Tour de France: I'm feeling fine, says Wiggins after dire day

Tour favourite Alberto Contador and Bradley Wiggins, the British contender, are adamant they will fight back after their disappointing first Alpine stages on Sunday.

Contador conceded 10 seconds to Sunday's stage winner, Andy Schleck, having not lost time on his rivals in the mountains since his first Tour de France victory back in 2007. He lies 61 seconds behind leader Cadel Evans, but insisted: "Things are looking good overall. I made a mistake and tried to follow everybody's attacks on the final climb on Sunday, but I realise that I will have to be more cautious."

The question of why Contador failed to attack after making Astana team-mates up the pace for the whole climb remains, but it has not harmed his mood. Wiggins' loss of nearly two minutes to the other favourites and his drop to 14th overall, has not fazed him either.

L'Equipe ran a headline in English which said: "Wiggins, bye-bye podium", but the Team Sky leader claimed "the race is really up in the air". Wiggins said: "I am actually feeling fine. I always feel I could have done more. It was not a good day, but the key is I am ready to go again."