The Inner Ring | Tour de France Stage 10 Preview

The 14 July stage in France, the culmination of a long weekend and Round 2 of the breakaway championships.

La Route d’Ussel: Stage 9 was best stage of the Tour so far. The best day’s racing this year? It’s too early to rate, as if traces of adrenalin still remain so comparisons against the thrill of Sanremo and the redemption of Paris-Roubaix can wait. But unlike many a spring classic this was a race that was on the boil from start to finish and had sport on several levels.

The stage was shortened, a concession to the authorities with the Corrèze department placed on a “red” weather alert and the Tour could not be seen to carry on unchanged, even if riders were saying a shorter stage just made it more intense and so harder in the heat.

There was no immediate attack at KM0, presumably because everyone knew Lidl-Trek wanted to contain things until the intermediate sprint which came early. Mads Pedersen duly won this. Once this was passed the attacks came, wave after wave and Van der Poel and Tom Pidcock among them. If Pidcock has a saddle sore than standing on the pedals to attack is one way to ease things.

Only no move would stick until 65km of racing when a 15 rider group was away and Pidcock jumped across to make it like a passenger running after a train as it pulled out of the station. A big group but by now the yellow jersey group behind them was only about 30 riders with plenty of riders having paid for their attacks.

It was here the first surprise came with UAE chasing. We’d later get Rashōmon-style explanations, to paraphrase from the essential L’Equipe du Tour podcast Adam Yates said they wanted to ride so Pogačar could win, Tim Wellens said they wanted to do it for Del Toro, while Tadej Pogačar said words to the effect that “some teams came to ask to ask for help as they wanted to win the stage” while team manager Mauro Gianetti’s answer was along the lines of “we just wanted to control things”. All can be true especially at different times in the race, and they’re interested in the team prize too and did not want to let Lidl-Trek gain time as the German team had two riders up ahead.

Almost as soon as the break had formed the hardest climb of the day began, the Suc-au-May. After Quinn Simmons and Tobias Halland Johannesen lead over the top, they were joined by Pidcock, Van der Poel, Derek Gee-West, Lennert Van Eetvelt, Alex Baudin and Pablo Castrillo and so the break of 16 was down to eight.

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With UAE chasing and keeping the gap often around a minute, there was little room for the leaders to try tactics. Van der Poel was the heavyset rider likely to win in a sprint but everyone was taking strong turns and so could not attack on the climbs to sap the bulky Dutchman.

Mont Bessou is mainly a big main road but the race used a side road that visits a tower built so that hikers can reach the 977m high mountain and then climb up to beyond a thousand metres. This side road suddenly became a berg for Van der Poel who stormed up, his shoulders seeming to block the dappling sunlight amid the forest. This shrunk the group down to four: Van der Poel, Baudin, Halland Johannesen and Pidcock, the latter only just as he had problems with his gears and unclipped a foot to kick his rear mech, something not in the SRAM manual.

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Van der Poel did look very likely to win from here but by now the breakaway was only thirty to forty seconds clears because Netcompany-Ineos had been chasing. According to a not-broadcast race radio excerpt, the team car had got them chasing to defend Egan Bernal’s virtual 10th place on GC under threat from Halland Johannesen and Pidcock but later the kept this going to give Filippo Ganna a chance in the uphill sprint to the line (the latter almost proves the former as Bernal was rested and not pulling like Foss or Vauquelin).

If this looked a little sad from Ineos, the Lidl-Trek tactical zenith on the Stage to Foix seemed to find its nadir as suddenly they had no riders in the break for the win and yet now not enough power to help bring the breakaway back for Pedersen who was still in the yellow jersey group, with Ayuso and Skjelmose not taking visible turns. Another team with problems was RedBull with nobody else in the group to help Evenepoel and Lipowitz.

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In the final of four sprint Van der Poel was invincible, especially with Pidcock’s gear shifting problems saw him finish third. Ganna led home the rest at just six seconds. All those who said “I’m not watching the Tour any more” after Pogačar won in Gèdre missed some good racing and there’s more to come.

Week One Review
Yes, Pogačar is firmly in control. Having mentioned Kurowsawa’s Rashōmon above, some more cinema. The ideal Tour sees the protagonists clash before a final showdown, much like the classic action movie. This time it’s like watching a caper where the lead character has taken the loot early in the running time and it’s all about what he does next (NB cinema, no allegations of crime here, just cinema references).

Plenty of subplots to watch. Pogačar looks in control but can Vingegaard deliver second place, quite probably is the answer but we’ll see if the Giro win comes with a price in the third week.

