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Wednesday, July 15, 2026

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On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. - H. L. Mencken

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Bill & Carol McGann’s book The Story of the Tour de France, 2022: The Fastest Tour Ever is available in both Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• July 4 - 26: Tour de France

Upcoming racing:

• July 26: Vuelta a Castilla y Leon

Latest completed racing:

• July 8 - 12: Tour of Austria
• June 24 - 28: National Championshps
• June 17 - 21: Tour de Suisse
• June 17 - 21: Baloise Belgium Tour
• June 7 - 14: Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
• June 14: Copenhagen Sprint
• June 14: GP Gippingen/Canton Aargau
• June 10: Circuit Franco-Belge
• June 7: Brussels Cycling Classic
• June 1 - 5: Ethias-Tour de Wallone
• May 8 - 31: Giro d'Italia

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Tour de France stage ten reports

We postd the race organizer's report with the results.

Here's the report from stage winner & GC leader Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG:

Honouring the Yellow Jersey in the best fashion, Tadej Pogačar soared to a solo stage victory at the Tour de France on Bastille Day. It was stage victory number three for Pogačar at this year’s race, with the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man extending his lead in the general classification with the stage 10 win.

Pogačar’s advantage over the second-placed Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) now stands at over three and a half minutes, with the two-time world champion eyeing up a record-equalling fifth Tour de France crown. His latest stage victory was another owed to the tremendous work of his teammates in the mountains.

 

Tadej Pogacar wins stage ten. Sirotti photo

Earlier in the day, Tim Wellens, Nils Politt, and Florian Vermeersch had all put their legs to work, driving a hard pace at the front of the peloton to keep any breakaways in check. Thanks to their effort, only Javier Romo of Movistar remained ahead of the pack as they approached the last few climbs of Tuesday’s stage.

With Romo soon caught, it was over to Felix Grossschartner and Adam Yates to take up the reins on the Puy Mary (7.7km at 5.9%). Halfway up that climb, Richard Carapaz of EF Education-EasyPost attacked to anticipate the eventual moves from the general classification contenders. His move was a wise one, and would earn him the combativity award for the day.

Undeterred by Carapaz’s minute lead at the bottom of the penultimate climb, the Col de Pertus (4.5km at 8.3%), UAE Team Emirates-XRG stuck to plan from the base. Decathlon CMA CGM briefly tried to lead proceedings in the pack, but it was Yates who was the stronger. The British climber danced his way to the front of the peloton and set the tempo on behalf of his teammate.

With Yates spent, the time soon came for Pogačar to make his move. A kilometre from the top of the climb, the Yellow Jersey attacked, and he immediately gained separation from his rivals. In the subsequent 750m, Pogačar closed a 45-second gap to Carapaz, and left the Ecuadorian trailing over the summit. It was Pogačar vs the peloton between here and the finish.

On the Col de Font de Cère (3.5km at 5.5%), the world champion extended his lead, and he would not relent before riding to victory at Le Lioran. Over the finish line, Pogačar held a 32-second gap over Remco Evenepoel of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.

In taking his third win of the race and extending his lead in the general classification, Pogačar has earned himself a 60th Yellow Jersey. That marker will be celebrated by the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man on Wednesday.

Pogačar: “Today was an incredible day, the team did a super good job. We targeted this stage since a long time ago, and it also happens that two years ago Jonas beat me in the sprint fair and square. Today I had similar legs in the finish – completely destroyed!.

“I enjoyed the day and in the final I didn’t know I was going to win until the final kilometre. Then I remembered it was Bastille Day and tried to honour the Yellow Jersey. Thansk to all the fans that came today to the road, it was an amazing atmosphere.”

“Today we were trying new radios, and because there were so many fans, I couldn’t hear anything. In the last 10km, I didn’t know what the gap was, or who was doing what. All I had in my mind was to keep on pushing until the top.

“I think so far the Tour was perfect for me and the team. It suited us really well, today, for example, the perfect climbs for each rider in the team so everyone could do their job. I could finish it off, and Isaac did a super good job as well. He is a fighter, and now he is there fighting for a top spot.”

