Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlUla) at the finish of the stage 4 Criterium du Dauphiné looked like he'd just dug very deep indeed. In reality, his efforts produced a world class performance, in a stacked general classification field.
And after his rider today - 8th on the 17.5k TT stage and beaten by just 20 seconds by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) he has retained his 6th place overall.
He is just 30 seconds down on stage winner, TT world champion and new race leader, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep). That's a really significant development for Dunbar who, like many climbers, has often come away from TT stages counting the cost of time lost.
However, after his 8th place today, and 13th in the TT at Tirreno-Adriatico back in March, it is clear that his days of TTs being damage limitation exercises, and normally unimpressive ones, may be over. And that's a massive boost for a rider with his top tier climbing abilities.
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However, as is his way, he was taking it in his stride after the finishing, clearly stating he was pleased with the performance but not getting too carried away.
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"I did the recon this morning and I felt quite good," he said. "I knew it was a good course for me. It wasn't super technical or anything like that, it was more of a power course, it suited me.
"I did a good warm up and settled into a nice rhythm, save a good bit of energy for the climb as well and went up there pretty quick.
"And then I just tried hanging on to the finish and, yeah, I'm really happy with a top ten."
Dunbar's performance today was impressive, the best of any Irish rider in nearly a decade in a World Tour stage race - since Dan Martin's 4th place in the TT stage on Dauphiné 2016.
However, the fact he was able to pull such a performance out of the big after a 170km breakaway ride 24 hours earlier points to a rider in mint condition.
The 28-year-old looks like he is at the peak of his powers, and with climbers' stages to come on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, he has put himself into a fantastic position for a career best result in a World Tour stage race, certainly since his 7th place overall at the Giro d'Italia two years ago.
