The Ineos Grenadiers would have had a better overall Tour de France result had Dani Martinez not fallen ill last weekend. But the team remains ambitious to go even higher, says lead sport director Steve Cummings.

As the Tour enters the main trio of Alpine stages this week, Geraint Thomas is third overall in 1 hour 17 minutes, Adam Yates is fourth overall in 1 hour 25 minutes, and Tom Pidcock is seventh overall in 1 hour 46 minutes.

"The plan is to take a numbers approach, as we've done in many races, which is to race each other smart," Cummings told Cycling News.

"If you want to win, you have to take risks at some stage.

Cummings noted that the British team's situation would have been even stronger had they not recently lost Martinez, who won this year's Iturria Basque.

"It's a shame that we lost Dani Martinez from the GC. Because I know he really thought about this race, worked hard and dreamed about it.

"It's really cruel. Through no fault of his own, he wasn't able to prepare to the best of his ability because of a little hiccup or illness. Things were starting to turn around and all of a sudden, bam. - He got sick. So to lose him from the GC is very hard."

"That said, to have four riders in the top 10 after eight stages is kind of exceptional. If you look at the team as a whole, not just in this race, we should be doing really well to get this far."

However, Cummings says that rather than being overly concerned with what cannot be changed in the wake of Martinez's misfortune, the team must build on what has worked for its greater ambitions.

"We are here to win and we haven't won yet. So whether we are aiming for the overall, a stage win, or both, we need to continue to do what we have been doing."

"We have a lot of work to do," he said.

In any case, Cummings insists that the team has fought hard from the beginning and has not been wrong in terms of preparation and commitment.

"In that sense, I don't think we need to change anything. We should remember that Pidcock worked hard for his teammates in the early flat stages. Such things may not be noticeable in the public eye, but not within the team.

"Then G has had some difficult seasons, where his grades were good but some began to question him. It's great that he has the mental energy to reset and be in this position again. And for Adam Yates, winning COVID in Switzerland took a huge mental toll on him. They all deserve to be in their respective positions in the GC."

Behind the scenes, Cummings says some strategies have changed at Ineos Grenadiers in terms of how the team views the challenge of a big set piece like the Alps. Whereas before, the team preferred to work from a global perspective, they are now more specific in their goals.

"We're taking it more day by day. Because back then the team was in a different situation. But now, depending on the race situation, it's somebody else's job"

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One challenge for the entire peloton, including the Ineos Grenadiers, is the growing threat of extreme heat in the second half of the Tour. According to Cummings, there is always a chance that someone will be underperforming in the heat, but they have "pulled out all the stops" to curb that factor.

"The performance team is really good, always thinking about these things and, as boring as it may sound, always putting evidence-based plans into action."

"G was very good in Switzerland and Adam never suffers from the heat.

"In Switzerland, which was super hot, the feedback from the riders was very good. Sometimes the link between evidence and realizing what the evidence says in a race is very difficult.

With all of this in place, the big question is what path Ineos Grenadiers will take in the future in the race itself. In Cummings' view, each rider offers different ingredients to the combined recipe.

"We've worked with riders and have taken the same approach in many races.

"In Tom's case, it's his first Tour and it's uncharted territory, so it's exciting for the team and for Tom to explore his potential. And at the same time, he's an intelligent guy, willing to listen and learn, so he fits in very well with the team.

"G and Adam are seasoned professionals and know and understand their strengths and weaknesses and how they can help each other. In both cases, if they had to commit to one or the other, they would.