Here's the Tour report from Jonas Vingegaard's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Jonas Vingegaard finished seventh in the tenth stage of the Tour de France. After a grueling day in the saddle, the 29-year-old Dane crossed the finish line in Le Lioran 44 seconds behind stage winner Tadej Pogačar. Vingegaard remains second overall in the general classification.

On France's national holiday, the riders faced a demanding stage. Covering 166 kilometers between Aurillac and Le Lioran, the route featured seven categorized climbs. It took a long time for the day's breakaway to establish itself, but the peloton never allowed the group to build a significant advantage. 

With just under 40 kilometers remaining, the peloton, led by UAE Team Emirates – XRG, reeled in the last remaining breakaway rider, Javier Romo. At that point, Richard Carapaz launched an attack, opening up a lead of as much as one minute. 

On the Col de Pertus, the penultimate climb of the day, Pogačar made his decisive move. The GC leader caught Carapaz before riding solo to the stage victory. Behind him, Vingegaard set the pace of the chase for much of the climb. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider ultimately crossed the line in seventh, 44 seconds behind Pogačar. 

Jonas Vingegaard leads a chasing group late in stage ten. Sirotti photo

"I decided to ride at my own pace when Tadej accelerated," Vingegaard said afterward. "Looking back, we definitely managed to limit the damage. I got some help from the others on the final climb, which kept the gap from growing much larger. My legs certainly don't feel bad, but I'm looking forward to the longer climbs later in this Tour." 

"We knew this scenario was a possibility," sports director Marc Reef added. "We came to this Tour to win, but we also have to be realistic. Right now, Pogačar is the strongest rider, and we have to accept that. We'll keep fighting all the way to the final stage in Paris. Unfortunately, Matteo Jorgenson crashed today, but the positive takeaway is that he was able to continue."

Here's the Tour de France report from Richard Carapaz's Team EF Education-EasyPost:

Richard Carapaz lit up Stage 10 of the Tour de France with a scintillating attack on the Puy Mary.

Richie took off on the upper slopes of the first-category climb deep in the Massif Central and opened up a minute's gap on the group of favorites. Our Olympic champion from Ecuador pushed on up the Col du Pertus before he was caught right before the summit. Richie finished 11th at the finish line in Le Lioran.

Richar Carapaz takes off on the Puy Mary

EF Education-EasyPost went on the offensive as soon as the commissaire's flag dropped and never let up until Richie got away. Ben Healy and Alex Baudin opened up the attacks, going away with a 31-rider group after a brutal fight to get away from the peloton. They kept up the pace to put pressure on the GC favorites, who chased hard behind them to keep the gap under two minutes. When they were caught, Alex and Ben stuck with Richie in the GC group for as long as possible, helping him stay cool and out of the wind, alongside Sean Quinn, who had managed to stay with the best in the race over the Côte de Pailherols, Col de la Griffoul, Col de Prat de Bouc, and Côte de Murat.

When he and his teammates hit the Puy Mary, Richie knew that his best chance to win was to get ahead of the GC race with a long-range attack. He saw a chance, gritted his teeth, and went.

It didn't work out this time, but La Locomotora's engine is firing, as we head towards the Alps.

Here's the Tour report from Team Lidl-Trek:

The stage after a rest day always presents some questions, but Lidl-Trek answered well with both Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose moving up the general classification. Up and down all day, stage 10 was a difficult one to predict. Whilst many riders saw the breakaway as a route to Bastille Day glory, the stage eventually went to Tadej Pogačar after UAE spent the day controlling the escapees. After a strong collective effort, the Lidl-Trek climbing duo finished 5th and 6th on the stage, which moves Juan into the white jersey and 4th overall, and Skjelly up to 8th overall.

Juan Ayuso at the start of stage ten.

Meanwhile, in the points competition, Mads Pedersen is on a mission to collect every green jersey point available, especially in the intermediate sprints where his hardiness is often rewarded. Lidl-Trek used the lumpy opening terrain to their advantage, putting pressure on the pure sprinters and positioning Pedersen ahead of the intermediate sprint at the 25 kilometre mark. The Dane managed to take the maximum 25 points, extending his lead in the hotly-contested competition ahead of two expected sprint stages.

