Chris Froome goes in search of a second Tour de France title on Saturday in an anticipated duel with Nairo Quintana up Alpe-d'Huez.
Quintana (Movistar) trimmed Froome's advantage on Friday's 19th stage to La Toussuire to two minutes 38 seconds ahead of the 110.5-kilometres 20th stage to Alpe-d'Huez.
The race finishes in Paris on Sunday with a ceremonial stage contested by the sprinters before Froome hopes to be crowned Tour champion for a second time after his win in 2013.
"I'm in a great position, two and a half minutes advantage," Froome said.
"I can't wait to get up (Alpe-d'Huez) now."
Froome was seething with defending champion Vincenzo Nibali for choosing the moment of his mechanical mishap to attack on Friday's stage.
But of greater concern was Quintana's surge with around 5km to go of the concluding 18km ascent to La Toussuire.
"I went into time-trial mode," Froome added.
"Keeping (Saturday) in mind I didn't want to go super deep, but I couldn't give Nairo too much time either."
Quintana, runner-up to Froome two years ago, vowed to go for glory at Alpe-d'Huez.
"I'll try again from further out. Let's see how strong he is then," the Colombian climber said.
Froome was not aware of the television footage which appeared to show a roadside spectator spitting on him.
He has been subject to innuendo, abuse and interrogation on this Tour and was doused in urine during stage 14 to Mende.
"I told him exactly what I thought of him" - Tour leader Chris Froome hits out at Vincenzo Nibali
The 2013 champion, who was the target of a rude gesture from another fan as he chased back to the bunch following his mechanical, hopes spectators on Alpe-d'Huez will respect the race.
Often the ascent has an atmosphere which ranges from joyous, to over-zealous and hostile, after days of waiting.
"Every rider is a little bit on edge about what is going to happen up on that climb," Froome said.
"Hopefully it won't be too different to last time (in 2013), it's a great atmosphere up on the climb and the race isn't going to be affected in any way."
Nibali felt Froome's wrath after Friday's finish.
The pair had a heated discussion on the Astana team bus after stage six to Le Havre as the Italian erroneously felt Froome was culpable for a crash and their relationship darkened.
"I told him exactly what I thought of him," Froome said.
"It was almost as if my mechanical provoked his attack.
"A piece of asphalt or small stone got stuck between my brake callipers and my rear wheel. The rear wheel just jammed up. I had to stop and get it out before I could continue.
"It's very unsportsmanlike."
La Toussuire was the scene of Froome's attack on Team Sky leader Bradley Wiggins on the 2012 Tour, but now the Kenya-born Brit is the undisputed leader.
Woet Poels was the only Team Sky colleague to provide strong support for Froome as Geraint Thomas' own podium challenge came to an end as he fell from fourth to 15th place, losing 22:00 to Nibali on the stage.
"I was just empty," the 29-year-old from Cardiff said.
"Sometimes you're the hammer, sometimes you're the nail. I was a cheapy little Ikea one (on Friday)."
