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Van Aert wins a stage on his maiden Tour. The young Belgian went early, about 250m from the line and was able to hang on to win by a couple of centimetres despite a powerful late surge from Elia Viviani, who looked thoroughly disgusted himself as he crossed the line. Van Aert has never competed in a race of longer than seven stages in length before this Tour. He has already spent time in the white jersey for best young rider and now has a stage win to his name.
Pinot loses 1min 40sec: Thibaut Pinot, Rigoberto Uran, Richie Porte, Jakob Fuglsang and Alexey Lutsenko roll over the line, having lost 1min 40sec on their GC rivals.
Wout van Aert wins stage 10
The 24 year old Belgian wins the stage.
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Viviani and Van Aert in a photo!!!
I think Wout van Aert has got up to win it for Team Jumbo-Visma.
500m to go: Sunweb continue their lead out, with one and then another rider peeling off the front.
1km to go: Sunweb have four riders in front of Matthews at the sharp end of the race, with Caleb Ewan and Peter Sagan lurking with intent behind them.
2.7km to go: Deceuninck-Quick Step step up the already relentless pace at the front, hoping to get Elia Viviani to the front in the final 200 metres. The yellow jersey group lead the Pinot group by 1min 08sec. Team Sunweb are also forming an orderly queue, preparing themselves to lead out Michael Matthews.
5km to go: The gap from the yellow jersey group to the Pinot group increases to 1min 04sec. Mikel Landa is a further 30 seconds back.
7km to go: Movistar’s riders drop back to try to limit the damage for Mikel Landa, leaving Nairo Quintana and Ernesto Valverde to fend for themselves in the yellow jersey group, where Team Ineos continue to put the hammer down. There is some confusion about the whereabouts of Caleb Ewan, who is only a slip of a lad and difficult to pick out.
13km to go: The Pinot group is now 46 seconds behind the yellow jersey. At the front of the course, along with Julian Alaphilippe, Team Ineos are shovelling coal into the furnace in an effort to end the challenge of several struggling GC contenders. In terms of potential stage winners, Alexander Kristoff and Matteo Trentin are also well positioned, along with Elia Viviani, Sonny Colbrelli, Peter Sagan and Michael Matthews.
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14km to go: Caleb Ewan, Elia Viviani and Peter Sagan are all in the front group and seem the most likely contenders to contest the sprint. Ewan, in particular, could really do with a win. Having already used up their domestiques, the big-hitters in the Pinot/Uran/Porte/Fuglsang group are now 28 seconds behind the leaders. Vincenzo Nibali has been dropped to the third group on the road. They’ve shot their bolt, the gap is widening and the riders in the yellow jersey group are working hard to pile on the hurt.
19km to go: The Pinot group has closed the gap to 13 seconds after a heroic dig at the front by Astana’s Alexey Lutsenko. Now Richie Porte takes over.
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2okm to go: Yup, Fuglsang is in the second group, which is currently 29 seconds behind the yellow jersey group and losing more time. Team Jumbo-Visma’s George Bennett is in the third group, which is 1min 38sec behind the yellow jersey.
The breakaway has been caught: That was inevitable, but the big news at the moment is that the peloton has split into three parts and several big names have been caught in the second group, which is 25 seconds behind the first. Porte, Pinot and Uran are among them. There is a suggestion, as yet unconfirmed, that Astana’s Jakob Fuglsang may also have been caught out.
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An email: “Biscuits in the US are kind of like fluffy, less dense scones but without the fruit,” writes Paul Fox. |Bojangles are pretty good but Popeye’s are better, with spicier Cajun chicken.”
“The US South prides itself on fluffy, delicious buttermilk biscuits,” writes Rory Kramer. “It’s a soft, leavened bread that’s often super buttery yet somehow also light. Biscuits are glorious and Bojangles is a great chain and I say this as someone who has never lived in the south but acknowledges the gloriousness that is fried chicken and biscuits.”
29km to go: Correction: Thibaut Pinot, Giulio Ciccone, Vicenzo Nibali, Richie Porte and Fabio Aru have all missed the split and are on the chase in the second of the three groups the peloton split into a few moments ago.
