With Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) clearly on another planet, the battle for the final Tour de France podium place has begun in earnest in the Pyrenees.
Ineos Grenadiers, still rebuilding their Tour de France contender pool after dominating as Team Sky with Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas and lastly Egan Bernal, are currently not competitive against Vingegaard and Pogačar but are working to get there with Carlos Rodriguez and Tom Pidcock - while signing Remco Evenepoel is remote but, if feasible, a more immediate possibility.
A Tour de France podium would be a significant consolation prize and motivation for Ineos Grenadiers as they try to start a new Grand Tour leadership cycle with Rodríguez and Pidcock.
"If you look at recent race form, then Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard are head and shoulders above everyone else. The way they went up the climbs proves it. There now seems to be a race for the podium, like there was last year when we won that battle with Geraint Thomas." Ineos Grenadiers team manager Rod Ellingworth told Cyclingnews.
"We've been the dominant team and it's a brilliant feeling and we want it again. But it's a different cycling at the moment and we're building for the future. I'm excited about our future. I also like the challenge and so we'll keep pushing to become competitive with Pogačar and Vingegaard in the future."
"We've had some great success in the Tour and we want some of it again. We've got to keep fighting. We don't give up, we keep fighting.
On stage 6 to Cauterets-Combasque, Rodríguez finished sixth and moved up four places to fifth overall. Pidcock was 33 seconds behind but moved up to ninth overall at 4:43.
Egan Bernal lost almost 10 minutes but that frees him from any GC thoughts, so he can perhaps target stages, work on his Grand Tour form and then beat his best for the Vuelta a España.
"For the young guys like Carlos and Tom, it's about suffering, learning and trying to progress. They can't fail really because they learn something every day," Ellingworth suggested.
"Tom will stay on GC and Carlos is right up there. The plan is that they push themselves and find their Grand Tour limits. I don't think they have yet. We were confident of a top ten if they go for GC all race but it looks like it could be better."
Bernal is ready to sacrifice his personal ambitions for Rodríguez and hugged him when they arrived at the team bus.
"I love him a lot and I'll try to give my life for him and for my teammates," Bernal said of Rodríguez with affection.
"I think that everyone here has at some point helped me to win races, so the least I can do is to give my 100% to try to do my best for the team.
"With the podium in the Tour, anything can happen, right? Carlitos can help us a lot to make a good overall. He's getting better and better, I can see that.
"He's a very young rider but he's super professional and very mature. He deserves to do well at the Tour, he's shown that by being up there with the best."
The race for the Tour de France podium
The Pogačar versus Vingegaard battle could produce a Tour de France for the ages but the fight for the final spot will be fascinating to watch.
How Ineos Grenadiers' GC contenders will fare over the next 15 stages remain to be seen but there has already been significant movement in the riders surrounding them inside the top 10 overall.
Jai Hindley lost the yellow jersey after just one day and slipped to third at 1:34, with 20 or so riders all lined up below him in the general classification and hungry and ambitious to make the final podium in Paris.
It would also prove Hindley's credentials after his 2022 Giro d'Italia victory and stage win in Laruns.
Simon Yates leads Jayco-Alula's hopes in fourth place - climbing up three spots. His brother Adam in sixth could also rise high in GC as he helps Pogača. Sepp Kuss has already shown he is far more than a super domestique.
David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) would spark a show of French national pride if he can improve on his fourth place from last year,
The likes of Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious), Romain Bardet (Team DSM-Firmenich), Ben O'Connor (AG2R-Citroën) and Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) cannot ruled out or forgotten.
We saw the fight for the podium crystalise for the first time on the long haul up the Col du Tourmalet during stage 6.
Hindley quickly dropped back to the chase group when Vingegaard and Pogačar distanced him. Other riders raced intelligently in the group, thinking about the podium rivals next to them rather than trying to chase the Pogačar-Vingegaard express train.
The chasing group swelled to 20 or so riders on the final section of the Col du Tourmalet and on the fast descent, with riders from the early breakaway and UAE Team Emirates and Jumbo-Visma domestiques sitting on for a ride to the finish.
The race within the race - for third overall and every place in the top ten - began in earnest on the steep section of the climb to the Cauterets-Cambasque finish, where Rodríguez was strong and got away with Hindley and Simon Yates.
They held the gap steady to Pogačar and Vingegaard as they fought their battle up the climb. The chasers finished 2:39 down but distanced many of their top ten rivals - a small victory of sorts.
Simon Yates moved up to fourth place in GC at 3:14, and Rodríguez rose four places to fifth at 3:30. Everyone else is spread across just eight minutes down to Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroën) in 20th at 8:19.
A podium in Paris with Pogačar and Vingegaard would be a significant achievement for many of the riders in the chase group and who knows if the two will stumble in some way in the next two weeks as they fight it out.
There is still everything, or at least so much, to race for.
