Key events
“Shortish but vicious” is William Fotheringham’s summary:
Stage 10, Tuesday 14 July: Aurillac to Le Lioran, 166.6km
A shortish but vicious stage through the luscious Aveyron and Cantal. A special steam train will convey fans to Le Lioran and Pogacar may well get his personal locomotives moving over the seven categorised climbs including the Puy Mary and the Col de Pertus, the latter coming at 14km to go. The ascents are short but steep so the issue is the cumulative effect of so many efforts; one or two putative contenders will lose the race here. The first test for Pogacar and Vingegaard’s rivals, including France’s bright young thing Paul Seixas, who will get plenty of reminders that it is Bastille Day.
Points classification: top 10 before stage 10
1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 268pts
2. Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team) 223pts
3. Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) 213pts
4. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Premier-Tech) 191pts
5. Max Kanter (XDS-Astana) 172pts
6. Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) 110pts
7. Soren Waerenskold (Uno-X Mobility) 89pts
8. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 87pts
9. Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) 79pts
10. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 72pts
And what of the points classification, AKA the green jersey?
General classification: top 10 before stage 10
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 32hrs 17min 04sec
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike): +2min 42sec
3. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): +3min 27sec
4. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe): +3min 30sec
5. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek): +3min 34sec
6. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team): +3min 55sec
7. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe): +4min 00sec
8. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious): +4min 21sec
9. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek): +4min 57sec
10. Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos): +9min 12sec
Let’s take a look at the Tadej Pogacar show general classification.
Preamble
There is an old Tour de France adage that riders never quite know how their legs will feel after a rest day. Some might feel relatively refreshed and ready to tackle seven categorised climbs on today’s 166.6km route. But after a punishing and fiendishly hot first week, others will merely be looking to survive: especially the sprinters, whose reward for grinding through 3,800m of vertical ascent today is a flat stage tomorrow.
The mountainous terrain between Aurillac and Le Lioran on stage 10 looks ripe for a strong group of climbers to escape the peloton’s clutches and battle for victory. But Tadej Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG were shutting down attacks down left, right and centre in the first week, aiming to keep things under close control for the race leader and his lieutenant, Isaac del Toro.
The intermediate sprint comes after just 25.5km of racing, so expect Lidl-Trek to control early on and set up Mads Pedersen for maximum green jersey points at Lacapelle-del-Fraisse. After that, if an escape group that Pogacar deems acceptable gets up the road, perhaps we will see a breakaway being given a relatively long leash. But if the race refuses to settle down before the categorised climbs begin – the top of the category-three Côte de Pailherols arrives after 68km – it promises to be another gruelling day for all concerned.
Neutralised start: 1pm CET/12pm BST
