Geraint Thomas was happy to be back riding at the front of peloton on stage nine of the Tour de France after a horror show the day before.
One of the pre-race favourites, Thomas suffered a dislocated shoulder on stage three of the race after crashing but was still in the fight for yellow up until yesterday when he was dropped at the start and eventually finished fourth last, 35 minutes down from stage winner Dylan Teuns.
On Sunday, however, the Welshman was much improved and led the Ineos Grenadiers up the final ascent to Tignes, working on behalf of the team's leader Richard Carapaz.
While plan to isolate race leader Tadej Pogačar and help Carapaz gain some time on the young Slovenian didn't materialise, it was a showing of strength from Ineos Grenadiers.
Speaking after the stage, Thomas was glad to put Saturday behind him with a better showing today.
"Yesterday obviously started right on a climb and I was out the back of the peloton and didn't get back," he said.
"But I felt 10 times better today. I was still swinging, don't get me wrong, and that was a hard start today but I managed to just hang in there.
"I was a lot more up for it today. Not that I wasn't yesterday, but after such a poor performance yesterday I was keen to rectify that.
"I had an extra coffee on the bus and the altitude [helped] I guess. Then I just felt okay once we get on the long climbs.
"We tried to up the pace at the end for Billy [Carapaz], to put the other guys on the back foot a bit and for him to have a go."
Given that Pogačar has a lead of over five minutes to Carapaz, the Ecuadorian is now likely to focus on securing a final podium spot in the race.
Having Thomas as a helper will be a crucial aid, although with the Briton set to take part in the Olympics road race and time trial in three weeks, he could be tempted to leave the race early and recover in time.
