As Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar strike blow and counter blow in the battle for the maillot jaune at the Tour de France, the battle for the third spot on the podium behind them is only hotting up, too.
Bora-Hansgrohe leader and former yellow jersey holder Jai Hindley still holds the advantage heading into the first rest day, lying a mammoth 2:40 down on the lead but still enjoying a comfortable, if reduced, 1:42 advantage over Ineos Grenadiers' Carlos Rodríguez.
Behind the Spaniard, the Yates twins, who took the limelight with a one-two on stage 1 all the way back in Bilbao, lie within 23 seconds of fourth, both also gaining time on Hindley up Puy de Dôme.
Hindley lost seven seconds to Adam Yates, 14 to Rodríguez, and 23 to Jayco-AlUla leader Simon Yates, the Briton bouncing back the day after losing 47 seconds following a late crash on stage 8 to Limoges.
Speaking after the stage, Yates said that he was still experiencing pain following the late spill, which TotalEnergies rider Steff Cras said was caused by a spectator in the road. He was, however, the best non-Vingegaard or Pogačar finisher among the GC men, though, giving him something positive to build on as the recovery from pain and stiffness in his pelvis continues.
"I still had a lot of pain throughout the stage," Yates said outside his team bus after the stage. "It wasn't so bad when I was standing out of the saddle, which is how I like riding most of the time and on a steep climb like this it's not so bad.
"That was quite lucky, but like I said a lot of discomfort throughout the day. The rest day has come at a good time, so I'll try and recover as best as possible and then we'll go from there."
Yates was among the last men to stick with Vingegaard and Pogačar, being part of an elite five-man group on the steep upper slopes of the Puy de Dôme along with Rodríguez and Tom Pidcock, who has risen to seventh overall.
He was riding on the front of the group when Pogačar made his move at 1.5km to go and kept pushing on in the group to retain his advantage over those already dropped, rather than potentially blow by trying to match the blistering acceleration.
"I was kind of waiting for the big attack from those two guys because they didn't look like they were trying that hard," Yates said. "I was also trying to maximise the gap that I had to the other guys who were behind.
"I didn't really know what to do – I didn't want to pace them to the top, but I didn't want to lose my advantage that I had managed to get by hanging onto the back of them. They came past eventually at about eight times the speed, but it didn't matter at that point anyway and then I just did my best to the finish."
The top of the GC battle at the Tour is already a 'race of two speeds' to paraphrase the old saying from the 1990s. Out in front, Vingegaard and Pogačar are conducting their own battle, while a large group behind are fighting over the remaining podium spot and the remainder of the top five.
It's a scenario many foresaw before the start of the Tour, and an analysis that Yates agreed with when it was put to him after stage 9.
"I think that's quite clear," Yates said. "I think you've seen the difference in level between those two guys and the guys behind. I think it's quite close between the rest of us.
"But there's also some big gaps like Jai with the stage win there. He was a minute and a half 'or more in front, so he's got a nice buffer.
"I unfortunately crashed yesterday and lost almost a minute so that's not great for myself. But in terms of climbing and how we've been riding, I think it's quite close."
The battle for third place continues, with the next major meet set to come at stage 13, the 138km road to the summit finish of the Grand Colombier in the Alps.
"I'll try," Yates pledged. "I got some time on Jai today and a little bit of Rodríguez as well. We'll see how that plays out over the coming weeks but who knows?"
