diff --git a/pkg/logql/ast.go b/pkg/logql/ast.go
index 07aba11efd..a02844a7e6 100644
--- a/pkg/logql/ast.go
+++ b/pkg/logql/ast.go
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ type Expr interface {
 	fmt.Stringer
 }
 
+func Clone(e Expr) (Expr, error) {
+	return ParseExpr(e.String())
+}
+
 type QueryParams interface {
 	LogSelector() (LogSelectorExpr, error)
 	GetStart() time.Time
diff --git a/pkg/logql/evaluator.go b/pkg/logql/evaluator.go
index e9fbcfc1f2..bf0a5fa8f9 100644
--- a/pkg/logql/evaluator.go
+++ b/pkg/logql/evaluator.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/model/labels"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/promql"
+	"golang.org/x/sync/errgroup"
 
 	"github.com/grafana/loki/pkg/iter"
 	"github.com/grafana/loki/pkg/logproto"
@@ -547,16 +548,31 @@ func binOpStepEvaluator(
 		)
 	}
 
-	// we have two non literal legs
-	lse, err := ev.StepEvaluator(ctx, ev, expr.SampleExpr, q)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	rse, err := ev.StepEvaluator(ctx, ev, expr.RHS, q)
-	if err != nil {
+	var lse, rse StepEvaluator
+	g, ctx := errgroup.WithContext(ctx)
+
+	// We have two non literal legs,
+	// load them in parallel
+	g.Go(func() error {
+		var err error
+		lse, err = ev.StepEvaluator(ctx, ev, expr.SampleExpr, q)
+		return err
+	})
+	g.Go(func() error {
+		var err error
+		rse, err = ev.StepEvaluator(ctx, ev, expr.RHS, q)
+		return err
+	})
+
+	// ensure both sides are loaded before returning the combined evaluator
+	if err := g.Wait(); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	// keep a scoped reference to err as it's referenced in the Error()
+	// implementation of this StepEvaluator
+	var scopedErr error
+
 	return newStepEvaluator(func() (bool, int64, promql.Vector) {
 		var (
 			ts       int64
@@ -593,7 +609,7 @@ func binOpStepEvaluator(
 		case OpTypeUnless:
 			results = vectorUnless(lhs, rhs, lsigs, rsigs)
 		default:
-			results, err = vectorBinop(expr.Op, expr.Opts, lhs, rhs, lsigs, rsigs)
+			results, scopedErr = vectorBinop(expr.Op, expr.Opts, lhs, rhs, lsigs, rsigs)
 		}
 		return true, ts, results
 	}, func() (lastError error) {
@@ -605,8 +621,8 @@ func binOpStepEvaluator(
 		return lastError
 	}, func() error {
 		var errs []error
-		if err != nil {
-			errs = append(errs, err)
+		if scopedErr != nil {
+			errs = append(errs, scopedErr)
 		}
 		for _, ev := range []StepEvaluator{lse, rse} {
 			if err := ev.Error(); err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/logql/shardmapper.go b/pkg/logql/shardmapper.go
index f7fdbfec38..d6a1f93f70 100644
--- a/pkg/logql/shardmapper.go
+++ b/pkg/logql/shardmapper.go
@@ -111,8 +111,8 @@ func (m ShardMapper) Parse(query string) (noop bool, expr Expr, err error) {
 		return false, nil, err
 	}
 
-	mappedStr := mapped.String()
 	originalStr := parsed.String()
+	mappedStr := mapped.String()
 	noop = originalStr == mappedStr
 	if noop {
 		m.metrics.parsed.WithLabelValues(NoopKey).Inc()
@@ -126,6 +126,12 @@ func (m ShardMapper) Parse(query string) (noop bool, expr Expr, err error) {
 }
 
 func (m ShardMapper) Map(expr Expr, r *shardRecorder) (Expr, error) {
+	// immediately clone the passed expr to avoid mutating the original
+	expr, err := Clone(expr)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
 	switch e := expr.(type) {
 	case *LiteralExpr:
 		return e, nil
diff --git a/pkg/querier/queryrange/downstreamer.go b/pkg/querier/queryrange/downstreamer.go
index 976e878f2f..f4ae9e756d 100644
--- a/pkg/querier/queryrange/downstreamer.go
+++ b/pkg/querier/queryrange/downstreamer.go
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	DefaultDownstreamConcurrency = 32
+	DefaultDownstreamConcurrency = 128
 )
 
 type DownstreamHandler struct {
@@ -48,6 +48,12 @@ func ParamsToLokiRequest(params logql.Params, shards logql.Shards) queryrangebas
 	}
 }
 
+// Note: After the introduction of the LimitedRoundTripper,
+// bounding concurrency in the downstreamer is mostly redundant
+// The reason we don't remove it is to prevent malicious queries
+// from creating an unreasonably large number of goroutines, such as
+// the case of a query like `a / a / a / a / a ..etc`, which could try
+// to shard each leg, quickly dispatching an unreasonable number of goroutines.
 func (h DownstreamHandler) Downstreamer() logql.Downstreamer {
 	p := DefaultDownstreamConcurrency
 	locks := make(chan struct{}, p)