After it was revealed that German rider Leonard Kemna had spent the entire day in a breakaway group and was just 11 seconds away from the overall Tour de France lead from Tadej Pogachar, Bora-Hansgrohe's management expressed their "close and far" feelings.

"Quietly proud" that Kemna almost made it, after having already come close to success on the Belle Feuille plains with a breakaway group before being steamrolled by the GC contenders in the final kilometer.

"This 'so near so far' kind of sums us up," team manager Ralf Denk told Cycling News after the 10th stage.

"But Lenny rode great today. So we have to find something positive from this stage. I don't remember the last time a German finished second in 10 stages, it was so long ago."

In terms of the Tour's final standings, the last time Andreas Kloden finished third in Paris was in 2006, when he was moved up to second place, 34 seconds behind Oscar Pereiro, due to Floyd Landis' positive doping test. Clodi" also finished second in 2004.

Sixteen years later, even if Chemna is unable to replicate his stage victory at the 2020 Criterium du Dauphiné with a summit finish at the same Megeve airfield, as Denk points out, "the tactics have gotten easier; the UAE has the jersey, and the UAE has the jersey.

In the bigger picture, Denk says, the team's success at the Giro d'Italia with Jai Hindley will also help.

"This is the first year we've gone from a sprinters and classics team to a GC team," Denk said. And it's already working."

"So if we don't win a stage in the Tour, if we don't get a podium in Paris, if we don't leave anything behind, that would be a shame, but not a disaster.

Kemna played an integral role in making sure the pink jersey reached Denk's headquarters and also won a stage on Mount Etna. And Denk paid tribute to the German's ability to be a force in the Grand Tour for the second year in a row.

"He's got a lot of base strength from doing the Giro, but he showed his potential in a great Giro and is still in contention to win a stage," Denk said, "which I think shows he has a great future and our job is to support him as much as possible."

Denk said.

Alexandre Vlasov, the team's main GC hopeful, had a slightly better day on the bike, Denk said.

But as Denk noted, "It wasn't a super hard race for GC." What matters is tomorrow and the day after. And even if Kemna doesn't get the yellow, his gutsy ride on stage 10 and his near-miss on GC will surely count as high points for Beulah Hansgrohe in this year's Tour.