30km to go: The relentless pace at the front of prompts the peloton to fracture into three different groups. EF Education First rider Rigoberto Uran looks to have been caught out. All the rest of the GC contenders are well placed in the front of the three groups.
35km to go: Several riders are dropped off the back of the peloton as race leader Julian Alaphilippe puts in a big turn on the front of the bunch, alongside Elia Viviani. The gap is in to 56 seconds. The bunch is currently booting along at 46km per hour, compared to the breakaway’s 44.6km per hour. That’s quick.
36km to go: The gap from the six-man breakaway to the bunch is 1min 26sec. By my estimation, between Friday’s stage and today’s stage, I have now done 10 hours worth of consecutive Tour de France live blogging, in which precisely little or nothing of interest has happened for nine hours and 58 minutes.
Fight! Fight! Fight! “Responding to John O’G’s anti-Bojangles slander on the Tour live blog,” writes Kyle Taylor. “Chicken and biscuits are great, whatever the elitist guy John O’G says. Bojangles biscuits especially are incredible. Definitely one of the better fast food restaurants in the US.
“I hate Trump but sports stadium branding has literally nothing to do with where candidates have rallies. This particular coliseum is in Charlotte, North Carolina which is a very important place for campaigns to go.”
Chicken and ... biscuits? Somebody is going to have to talk the rest of the class how that works. What kind of biscuits? Of course, here in Blighty, biscuits are what Americans call “cookies”. I’m guessing nobody is going to Bojangles for a feed of roast chicken and chocolate Hob Nobs or Custard Creams.
52km to go: Several teams take the opportunity to have unofficial feed zones in place for the peloton as they make their way up the final climb. I will take this opportunity to have a short, unofficial break of my own before we get to the business end of the stage. The gap is two minutes, I’ll be back in about five.
53km to go: The gap goes back out to 1min 34sec as the breakaway group hit the top of the day’s final climb. For the fourth time today, Natnael Berhane leads the escape party over the top. He’s in fifth place in the King of the Mountains standings. Behind them, the peloton is back together, although Ryan Zabel and Yeann Offredo have been dropped.
56km to go: The riders are heading towards the final classified climb of the day, the category three Cote De La Malric. It’s 492m above sea level, 3.6km long and has a gradient of 4.7%.
58km to go: The peloton splits up as Team Ineos up the pace at the front and the crosswinds buffet the bunch. A group of 30 or so riders - among them, polka dot jersey Tim Wellens - are now 30 seconds behind the yellow jersey group. The gap from our six-man breakaway to the yellow jersey is now a mere 40 seconds.
An email: “On the subject of you looking up Deceuninck,” writes John O’G. “I used to watch Nascar and there was one race that was sponsored by Bojangles. I looked it up expecting it to be some sort of gentlemen’s club but it was, in fact, a fast food shop whose specialty was ‘chicken and biscuit’. Chicken and biscuit! Needless to say I did not frequent that establishment when I was in the States.”
I think Donald Trump staged one of his rallies at a place called the Bojangles Coliseum, which is another reason not to patronise the restaurant of the same name.
Intermediate sprint result
1. Odd Christian Eiking: 20pts
2. Anthony Turgis: 1
3. Mads Würtz Schmidt: 15
4. Tony Gallopin: 13
5. Michael Schär: 11
6. Natnael Berhane: 10
At 1min 40sec
7. Sonny Colbrelli: 9
8. Peter Sagan: 8
9. Daniel Oss: 7
10. Greg Van Avermaet: 6
11. Marcus Burghardt: 5 pts
12. Michael Matthews: 4 pts
13. Maxime Monfort: 3 pts
14. Jasper Stuyven: 2 pts
15. Matej Mohoric: 1 pt
Gareth Thomas responds: “I have not attempted to throw a kettle over a pub while riding at 60 mph down the south side of the St Gotthard pass,” he concedes. “But I’m sure there are many reasons why this could prove unhelpful behaviour on Swiss roads.”
69km to go: Team Ineos are leading the charge in the peloton, as the teams of various GC contenders move to the front of the peloton, alert to the dangers of crosswinds on the exposed, narrow road they’re travelling along. The gap is 1min 07sec.
