Marcel Wyss was sharing Mathias Frank's room in the beginning of the Tour de France. He was also supposed to assist his room-mate in the mountains in this 101st edition.

But his IAM team leader crashed and broke his shin in stage 7, leaving his friend alone to claim his own ambitions.

The Bern-born rider, 28, had warned from the start:

"Should the circumstances be right in a mountain stage, I can fight for a stage victory. It would be great to be in breakaway group and hope for the bunch to let us go."

Wyss, who rode the Giro d'Italia twice in 2010 and 2011, has taken the initiative since Frank's withdrawal. He was involved in the main break on the stage to Gerardmer and again in the crucial stage to La Planche des Belles Filles he had checked with Mathias Frank.

"For me, the mountain is never a problem, cobbles and sidewinds are difficult," he said.

Now Marcel Wyss has become, with young team-mate Sebastien Reichenbach, his IAM team's best hope in the climbs ahead.