Australian Richie Porte kept a low profile the day before a searching test of his abilities at this year's Tour de France.
The Tasmanian dropped from third to fifth overall after Sunday's ninth stage, but that meant nothing to his overall chances.
He lost no time to key rivals such as Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali, plus none of the riders who broke away during the 170km ninth stage from Gerardmer to Mulhouse are considered title threats.
The Tour's heavy hitters had a quiet day before the critical 161.5km stage in the hilly Vosges region from Mulhouse to the summit finish at La Planche des Belles Filles.
The stage finishes with seven categorised climbs, with the best kept until last.
While it is only 5.9km long, the climb to the La Planche des Belles Filles ski station is a brute, with an average gradient of 8.5 per cent.
It tops out at a cruel 20 per cent.
The Tour used the finish for the first time two years ago and it proved decisive.
Sky's Chris Froome won his first Tour stage and teammate Brad Wiggins took the yellow jersey, which he held to the finish.
Porte is now Sky's team leader after Froome, the defending champion, crashed out in stage five.
The early signs have been promising for the Australian, after he kept pace with Contador and Nibali on the summit finish in stage eight and rose to second overall.
While Porte is leading a team in a three-week Grand Tour for the first time, and in unexpected circumstances, Sky boss Dave Brailsford said the Tasmanian has learned from the best.
Before supporting Wiggins in 2012 and Froome last year, Porte also rode for Contador when the Australian made his Tour debut in 2011.
"He has quite a lot of experience of what it takes to win a GC (general classification) without having done it," Brailsford told the cyclingnews website.
"He has quite a lot of learning from that."
"What we have experienced in the last few years is Chris riding with Bradley and learning a lot, then putting that to use himself.
"Then Richie has ridden for Froomey - and particularly last year, he rode ever so well for him - and you learn a lot from that."
German time trial specialist Tony Martin scored a stunning solo stage win, but Frenchman Tony Gallopin was an even bigger winner.
Gallopin finished in the main breakaway group at 16th to take the race lead, meaning a Frenchman will wear the Tour's famed yellow jersey on Bastille Day.
Porte finished 31st in the main group, seven minutes 46 seconds behind Gallopin, and is now fifth overall at 3:32.
Contador and Nibali also finished in the peloton.
Nibali lost the race lead and is now second at 1:34.
Contador, this year's title favourite, is ninth overall at 4:08.
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