72km to go: Yoann Offredo is currenbtly struggling to stay in touch with the peloton. The Wanty-Gobert rider spent much of last week in breakaways, but has been feeling poorly for the past couple of days. Nearby at the back of the bunch, polka-dot jersey Tim Wellens has dropped back to his team car to get some ice to stuff down the back of his shirt.
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Some correspondence: “In response to Gareth Thomas clocking 60mph on a steel-framed racing bike with small touring panniers on the fast downhill run south of the St Gotthard pass some years ago,” writes Craig Fawcett. “I’ve got a mate who once threw a kettle over a pub.”
“Re: the optimum point, due to drag, when Gareth Thomas cannot go any faster downhill,” writes Nic Clarke, who is a science teacher. “That would be, as my year 9 class could tell you, your terminal velocity. Well at least half of them. Probably.”
A question: “What do you think is next for Cav?” asks Lloyd. “Do you think he can come back next year (and motivated as never) or is it the end of an era?”
It’s a good question and a difficult one to answer, not least because he was suffering a debilitating virus for much of last year. He’s not getting any younger and there are some speedy young bucks in the ranks that are probably faster than him, but he may well have a couple more Tour stage wins left in his legs. He’d certainly have fancied his chances today, if he hadn’t been controversially dropped by Team Dimension Data the week before the Tour commenced.
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86km to go: With six lots of points already snaffled, Sonny Colbrelli is the first man from the peloton to roll over the line, shadowed by Peter Sagan a few metres behind. The gap from the breakaway group to the bunch is now 1min 33sec.
88km to go: Odd Christian Eiking is first over the line at a decidedly uncontested intermediate sprint. Anthony Turgis is second and Mads Wurtz Schmidt is third.
Intermediate sprint: The breakaway is approaching La Primaube, the secen of today’s intermediate sprint. While none of the chaps in today’s breakaway are in contention for the green jersey, there are cash prizes up for grabs for the teams of the first three riders over the line. First gets €1,500, second trousers €1,000 and third gets €500. Behind the breakaway, Peter Sagan already has his customary stranglehold on the green jersey and leads Michael Matthews by 60 points. Sagan has 204 points, Matthews has 144 poiunts, Sonny Colbrelli is third on 129, one point ahead of Elia Viviani.
93km to go: The field passes through the small southern city of Rodez, which isn’t too far from Carcassone, Toulouse and Montpelier on the map.
An email: “Cav’s got Quick Step in his house,” writes Matthew Trim, sending this report veering perilously close to Hello! magazine territory, as we step inside Mark Cavendish’s well appointed Tuscany villa.
An email: “Max Richez was clocked at 96.7kph which sounds like a lot,” writes Gareth Thomas. “It is roughly 60.5mph. I clocked 60mph on a steel-framed racing bike with small touring panniers on the fast downhill run south of the St Gotthard pass some years ago. There is an optimum point, due to drag, when you cannot go any faster. Panniers don’t help either!”
103km to go: The gap continues to hove between two and three minutes and is currently at 2min 37sec. Michael Schar (CCC), Natnael Berhane (Cofidis), Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie), Odd Christian Eiking (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin) and Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale) are the men in front and the intermediate sprint is next on their agenda, although they may pass through the feed zone first, if they haven’t done so already.
107km to go: And Quick Step make laminated flooring. I knew that already.
110km to go: Curiosity finally having got the better of me, I have discovered that Deceuninck, of Deceuninck-Quick Step fame, make sustainable PVC windows and doors. By their own account, their “heritage flush and sculptured sash windows look great in any surrounding, from country cottages to modern townhouses. Their subtle charm and elegance will transform your home. The collection is ideal for period properties and for those who want to add or restore character to their homes with its unique, unrivalled, aesthetics and sympathetic symmetrical design giving a property perfect balance and harmony”. Yep, it’s come to this.
A new top speed: I’m going to go out on a limb and guess it was on a downhill, but it has emerged that Deceuninck-Quick Step rider Max Richez has set a new top speed for this year’s Tour, getting clocked at 96.7km per hour earlier in this stage. Crikey.
