Michal Kwiatkowski delivered some overdue joy for Ineos Grenadiers with a brilliant solo win atop Grand Colombier on Stage 13 as Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) trimmed the gap to Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) in the yellow jersey with a blistering last-gasp attack.
Pogacar swept up most of the escapees with his final flurry to take third and four bonus seconds, chiselling eight in total back on Vingegaard, to leave the gap in the overall standings at nine seconds.
But given UAE had ridden on the front for the whole day, and worked so hard on the climb, it seemed a small reward. Ad Friday's stage was all about the final climb, with the day's break taking wildly different approaches as the race headed uphill.
Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) was first to strike out before being quickly swallowed up by James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost), Maxim van Gils (Lotto Dstny) and Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan).