Caleb Yuan, who had battled to the finish in last place for two stages in the Tour de France, crossed the summit finish line of the Col du Granon with plenty of time to spare, thanks to the combined efforts of the Lotto-Soudal team.

It was a welcome improvement for the Australian sprinter, but not enough to make him forget his previous days in the mountains, or that the biggest challenge of reaching L'Alpe d'Huez still remained.

On stage 9, Yuan finished in the final group of six and was last on stage 10. Before stage 11, he was understandably less optimistic about his chances of making it to the end of the Tour de France.

He told reporters, "I definitely want to finish the race, but given my physical condition the last few days, I don't think I'm in very good shape."

But on Wednesday, the Lotto-Soudal rider, a five-time stage winner in the 2019 and 2020 Tour de France, finished last again, this time 38:59 behind winner Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and within 43:52 of the day's He finished within 43:52 of the day's winner, Jonas Vingegaard. Sprint rival Fabio Jacobsen (Quick Step-Alfa Vinyl) finished in 40:08.

"I had the team waiting for me to make it to the time limit," Ewan told Australian broadcaster SBS.

"I had a couple of times when my legs weren't feeling so good and a couple of times when they were feeling better, and in the end I was able to run well within the time limit, so that was good. But I think tomorrow [the NDR to L'Alpe d'Huez] will be a hard stage starting with a climb."

Stage 12 leads from the Galibier pass to the Croix de Fer and the legendary hairpin of the Alpe d'Huez pass.

It will be another day of light and dark for the GC riders, but for riders like Ewan, it could also spell the end of the Tour de France due to the time limit of what percentage margin is left on the winner's time.

In last year's Tour, stage 9 to Tignes suffered the biggest time cut, with seven riders, including Arnaud Demaret (Groupama-FDJ) and Brian Coquard (B&B Hotels p/b KTM), finishing the race outside the time limit. However, Euan crashed on stage 3 and broke his collarbone.

Ewan has not finished a Grand Tour since the 2020 Tour de France and has only finished twice in his career.

"I needed to find my rhythm," he said.

"I think when I was following, I was either going too hard or too easy, and I didn't really get into a good rhythm.

If he can find his rhythm on the final day in the Alps, Ewan will have the luck of three more sprint stages, including the final stage on the Champs-Elysées, which he won in 2019, to claim his first win in this year's Tour.