114km to go: The breakaway continue to pedal along at a fair old lick, 39.9km per hour, to be exact. The peloton continue to keep them on a tight rein, with the gap at 2min 47sec.
An email: “As a teacher I would never have been able to attend even a stage of the TDF,” writes KG. |So when the 1994 route included Dover-Brighton I took my chance. I formed a cycling club, quite a good one as it turned out. Next I contacted a deserving local cycling charity and formed a link. Next I went to the boss with my plan to go from Manchester to Brighton, three days, on a sponsored ride in support of the charity.
“Good publicity for the College. Good man, he agreed and we got to work. And it did work. A goodly sum was raised, the local paper featured it, we had a great time and there we were at L’arriveé of a stage. Everything into the back up van and home in time for Songs of Praise.The things you have to do!”
119km to go: I wasn’t quick enough to get a screengrab, but the camera just cut to Didi Senft, the trident-waving German super fan who dresses as the devil and is a regular on the roadside at the Tour and Giro. Aged 67, he was standing on a wall, gesticulating furiously as the peloton passed, risking life and limb with a drop of what looked like a couple of 100 metres behind him.
125km to go: The field is making its way up the third of four classified climbs today, the Cote d’Espalion. It’s a mere bump in the road, at just 603m above sea level, 5.2km in length with a gradient of 4.9%. I say a mere bump in the road, but I almost certainly wouldn’t be able to make it to the top.
An email: “Enjoying the coverage here in the Auvergne,” writes Andy Taylor. “Two points though - the site refers to today as a flat stage ... not much, when I went along it last year! Up and down, big vertical relief. Other point is that today isn’t a traditional day off. Ordinary working day here as are all the breaks when Bastille Day falls at the weekend. Holiday season, certainly. No ‘pont’ between the holiday itself and the weekend.” I was misinformed.
139km to go: The stage may be ostensibly “flat”, but the terrain is very hilly and the weather is hot, around 30 degrees celsius. Michael Schar (CCC), Natnael Berhane (Cofidis), Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie), Odd Christian Eiking (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin) and Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale) continue to pootle along in the breakaway, with a gap of 3min 03sec back to a peloton that is being towed along by Tony Martin.
A few wheels back, race leader Julian Alaphilippe is out of his saddle and having a bit of a stretch. I’m about to do much the same thing, while going back to my team care for some sustenance. I’ll be back in five minutes or so.
150km to go: The gap remains just below three minutes on a stage that is very low on excitement. Because today is a national holiday in France, in the wake of Bastille Day yesterday, so the riders have been forced out of their beds to race on what is traditionally a rest day. They’ll have tomorrow off instead, although all of them will probably still do 100 kilometres or so just to keep their legs from seizing up. A lot of the main GC contenders and big name sprinters will also have media duties to attend to. For the journalists covering the race, it’s a low pressure day that brings with it a welcome opportunity to do some much needed laundry!
168km to go: On Eurosport, the commentary team are citing a previous example of when a group of riders in a breakaway, in a similar kind of stage to this, put the word out, via their sporting directors, that if the bunch didn’t allow them a gap of at least 3min 30sec and at least a sporting chance of winning the stage, they would all sit up and allow the peloton to catch them.
This prompted panic from the teams of assorted sprinters in the bunch, who were worried about the prospect of having to defend attacks from other, fresher riders, so they acceded to the breakaway’s wishes. What chance the same thing happening today? Not much of one, by the looks of things, but our six-man escape party must be wondering what the point of their mission is beyond getting some publicity for their team sponsors.
169km to go: The gap from the six-man breakaway to the bunch is a shade under three minutes after almost 50 kilometres of “racing”.
An email: “For me the Tour always signals the transition into the summer holidays,” writes Jason Humphreys. “Working at a university, July means the lectures are over and its exam time. For me that means long days in the office, correcting exams, and tying up as many loose ends as possible to try and make the return to productivity in September a bit smoother.
