The stage to Megève was a day of escapes, and Nielson Powles wanted to know if the Tour de France peloton still considered him one of the escapees.

He did nothing. After an impressive run in this year's Tour de France, the American was a marked man. When a decisive breakaway began to form on stage 10 to Megève, Paules made several attempts to jump on, but his presence was soon monitored by teams interested in the overall classification.

Paules was just over 0.5 minutes from the podium when the stage began, but by the end of the day he had dropped two places to 11th overall, but was still within 1:55 of the yellow jersey of Tadej Pogachar.

As the Tour enters the high Alps, the EF Education-Easy Post riders have no choice but to continue to target the top overall positions. His aptitude in the mountains, not to mention his fourth-place finish in the Tour de Suisse, should help his efforts.

"For now, that's my goal," Powles said as he boarded the EF Education First-Easy Post bus after the finish.

"Today I was charging through the breakaway group and they wouldn't let me go. I think they answered my question of whether or not they would let me slide to the top."

In the opening week of the Tour, Paules twice came within striking distance of the yellow jersey. On the fifth stage to Allenberg, he came into the break on the cobbles in the afternoon, but fell 13 seconds short of taking the yellow from Wout Van Aert, and a day later in Longwy, it looked as if Paules would take the lead when Van Aert fell, but due to the stage winner's time bonus, Paules was able to take the lead, Taddei Pogachar overtook him.

With Wednesday's stage over the Galibier and Granon passes, Paulez knew he would have no room to spare on the early climbs. Instead, he will ride as tough as possible for as long as possible in the yellow jersey group and then reassess the lay of the land once the Tour leaves the Alps.

"For now, it's about staying with the GC riders as much as possible.

"If I perform well and stay with the GC group, that's perfect and I will keep doing that. But if I have to lose time, I might lose enough time to ride in the breakaway."

Even though Paules' card was heavily marked, his EF Education-Easy Post team sent two riders to the break of the day, with Alberto Bettiol leading the race alone.

The Italian was caught again on the final climb to Megève, but his run helped his teammate Magnus Court win the group sprint at the finish.

"I think it took the pressure off the whole team," Paules said of his stage win.

"To get real momentum, you have to get the first win. Hopefully, it will give us more chances."

EF Education First-Easy Post was in danger of being relegated to the World Tour at the end of the year due to poor early season results, but following Paules' strong showing in the Tour de Suisse, the American and Cote were the stars of the first week of racing, opening the Tour was a lively one.

"I set out with a plan every day, and I've been glued to the plan for almost every stage so far," Powles said.

"Victory hadn't come yet, but we just believed that if we kept executing it would work out in the end.

"We hope this will put the team on an upward trend and give us more momentum. Magnus has put on a show for the fans on previous tours and has represented the team really well.