Stage 10

The road

At the start

Out of the rest day, into the Alps

Four riders do not start this morning — Ben O'Connor, George Bennett, Luke Durbridge and Alexis Vuillermoz — and eleven are already gone. COVID is thinning this Tour faster than the road is, and Tadej Pogačar loses a climbing domestique on the day the Alps begin. He leads Jonas Vingegaard by 39 seconds and Geraint Thomas by 1:17. Megève is the gentlest of the three Alpine days: a runway finish that never bites.

How it was won

1. 181 km to go

   Twenty-five men go clear

   Rolland attacks on the Col de Jambaz and draws out Van Baarle, Gilbert and Sánchez, which sparks a huge counter-move. Twenty-one riders bridge across and UAE, who missed the move entirely, are happy to let it ride — Kämna is best placed at 8:43.

2. 253 km to go

   The break's lead balloons

   Rolland attacks before the crest to snatch the points and Wright rails the descent with him, but the move does not stick. The twenty-five regroup with the gap out past six minutes — the winner will come from here.

3. 326 km to go

   Kämna into virtual yellow

   Bettiol stays clear for the sprint with Laporte leading the chasers seventeen seconds back. The peloton is more than nine minutes adrift and, on the road, Lennard Kämna is the leader of the Tour de France.

4. 44 km to go

   The climb to the altiport tears it up

   Sánchez rides clear and holds the mountain points; Schultz and Jorgenson counter, then Van Baarle forges across and attacks under the red kite. Cort, saved all climb long by Bettiol's work, is dragged back into contention every time the group splinters.

5. 5At the line

   Cort takes it in a two-up dash

   The chasers swallow the leaders with 500 metres left and Sánchez opens up, only for Schultz and Cort to burst past. Magnus Cort wins by inches. Behind, Kämna waits, needing 9:05 — Pogačar leads the bunch home at 8:54 and keeps yellow by eleven seconds.

The result