Ruben Plaza has dedicated his victory on stage sixteen of the Tour De France to Rui Costa.
Plaza who broke away to win in fine style in Gap told letour.com: "I joined team Lampre at the request of Rui Costa, whom I knew from Movistar. I dedicate this victory to my family but also to Rui, as his withdrawal was a harsh blow for the team.
" At 35, you appreciate a victory more than at 25. My last victory on a grand Tour was on the 2005 Vuelta, and it was a time trial. It's nice to win a stage like this too.
"I knew that Sagan was coming back and I know how good he is in descents but I had a comfortable enough lead at the top, about 50 seconds, not to panic.
"It's true that I had a little fright towards the end when my wheel slid, but I managed. I finished full gas but keeping just a little margin to avoid any upset. I'm extremely happy."
Chris Froome who maintained his lead of 3.10 in the race said: "It's never nice to hear that one of your team-mates crashed, especially when it's Geraint Thomas, who gave everything for me since the start of the race and is a GC contender in his own right. But he's OK, he's a tough cookie and he'll be back in the next couple of days.
"It was unfortunate to lose Peter Kennaugh He had a tough last couple of days with illness and spent a lot of energy trying to stay in the race yesterday. We saw the GC teams attack in the climb, Tinkoff Saxo attacked and then Valverde and Nibali. We can expect the same in the four days left until we reach Paris. We expect to be attacked everywhere. On the flat, in crosswinds, in the climbs.
"But I'm confident we have the team to control the race and take the jersey back to Paris. Physically and mentally everyone is exhausted and looking forward to the rest day. My wife is coming so I hope to spend a little bit of time with her."
Peter Sagan was at a loss to work out how he can finish better than second and said: "I knew the descent from two years ago and from seeing it on television with the Beloki crash. I was again very close.
"I'm glad because I was going for second place. No, I'm joking. I really don't know what I should do better.
"I tried everything. I knew I had to try as hard as I could in the descent even if it meant dying. I was the one pulling in the climb because nobody wanted to race with me. When Plaza went, nobody chased behind him while they all went after me."
On Colombia's national day, Nairo Quintana said: "Of course, we'll try to attack in the Alps but I won't attack on my own, we will try to attack with Alejandro as much as possible.
"Today was Colombia's national day so it was special. Two years ago it was even more special because I had won on national day. It was not possible on a stage like this but it was still a special day."