Overall contender Alexandre Vlasov suffered a late crash on stage 6 of the Tour de France and lost nearly two minutes 24 hours later on Friday's seventh stage, La Super Planche des Belles Fils. [With a string of successes earlier this year, including 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Vlasov is the second Grand Tour for Beulah Hansgrohe, following Jai Hindley's Giro d'Italia win earlier this year. Vlasov was the leading candidate to add a second Grand Tour to the list, following Jai Hindley's Giro d'Italia victory earlier this year.

But on a tough day for the German team, with Leonard Kemna just one step away from a stage win, Vlasov was seen flailing at the back of the pack in the middle of the Planche des Belles Filles.

Previously seventh overall by 52 seconds, now languishing 2:41 behind Tour de France leader Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates), Vlasov's 1:39 time loss, while not a decisive defeat, felt like a significant loss.

The Russian remained upbeat at the finish, saying that his crash 24 hours earlier had a major impact on his performance in the Tour's first summit finish.

"I suffered a little bit at the end of the race because of muscle pain in my lower back," he said. I was in a bit of pain towards the end of the race," Vlasov said.

Vlasov, fourth in the 2021 Giro d'Italia and making his Tour de France debut, said he will do his best to turn things around in the coming stages.

"It was a bad day for me," he admitted, "but I hope to recover quickly and get a good result."