Juan Ayuso :
"I'm quite happy how the day went. It was a super hard day. UAE did an amazing job, I mean, all of the team was on an exceptional day & worked really hard. So it was a really tough day but, I'm happy that me and Skjelly could be in the final together gaining some time over some rivals and arriving in the podium group.

"I think Tadej, for now, is on a different level and he's basically doing a different race than us, but, the group that's going to play out the podium, we're arrived practically all together and, yeah, it's nice to be back in this jersey.

"I think every day you have to give the best you have, because we're seeing that there's five or six riders that are aiming for two spots on the podium so, it's going to be a really, really hard battle to be there in Paris. We just have to focus day by day on ourselves and me and Skjelly did a really good ride today and, I think, we're both happy with that."

Mads Pedersen :
: The Team did amazing [work] towards the first intermediate sprint and we were able to score maximum points. Of course, it would have been nice to get rid of the other guys competing for green but in the end, we got the best out of it, so it was good day.

"We now go into two days with 70 points on the finish line. It counts a lot and we will see. I would still say that the top five in the competition can still be my main rivals. Let's see how the next two days will go and then we go more into my terrain again and I hope it will be good again."

Here's the Tour de France report from Team INEOS Grenadiers:

Egan Bernal dug deep to finish 15th on stage 10 following a day of heavy climbing at the Tour de France.

With a packed Bastille Day crowd lining the route, Netcompany INEOS once again looked to be aggressive and place riders up the road.

Thymen Arensman and Kevin Vauquelin forced their way into an earlier break featuring 31 riders. Yet with a high pace from the peloton behind, the move was hauled back, group by group as the stage wore on.

Bernal dug deep to remain amongst a reduced GC group on the penultimate climb of the Col de Pertus, before setting his own tempo following the attack of race leader Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates - XRG).

Pogacar accelerated and went clear with 16km to go, crossing the line 32 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull - Bora - Hansgrohe) to extend his lead.

Bernal came home 15th into Le Lioran and now sits in 11th place overall on the general classification.

Michal Kwiatkowski leads Netcompany INEOS riders to the start. Sirotti photo

In earlier breakaway attempts, Josh Tarling, Michal Kwiatkowski, Tobias Foss and Filippo Ganna were all part of moves during a rapid opening phase.

Egan Bernal - "It was a super hard stage. At the beginning everyone wanted to go in the break and the guys who were trying to go obviously had super legs, as it was super hard to attack. The race was super fast and UAE was controlling and didn't let the break take more than one and a half minutes. On this type of parcours you need to always be on the pedals, even in the descents, so you don't recover.

"I was feeling good until Pogi attacked. I was there and managing my effort, then when he went I just tried to do this acceleration - but I wasn't able to. I was kind of in the limbo between the first group and the others."

And here's the Tour de France stage ten report from Team Soudal Quick-Step:

The Tour de France resumed after the first rest day with an arduous stage ten in the Massif Central, a stern test of climbing over a constantly up-and-down parcours that led to a huge fight to get into the breakaway. As they left behind Aurillac, the peloton prepared for another scorcher of a day, a factor which made the stage even more challenging.

Attacks came left and right for more than an hour, with a front group finally establishing after around 50 kilometers from the start, when both Valentin Paret-Peintre and Louis Vervaeke were part of it. The latter dug deep there, helping the breakaway take its lead to more than a minute, and at the same time, helping the Mont Ventoux winner pick up points on the first climbs of the day that put him in contention for the KOM jersey.

The peloton midway into the stage.

However, they were kept on a tight leash by the peloton, who wanted the win on Quatorze Juillet, and as a result, pushed a brutal tempo that helped them reel in the escapees with 55 kilometers to go. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) took the victory in Le Loran, while Ilan Van Wilder concluded this grueling stage that took in an elevation gain of 3800 meters as the first Soudal Quick-Step rider home.

“It was a good breakaway group and I was lucky to have Louis with me, but the peloton went really fast behind us and all that we could do was try to stay in the front as much as possible. We tried to open a consistent gap, but it just wasn’t possible. It was a really hard day. I took some points on the climbs and we’ll see if fighting for the polka dot jersey can became a goal”, Valentin said after the stage.