Edvald Boasson Hagen soloed to victory later in the day and Chris Froome kept his lead in the classification with just two stages to go. 

“This morning around four o’clock, I woke up and felt my stomach rumbling a bit,” Roosen said. “This morning at breakfast, I was not able to eat much. 

“During the neutralisation, I felt quite OK. I even reacted on an attack. But when I did that, I had troubles keeping the wheel. Then on a hill, that was not even classified, I got dropped. 

“There was no energy left in my legs. You can be in the best form ever, but when this happens to you, it is over.” 

Yesterday Roosen finished in the big ‘gruppetto’, ready to fight another day. 

“I felt good yesterday. It maybe was my best day this Tour de France. 

“Suddenly, that feeling was gone today. You do not want to experience this, abandon this late in the race. It is very disappointing. With Dylan Groenewegen, we have one of the quickest sprinters left in the bunch. I would have liked to drop him off for the win on the Champs-Elysees.” 

“The coming weekend is very important to us,” Sports Director Nico Verhoeven explained. “The time trial tomorrow is an opportunity for Primoz and on Sunday, Dylan has a chance to sprint. We are full of confidence looking forward to that. 

“Today was a very tricky day. We hoped we could do something. In the beginning of the stage we tried, but we came up short. We were not able to be in the breakaway or to control the race.” 

Verhoeven thinks Roglic is ready to time trial to a top place over the 22.5 kilometres in Marseille tomorrow. 

“At the start yesterday, he complained he did not have the legs. But on the Izoard, he was back in his groove already. The past two days he was able to rest himself. 

“He has shown before he can win a time trial and with his stage win two days back, he has shown in is in good form. “There are many riders who can ride fast when it is flat. But there is a small climb in the time trial. Primoz is able to ride fast when it’s flat and it goes uphill.”