Cyclist Simon Yates has won the tenth stage of the Tour de France. The 32-year-old Brit of Visma-Lease A Bike kept the Dutchman Thymen Arensman behind Puy de Sancy after the first real mountain rit in more than 165 kilometers. The Irish Ben Healy took over the yellow leader’s jersey from Tadej Pogacar.
Healy, previously ride winner in the sixth stage, finished in third place at 31 seconds. Pogacar crossed the line at 4.51, in the company of Jonas Vingegaard. In the rankings, Healy has a 29 -second lead over Pogacar.
Yates, Arensman and Healy were left of a group of refugees who had run away from the peloton soon after the start. On the last climb they remained with the Australians Ben O’Connor and Michael Storer. Yates, winner of the Giro d’Italia last month, started his attack in the last kilometers.
Arensman was the only one who could stay in the neighborhood, but the Dutchman of Ineos Grenadiers was just short of. After the stage, the 25-year-old rider told the NOS to be very disappointed that he lost time due to a bend in the final phase: “Simon did very smartly in the turns. I almost fell there, that’s why I had to let him go. I didn’t want to cramp too much.”
However, the climber showed himself realistic: “Ultimately, losing a Giro winner is not very bad either.”
Quatorze juillet
Where a rest day is normally on the program on Monday, the organization had drawn a difficult ride through the Central Solid because of the French holiday Quatorze Juillet. On the route there were a climb of the third category and seven of the second category.
The peloton already fell apart on the first climb, where Arensman was part of a leading group of around thirty riders. Victor Campenaerts and Yates, teammates from Vingegaard, Healy, O’Connor and Lenny Martinez also jumped along.
The leading group was then halved by the succession of climbs. Despite the work of UAE at the head of the peloton, the difference increased to six minutes. The Frenchman Martinez was the first to come up after the first five climbs and thus assured himself of the ball jersey. The leading group was thinned in the remainder of the ride
In the peloton, Vingegaard’s team tried to put pressure on the last climbs Pogacar, but the Slovenian did not shrink. On the last climb, the classification leader himself turned on, but could follow Vingegaard. The Belgian Remco Evenepoel admitted six seconds.
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