“It also means more relaxed clothing, longer walks at lunchtime, and the daily companionship of the action from France via podcast, live ticker or a well-placed iPad on the desk – not to mention a spike in my Amazon activities. I was wondering what it’s like for you? You seem to get the gig every summer. Do you see it as a welcome break from football and the chance to get your teeth into something else, or do you find yourself returning a DHL parcel every other day?”
A good question, Jason. I really enjoy doing these liveblogs of the Tour. It is an always welcome palate cleanser that affords me the opportunity to almost completely ignore football transfer speculation, meaningless pre-season friendlies, which seem to get a lot of football fans very exercised indeed but barely interest me at all. Having said that, stages like today’s and last Friday’s, where almost nothing happens at great length, are a bit of a drag.
179km to go: The gap from Natnael Berhane (Cofidis), Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie), Odd Christian Eiking (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin) and Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale) to the bunch is 2min 24sec as the escape party head up the second categorised climb of the day. Nobody’s working too hard in either group. Natnael Berhane is the best placed rider on GC in the breakaway - he’s 90th overall, 57min 13sec behind Julian Alaphilippe.
186km to go: The gap from our six-man breakaway to the bunch is 2min 35sec and Tony Martin is putting in the hard yards at the front of the peloton. As exercises in utter futility go, few can match being in an escape party that is being kept on such a tight rein. Back in the peloton, it’ll be another easy day for the GC contenders, while those unconcerned with the GC will be able to relax safe in the knowledge that we’re almost certain to have a sprint finish.
196km to go: The gap from the six-man breakaway to the bunch is out to 2min 33sec. The riders are tackling the first classified climb of the day, the category 4 Cote De Mallet, which is 2.2km in length with a gradient of 5.2% and is 907m above sea level.
🔛 @michaelschaer has joined the breakaway, as the peloton takes it slow: there'll be 6 up front today!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 15, 2019
🔛 Michael Schär rejoint l'échappée, alors que le peloton s'est relevé : ils seront 6 à l'avant aujourd'hui !#TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/7rxwXbMmif
Your breakaway: Michael Schar (CCC), Natnael Berhane (Cofidis), Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie), Odd Christian Eiking (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin) and Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale). The gap is 2min 17sec.
206km to go: Sagan and Matthews, first and second in the green jersey standings, return to the bunch. Team CCC rider Michael Schar has bridged the gap to the breakaway, which is now six strong and 1min 48sec clear.
207km to go: The breakaway riders are still being held on a piece of elastic and are not away safely from the bunch yet. Today’s stage has yet to settle.
208km to go: Natnael Berhane (Cofidis), Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie), Odd Christian Eiking (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin) and Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale) have escaped from the peloton and opened a gap of 19 seconds. Michael Matthews and Peter Sagan are trying to bridge the gap.
They’re racing on stage 10: Today’s roll-out is complete and a strung out peloton, led by Marcus Burghardt, is chasing down an early attempt at a breakaway.
Another withdrawal: Team CCC rider Alessandro De Marchi’s had a nasty crash yesterday and was taken to hospital in an ambulance. A key man in Saturday’s breakaway, the Italian suffered a broken collar bone, fractured ribs and a punctured lung after coming a cropper around 50 kilometres into yesterdays stage. De Marchi is the fifth rider to be forced out of this year’s Tour, leaving a field of 171.
Mitchelton Scott’s stage nine diary: The Aussie team won the stage on Bastille Day, courtesy of Daryl Impey. Here’s how they chronicled events for posterity.
Stage three review
Mitchelton Scott’s South African rider Daryl Impey won his first ever stage of the Tour de France on the back of a breakaway. Jeremy Whittle was in Brioude to see him do it.
Stage 10: Saint-Flour to Albi (217.5km)
From William Fotheringham’s stage-by-stage report: Long and hot, a scenic beginning before a 30km descent off the Cantal plateau for the 10th day of racing in a row, with the first rest day 24 hours later than usual. The script of early breakaway, late catch, scary sprint should be followed, but most of the riders will be just making sure they drink enough. All eyes will be on whichever sprinter has hit form early on, as Marcel Kittel did in 2017 and Mark Cavendish did the year before. The hilly route of this year’s first half of the Tour favours a lighter rider such as Elia Viviani.
