Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have not given up on the idea of winning the Vuelta a España by a long shot, but they recognised that for their leader Primož Roglič, who was once again dropped by Enric Mas (Movistar) on a second straight summit finish, things are looking increasingly complicated.
Almost as soon as Mas attacked at around 12 kilometres to go during the stage 12 summit finish at Calar Alto, Roglič settled into his own pace, and rather than then regaining ground as he did solo on the Spaniard on stage 9 to Aitana, this time he seemed more in need of allies to limit the damage.
Hard work by Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), as much to distance other GC rivals like Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos) to try to regain ground on Mas, proved hugely beneficial. Close to the summit, the presence of teammate Luke Tuckwell, as well as the regrouping with some of Gall's teammates, all helped keep Roglič from leaking too much time.
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By the summit, Mas' advantage of 40 seconds at one point had shrunk to just 27, which will give Roglič some encouragement for the days to come. However, his loss on the summit of Calar Alto was still more than double his 12 second loss at Aitana.
Whatever Roglič achieves between here and Granada a week on Sunday, it must be remembered that he started the Vuelta still suffering from his major training accident. Merely being able to fight for the Vuelta GC is a massive achievement.
Given that so much has now become possible for Roglič, including a record-breaking fifth Vuelta a España win, there could well be some frustration that he is not quite hitting the high notes he needs.
The Slovenian star's grasp on the podium looks now like a virtual certainty, and with the gap now up to 1:45 on Mas, the top spot overall, if not out of reach, is growing increasingly distant.
"From now on, every time we lose, we're not happy with that. Mas just showed that he's again one of the strongest riders here in the bunch, so we also need to accept this," Red Bull sports director Sven Vanthourenhout said at the summit in brief declarations to the media.
Roglič is widely expected to pull back a lot of time on Mas in the flat 32km time trial on stage 18, but Vanhourenhout's concern that an already uphill task was growing increasingly steep in nature.
"I'm not going say a clear number on that," Vanthourenhout said when asked how much time he thought Roglič could lose before it became impossible to beat Mas. "But let's say that from now on, every time we lose, it's not the best."
Roglič's next opportunity to outduel Mas will likely come on the Alto de la Pandera in Jaén on Saturday, the same climb where he began his comeback against eventual winner Remco Evenepoel in the 2022 Vuelta, only to then crash out a few days later.
Then, as now, the ascent dubbed 'The Angliru of the South' will likely be another pivotal moment in his battle for another overall victory.
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