his GC rivals as large as possible.

"There were many attacks towards the end of the stage, but luckily there was always a team missing at the front.

Matthews took the win after the final climb to Mende, but finished 10th, 1:12 behind the Australian.

The 30-year-old, who finished in the top 10 at the 2016 and 2017 Tour de France, moved back up the leaderboard.

"I'm happy with my second day of attacks here at the Tour de France," Meintjes said.

"It was a good opportunity to get back at the guys who hurt me on the flat stages and also to put some time back on my rivals in the overall.