photo credits @ Le Tour
Stage 10 of the Tour de France delivered the fireworks everyone was waiting for on July 14. The roads of Massif Central witnessed a flurry of attacks all day long, until Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) dropped his breakaway companions on the final climb to in Le Mont-Dore, claiming his third Tour stage win, six years after the previous two. Also part of the breakaway, Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) gave it his all to chase the Maillot Jaune. Third on the day (+31’’), he becomes the fourth Irish overall leader of the race, the first since Stephen Roche’s mythical year 1987! After Visma-Lease a Bike tried to put him under pressure, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) attacked on the final climb, but Jonas Vingegaard matched his pace. The Slovenian is now 29’’ behind Healy on GC.
Race Highlights
As soon as the flag dropped, Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacked. The battle for the break was on and it took 17 kilometers, including the ascent of Côte de Loubeyrat, for a 28-man group to get away with big names such as Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Yates, as well as a strong contingent of French attackers: Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor), Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ), Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana).
Lenny Martinez later swept the KOM points atop Côte de La Baraque, Côte de Charade and Côte de Berzet, while the breakaway group exploded, leaving just 15 riders at the front over the Col de Guéry, where Martinez all but secured the polka-dot jersey at the end of the stage as the peloton trailed by 5 minutes.
From there, the breakaway riders unleashed a flurry of attacks, while the gap hit a maximum of 5’55’’ at Col de la Croix-Morand. However, only six riders remained at the front into the last 20 kilometers, with Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Michael Storer (Tudor), Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) and Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers).
Healy set the pace at the front as he chased the Maillot Jaune, while Simmons got dropped on the ascent up Col de la Croix-Saint-Robert with 14 kilometers to go. Meanwhile, Visma-Lease a Bike up the ante again, while Pogacar lost all his teammates.
Meanwhile, Yates attacked just ahead of the final ascent in Le Mont-Dore, while Arensman only trailed by 5’’ into the last kilometer. But, he couldn’t bridge the gap to the British winner of the Giro, with Healy finishing third with a gap of 31’’.
In the meantime, Pogacar put the hammer down with 1.5 km to go, but Jonas Vingegaard is able to match his acceleration, crossing the line together with a gap of 4’51’’.
As a result, Healy took over the Maillot Jaune, making him only the fourth Irish rider to lead the overall standings of the Tour de France after Seamus Elliott, Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche.
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