Ineos Grenadiers management paid tribute to Tour de France debutant Carlos Rodriguez, who despite his lack of experience, made it through the Alps with the possibility of a top-five finish in Paris.

Currently fourth overall, Rodriguez had a quiet day in Thursday's stage, which was won by Caspar Asgreen (Soudal-Quick Step), finishing 39th and looking ahead to Saturday's final mountain stage of the Tour de France, stage 20 of the Vosges.

On the stage to Courchevel, 22-year-old Rodriguez lost just over a minute to Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), but remained in GC position. As a result, Rodriguez was the "ingredient" in Yates' "sandwich," 1:16 ahead of Adam, now in third place, and 18 seconds ahead of Yates' twin brother Simon, in fifth. And the 22-year-old is also the GC "discoverer" of the 2023 Tour de France.

Nevertheless, Ineos Grenadier has a day-by-day strategy for Rodriguez, as this is his first Tour. The yellow jersey sits firmly on the shoulders of Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma), but Steve Cummings, the team's lead sport director, says he expects big fireworks in the Vosges mountains.

"Saturday will be big," Cummings told Cycling News at the start of stage 18. 'It could be a tactical battle. Rather than a stage like Liège-Bastogne-Liège, it has a profile more akin to the final day of Paris-Nice.

"So it could be the same. I suspect it will blow over."

Rodriguez took an impressive stage win in Morzine in the Alps, breaking away from Vingegaard and nemesis Tadey Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) to take the lead on the treacherous descent of the Col du Jeu Plaine.

Cummings said it was important to see what was possible, rather than putting pressure on Rodriguez to try for the third place on the podium, which he had temporarily earned after Morzine. Whatever happens, he can count on the full backing of his team.

"It's a question of taking some time to see if he can recover a little bit before Saturday. He is at his maximum potential, but we don't know what the upper limit is yet. It's his first Grand Tour, but he's learned a lot and hasn't made many mistakes."

Cummings praised his gutsy performance in the Col de la Rose, saying, "It was really good, I'm really happy.

"Vingegaard and Pogachar were a step ahead of the rest, so the responsibility of controlling the battle for the podium often fell on us.

"We were thinking about putting someone in front on the Cornet de la Rosé, the Category 1 climb before the Cornet de la Rosé. 'If Kwiat [Michal Kwiatkowski, winner of stage 13] had wanted to, he could have gone, and if there were still eight riders left, that would have been ideal.'

"But we had to make a decision quickly because Carlos wasn't feeling very well and we decided it was better to stay together than to put someone else in front.

On the Col de l'Oise, rather than deal with the acceleration of the yellow jersey group, Rodriguez rode at his own pace.

"He kept his pace and rode his own way. On a climb like that, if you're in good shape you can go pretty fast, but if you're not, it's easy to stall."

The Vosges Mountains will be the final test of climbing ability for Rodriguez and the other GC contenders. And Rodriguez, who has been dominant so far, will certainly be a force to be reckoned with.