Ben O'Connor drew the line at his own ambitions, turning the tables and burying himself for teammate Felix Gall to give AG2R Citroën a stage win at the Tour de France on Wednesday.

O'Connor entered the Tour as team leader, aiming for a top 10 finish, but dreaming of more. But after a tough start in the Basque Country, the Australian abandoned that plan.

But the 27-year-old bounced back on Wednesday's queen stage of the Tour, not for himself, but to work tirelessly at the front of the breakaway group to set up Gal's solo stage win in Courchevel.

"He was clearly the fastest rider flying, and he had a GC goal," said Gilles. 'I honestly couldn't be more proud to have been a part of that. Because it's a role I've never played before and I took great pleasure in turning the role around. I really, really enjoyed myself today

"I always want to win myself, but at the moment it's not enough for me. I'm really happy to have won like that. I think we played perfectly as a team.

After the race, outside the team bus, O'Connor said he almost cried when he saw the result at the end of a tough day in which even Tadey Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) shed tears.

"It's emotional, it's the Tour. It's been a hard couple of weeks for me, but to finally win the hardest stage of the Tour. I'm really, really happy for Felix to win."

O'Connor and Gall remain in contention for a stage win since AG2R Citroën revised its overall ambitions.

O'Connor, 27, overcame the intense heat of stage 10 to finish third behind Pero Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché Circus Wanty).

The 25-year-old Gull finished third on stage 5 behind Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), who had a big breakthrough in Larns, but it was the Austrian who escaped in the Alps.

"The goal was to get into the breakaway, but Felix was keen to jump in from the start and see if he could improve his position on GC," O'Connor continued.

"I don't think we all thought this stage would be left to a breakaway group, but from Notre-Dame-des-Prés to Meribel, we rode super, super, super well ...... We did the descent super fast and I'm glad I was able to contribute to Felix's victory today."

For Gall, the win, which moved him up two places to 8th overall, was the culmination of almost two years of hard work and a great reward for his hard racing in the Jura and the Alps.

"It's not exactly a childhood dream, but a year and a half ago I couldn't have imagined being in this position," said Gall, who joined the French team last season.

"Before I joined this team, I wasn't very confident. This team found something in me. They gave me confidence. You don't gain confidence overnight. [It's] a slow process, a successful process that lasted a year and a half."