Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) is in 11th place overall after the first rest day of the Tour de France, but things would have been much better if the Australian and his co-leader, Bauke Mollema, had not been caught in a crosswind on stage 7 to Lavaur. The situation would have been much better. While not as strong as Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma), Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates), and Eoghan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), both riders have been more than adequate in the mountains this year. Both Trek-Segafredo riders are in the hunt for a top-10 finish, with Porte currently leading from Roglic by 1:53 and Morema by 2:31.

Porte was unable to line up with the leading pack when he began fighting for bonus seconds on the Col de Marie Blanc on stage 9, but caught up with the GC contenders on the long descent to the finish in Larne.

"Except for the crosswind stage, everything was fine, smooth sailing," Porte told a small group of journalists gathered via Zoom on Monday.

"In the Pyrenean stages, it was there. On stage 9 it would have been nice to climb to the top of the Marie Blanc pass with the other riders, but it didn't work out that way. Not the best place to be after the first rest day, but not the worst either," Porte said. Once they started going for bonus seconds at the top, I couldn't keep up with the acceleration. Other than that, I was pretty comfortable on the climbs. I was riding at my own pace, but then Pogachar's attack started to change my speed.

However, the stage to Lavour exposed the weakness of the Trek-Segafredo lineup. As Bora-Hansgrohe brought the hammer down, half of the team missed an early split, and Morema and Porte were caught near the back of the pack as the wind picked up. Morema and Porte both lost 1:12 on GC in a stage that should have provided full team protection.

Porte acknowledged that words were exchanged during the team debriefing that evening and said he would not make the same mistake again for stage 10, where crosswinds are expected again.

"At the end of the day we had a team meeting afterwards about what went wrong. It didn't matter what was said, we should have been there," Porte said. 'It wasn't the ten Quickstep specialists that created the echelon. There were two roundabouts that were disjointed. That's where it didn't work out. Then we had a solid team meeting.

Both Porte and Mollema have the experience to re-enter the top 10 in the coming stages, which will become increasingly difficult before the Tour de France enters its third week in the Alps. For Porte, the third week will be the most decisive in the race. However, the 10th stage to Saint Martin de Re will again test the true value of Trek-Segafredo in the crosswinds.

"The last week has been very difficult and the GC race is definitely not over. I think we need to get through the next two days as well as possible," Porte added.

"We got caught in a crosswind today. Mads [Pedersen] and Edward Tuns weren't at the front, so I'm sure that in the next two days, if they are there, stronger riders will help us. I looked at the last 40km of stage 10 and the wind will be blowing somewhere. It's a technical course with small roads and road furniture everywhere, so it will be an important stage to get through."