Ineos Grenadiers team manager Rod Ellingworth was hoping to see one of his young riders finish in the top five at the 2023 Tour de France. Tom Pidcock had a difficult weekend in the Alps, dropping to 12th place, but Carlos Rodriguez won in Morzine to move into third place overall.

Pidcock expects an aggressive final week of the Tour, with Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) in a tight overall battle. However, he, Rodriguez, and Ineos Grenadiers also want to fight together.

Rodriguez is 19 seconds ahead of Pogacar teammate Adam Yates, while Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) is 1:17 back in fifth place.

"We knew we had two contenders for the win, but the podium was open," Ellingworth said.

"I didn't really know, but I think there are riders in the top five, and who knows what will happen in the Tour now," Ellingworth said.

The Tour resumes on Tuesday with a hilly time trial that Ellingworth believes is decisive, followed on Wednesday by a queen stage that includes the Col de la Rose, the highest point of the 110th Tour de France at 2304 meters above sea level.

Rodriguez's interrupted preparation for the Tour has limited his specific preparation for the race against time, which seems to be a concern for Ineos Grenadier.

"Carlos broke his collarbone at Strade Bianche and it was a pretty bad fracture, so it took some time. [With a collarbone, you can't work on a TT bike. With a broken collarbone, you can't work on a TT bike. Then he got hit by a car and damaged his knee, which took an unexpectedly long time. So he's pretty compromised in his preparation."

"If you think about Carlos," Ellingworth continued, "he had some good time trials and some not so good time trials. [But he doesn't think about the podium. But he doesn't think about the podium. He just sticks to his plan, which is to do his best every day."

Yates pulled away from Pogacar in Mont Blanc and moved up in the overall standings. Meanwhile, Hindley healed from injuries sustained in a group crash on stage 14. Rodriguez's victory on Saturday closed the gap on the Australian and put him ahead of him.

"I think Adam might be a little bit better in the time trial than Carlos," Hindley said.

"Adam is really on form. That's for sure. I think it depends on what Adam has to do for Pogacar in the finals. We'll just take it one day at a time and do what we can right now."

The Ineos Grenadiers were able to enjoy a second day of rest in the Alps on Monday after Kwiatkowski's stage win in Grand Colombier on Bastille Day on Friday and Saturday and Rodriguez's victory in Morzine on Saturday.

The British team lost Daniel Martinez to a crash and concussion, but otherwise proved to be one of the strongest teams in the 2023 Tour, albeit in the shadow of Jumbo Visma and UAE Team Emirates.

"Kwiatkowski's win was brilliant. His performance was fantastic, he climbed as quickly as the rest of the field and was really fast. And Carlos' performance was just a great opportunity. He took his chances," Ellingworth said, praising the young Spaniard in particular.

"He is steady at all times. Everything is careful and steady. He fits the Grand Tour style in that sense. But he has to get stronger, that's the main thing now. "

Pidcock, who won the Alpe d'Huez summit stage last year, promised to work for his teammates for the rest of the Tour after a hangar flat and heat on stage 14 kept him out of the top 10 in the overall standings.

"It's great when everything is going well, but when things don't go as planned, yeah, it's difficult," Pidcock said on the second day of rest.

"Mistakes were bound to happen. It happened a few days ago and we're suffering a little bit. There's still a week to go

"First we have the time trial to get through, and this queen stage is going to be pretty brutal. Then there's stage 20, which could be an all-out war for the GC.

"I used to have the freedom to fully realize my abilities, but now of course I've fallen off the GC.

"So I think I have to do everything in my power to keep him. I'm inexperienced in things like pacing on the climbs, getting bottles, things like that, but I'll do the best I can."