After the second stage of the Tour de France in Nice on Sunday, CCC team member Greg Van Avermaet said he rode "like a one-day race." In the end, however, the Belgian had to settle for fourth place on the stage.

Overnight leader Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), second-place finisher Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), and third-place finisher Cece Boll (Sunweb) all earned bonus seconds on stage 1, but stage 2 was a tougher race The second stage was a tougher race, so the rider who won that day will take the leader's jersey.

Van Avermaat was one of those who had a similar strategy in mind, but it was always going to be a select group that would tackle the Eze and Quatreschmann passes over the first Col de Colmiane and Col de Turini.

The Frenchman was accompanied first by Marc Hirschi of Sunweb and then Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), and the trio built a nearly 30-second lead over the chase group, which included Van Avermaert and other pre-race contenders for the overall win. [But as Alaphilippe, Hirschi, and Yates tried to pass under the red kite marking the last kilometer for the stage win and the race lead, Van Avermaert and the chase group sniffed an opportunity and closed to within a few seconds.

"It was a super hard stage, but I knew I had a shot at yellow and the stage win, so I gave it my all like a one-day race," Van Avermaat said on the team website.

"Unfortunately there were three guys in front of us and of course they were the best. 'You never know what can happen in a race and I played my cards right. You never know what can happen in a race and I played my cards. I can't change it."

Van Avermaert, who finished fourth in the stage, 17 seconds behind new race leader Alaphilippe and in the same time as about 30 other riders, may have thought his chance to win the yellow had passed him by, but he has already found other possibilities for a stage win.

"I'll recover first and hope there are other good stages to come. Maybe I can do well in the uphill sprint on stage 5," Van Avermaet said, considering the 183-km, mostly downhill ride from Gap to Prevas on Wednesday. 'I think the legs are responding well. Hopefully this won't be my last chance for a stage win."