So what about the third spot on the podium? This looks very open, Del Toro a contender but what can the others do. At some point Red Bull are going to have to pick between Evenepoel and Lipowitz or if not, see the selection made on the road as they can’t settle for a result beyond this given the spending they’re making. Juan Ayuso should be happy where he is today as he has a claim on the podium too. Lenny Martinez is still 8th and less than a minute of third overall so what choices does he make, still aim for GC or have to lose time to go for the polka dots?

Plus there’s Paul Seixas. Third over the Tourmalet, he’s now racing longer than he ever has before. It’s more than anecdotal as the rest day is an unknown thing for him and how his body reacts. Is he someone who benefits from doing nothing, from a gentle coffee ride, or from doing a solid workout of up two hours with some measured efforts to better start the next day. He needs to know because of Stage 10 is going to be raced hard, the day after the next rest day is the time trial in Evian. So far the pressure is ok and he avoided any more by not bothering with a rest day press conference.

Mads Pedersen has a good grip on the green jersey and only two remaining 70-pointer sprint stages to come this week. Meanwhile the mountains competition awaits the mountains to liven up. The upcoming stage offers plenty of climbs including two first category climbs with 10 points to the winner.

It’s been hot and will stay hot until the end of this week but cooling, and then the heatwave could break. There’s rightly been a lot of talk about coping or adjusting to these conditions. But notable that the regular safety topic has – so far, fingers crossed – not been a live issue with few crashes.

Finally here’s the prize money rankings for the first week. As ever nobody races for this money, plus it’s divided up and shared so a rider who wins €N during the race probably only sees 5-6% of the sum. Instead it’s a good proxy for visibility and activity in the race.

The Route: 166km and 3,800m of vertical gain. It’s back to Le Lioran for the third time in recent years after 2016 and 2024. This stage is backloaded for the climbing, the early part features a lot of smaller départmentale roads which are often not flat and hard going.

The mid-stage climbs of the Col de la Griffoul and Prat-de-Bouc are more alpine in feel with open countryside and longer efforts. It’s from here things begin to suit the climbers more.

The Puy Mary is climbed from the east and it is longer but more gentle, often 4-5% and only tightening up to 8-10% for the final 1.5km. (last time it was up the Col de Neronne, about 4km at 9%, then across to the Puy Mary 5km at 8% including the wall-like upper part that saw Pogačar go on the attack, fade and get caught by Vingegaard).

The Finish

The cropped graphic comes from 2024 so ignore the x-axis KM markings but it shows the run to the finish with a graphic not available this time around.

The Col du Pertus is listed as 4.4km at 7.9% which would be hard if it was like this. Instead it’s much steeper for most of the way. The profile says it starts with 7% but the 10-12% slopes arrive immediately and it stays this way for the next two kilometres with only a brief flat section in between before rising up all the way to the top. It’s harder than expected and the place where teams can ratchet up the pace to eliminate or test rivals. The descent is in two parts, the first part is easy and gentle, then there’s a bump uphill and then the second part is steeper and more dangerous part with some sharp turns, the kind where it’s easy to overcook things.

The Col de Font de Cère begins on the big Route Nationale and then with 6km to go turns onto a small road which climbs to the KoM point among the chalets and ski slopes above Le Lioran on a steady road. The descent is much smaller and has some bumps and tight bends on the way down. Once in the ski resort it picks up the main road which gradually bends to the finish. The last 600m rise at 6-7%.

The Contenders: Tadej Pogačar (UAE) got beaten here last time, does he want to prove a point? It’s asking a lot to get his team to work all day to control things, especially as – to stress it again – this year the Tour goes up the gentle side of the Puy Mary, the final hour isn’t half as hard. If he doesn’t wake up wanting to win he can change his mind if the raging battle for the breakaway means no move gets away for a long time and his team could join in the chase too. In short he’s a contender but unlikely.

Normally this should be for the breakaway. Richard Carapaz (EF) is well-down on GC at 15 minutes and suited, such is the level at the Tour that stage wins go to riders who have won stages before, and again we should see more of his team too. Ben Healy’s not proving the easy pick and has been suffering in the heat.

Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) is really suited but 13th on GC and so liable to being chased by Netcompany-Ineos; the British team could try to get Egan Bernal in the break but he could be chased and so on.

Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) has it hard with the climbing here but is a contender. Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar) not a big winner.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-PremierTech) will probably find this too hilly but he made the last stage look flat.

Longer shots are Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché), Marc Hirschi (Tudor), Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-Quicktep). There could be another five but the list is getting long.

Finally if Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) could win on 14 July in his tricolore jersey he would be the first since Raymond Delisle in 1969 to do this, normally suited to this day but he’s been fried by the heat so we’ll see if the rest day helped or not.