A tired Mark Cavendish admitted he was relieved just to have got through the climb up Alpe d'Huez, even though he gave up another 20 point penalty in the green jersey standings.
"It's a real relief," Cavendish told ITV's Ned Boulting. "It's as if the Tour's over."
And despite being penalised by the race judges for finishing outside the cut-off time, Cavendish retains a 15-point lead over his green jersey rival Jose Joaquin Rojas - though he won't be lifting off the gas in Saturday's time trial.
"Most of the guys are just going to roll through tomorrow, but we have to go hard because it's a hard time trial," he said.
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