Thursday 21 July 2016 20:35, UK
Adam Yates admits it is going to be “tough” to retain his place on the Tour de France podium.
The 23-year-old lies third overall with three stages remaining, only 24 seconds behind second-placed Bauke Mollema but just 21 seconds ahead of fourth-placed Nairo Quintana.
Romain Bardet is also in the hunt at 20 seconds further back in fifth, while sixth-placed Richie Porte has pulled himself to within 44 seconds of Yates by gaining time on the Briton in each of the past two stages.
Although Sunday's processional finale in Paris is effectively a non-contest between the general classification riders, Friday's 19th stage ends with a summit finish and Saturday's 20th stage contains four categorised climbs.
Yates said: "It is going to be tough. There are a lot of guys to watch, a lot of guys to make sure don't gain any time.
"For me, Porte is the main guy. Every day he is looking stronger. If he didn't have that puncture at the beginning of the race [on stage two], in my opinion he would be on the podium already.
"I will take every stage as it comes and try not to lose any second."
Yates' challenge for a place on the podium suffered a blow on stage 18's time trial, when he lost 50 seconds to Porte, 41 seconds to Bardet and 13 seconds to Quintana.
Yates added: "Today wasn't my best performance, but it was also not too bad. It's pretty normal to be tired, I suppose.
"The time trial was OK; nothing special but nothing bad. I rode flat out to the first checkpoint and then I kind of faded. But I'm satisfied. I'm still on the podium."
Find out more about stage 19 in our race guide and follow all the action with our live blog from 12pm BST.
