You could forgive Tinkoff-Saxo if their confidence was low after stage ten, a day which saw Alberto Contador’s hopes of a Giro-Tour double hit hard on La Pierre-Saint-Martin.

With Ivan Basso having abandoned on the rest day after a shock cancer diagnosis and Peter Sagan losing the green jersey, it would be understandable if morale was low.

When Danielle Bennatti crashed out early in stage 11, too, the team must have been wondering what they have done to deserve all their misfortune.

Proud of our boys! #Rightspirit Rafa the stage and Peter back in Green. #Monsters. @tinkoff_saxo

— Steven de jongh (@stevendejongh) July 15, 2015

But after Sagan ensured he would wear green again on stage 12, thanks to second place in the intermediate sprint, Rafal Majka repeated his tricks of 12 months ago by delivering a timely confidence boost.

As news was filtering through of a successful surgery back in Italy for Basso, back on the road Majka was attacking on the Tourmalet, negotiating the long descent and then comfortably sealing his third career stage win at the Tour.

Contador, meanwhile, stayed safely in the yellow jersey group to ensure there is still plenty to fight for – with Majka’s return to form set to be very important on that front.

With Vincenzo Nibali once again going backwards, despite Astana setting the tempo on the Tourmalet, it was a timely reminder for Tinkoff-Saxo that their fight is far from over.