With two weeks left in the Tour de France, the two-man showdown that many predicted is taking shape, with Britain's Bradley Wiggins already in the yellow jersey - and driver's seat - while Cadel Evans isn't.
The 31-year-old Briton and his Team Sky dominated the race's first summit finish Saturday, with Christophe Froome winning Stage 7 ahead of Evans and Wiggins close on the Australian defending champion's back wheel.
In the 123-mile trek from Tomblaine to La Planche des Belles Filles, Wiggins took the overall lead from Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara and gave Britain its first yellow jersey in 12 years - and the first for Sky.
''It's a great day for the team, we won the stage and took the yellow jersey,'' Wiggins said in French. ''This is my first time in the yellow jersey. It's incredible - it's been a dream of mine since I was a kid.''
As the pack disintegrated on the final climb, Evans tried an attack just before the super-steep patch in the last half-mile, but Froome beat him and made it look easy, leading Evans to wonder what he might be in for later.
Cancellara, a time-trial and one-day classics specialist who had worn yellow since winning the prologue a week ago, was 1 minute, 52 seconds behind Froome - but more importantly 1:50 back of Wiggins.
The Sky leader, who began the day 7 seconds behind Cancellara in second place, leads Evans by 10 seconds. Vincenzo Nibali of Italy was fourth to climb to third overall, 16 seconds behind.
Wiggins, a three-time Olympic track gold medalist looking to become Britain's first Tour champion, became the pre-race favorite after winning the Paris-Nice, Tour de Romandie and Criterium du Dauphine stage races this year.
Wiggins has more breathing room than Cancellara when he was leader. Only five riders are within a minute of Wiggins, including Denis Menchov of Russia, who won the 2009 Giro d'Italia and the Spanish Vuelta - twice. The Swiss rider, by contrast, had had 22 riders within 48 seconds of his lead as Saturday's stage began.
