Tour de France 2015: Stage 10

Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Tour de France stage 10 from Tarbes to La Pierre-Saint-Martin.

Tour de France stage 9 report
The Cyclingnews Tour de France Podcast episode 10
Tour de France 2015 stage 10 forum
Tour de France 2015 preview
Tour de France 2015 start list

I hope you're feeling rested after yesterday's rest day as we're about to enter the Pyrenees. Today's stage is the first of three consecutive summit finishes for the riders.

The summit finish of the the Col de Soudet is the first hors categorie ascent for the riders at this year's Tour de France. It's also the first time that it has been used as a finishing climb. The 15.3km climb averages 7.4 per cent with several sections going over 10 per cent .

Chris Froome is the race leader going into today's stage with a 12-second lead over Tejay van Garderen. Here he is talking to the media ahead of the start.

The big news today regarding Chris Froome though has nothing to do with this year's race but the 2013 edition. Team Sky believe that data from Froome's winning ride on Mont Ventoux has been hacked. You can read the story here.

There was also the sad news that Ivan Basso had been forced to pull out of the race after it was discovered that he had testicular cancer. We wish him the best with his recovery.

The riders are making their way through the neutralised zone and racing should be underway in the next five minutes. Here is how the GC stands after nine days of racing.

1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 31:34:12
2 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:12
3 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:27
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:38
5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:01:03
6 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:01:18
7 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:50
8 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:52
9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:59
10 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx - Quick-Step

Have you been listening to the Cyclingnews Tour de France Podcast? You can catch the latest one here as Barry Ryan, Stephen Farrand, Zeb Woodpower and Alasdair Fotheringham assess the rest day news and look to the mountains ahead.

@letour Tue, 14th Jul 2015 11:34:24

Aside from Ivan Basso, we have one other non-starter today with Lars Boom heading home due to the flu.

And we're off! Here's what the riders face during today's stage.

You can also read our preview of the stage right here.

@friebos Tue, 14th Jul 2015 11:43:51

After a crazy first week, the GC contenders will be happy to arrive at the mountains. There have been plenty of winners and losers over the first week and riders such as Thibaut Pinot will be fighting to gain back time. With the GC battle about to hot up again, take a look at our top 10 contenders to watch video.

159km remaining from 167km

Pierrick Fédrigo has had an attempt at a solo escape. The pace in the bunch is fast but he has managed to get a small gap.

It's Bastille day today so there's little surprise that Frenchman Fédrigo has gone on the attack. We can expect plenty of action from the French today.

151km remaining from 167km

Fédrigo has a small 15-sacond gap on the bunch. He is a multiple stage winner at the Tour de France but he's going to struggle to hold off the pack today, especially on his own. However riders such as Pinot, Bardet, Barguil and Rolland are all contenders to deliver the home nation a win today. David Moncoutié is the last Frenchman to win on Bastille day, taking victory in Digne-les-Bains in 2005.

Kenneth Van Bilsen (Cofidis) has set off in chase of Fédrigo. He's 25 seconds behind the Bretagne Séché rider and 20 seconds ahead of the peloton.

148km remaining from 167km

Sorry, he is actually 1:20 ahead of the peloton, who look like they're happy with the make up of this move.

@CafeRoubaix Tue, 14th Jul 2015 12:02:28

While he's gaining time on the peloton, Van Bilsen is losing time on Fedrigo and he's now 50 seconds behind the race leader. Fedrigo would likely be better off if he eased up a touch and allowed Van Bilsen to catch him up. It might be too late now though.

With 50 points available to the winner of today's stage, the mountains classification is up for grabs. Daniel Teklehaimanot has been wearing the jersey since he went on the attack on stage 6, making history as the first rider from his country to wear a classification jersey at the Tour de France. It will be a tall order for him to keep hold of it today.

Thibaut Pinot is a potential winner today and his team manager Marc Madiot has been blogging for Cyclingnews throughout the Tour de France. Read the latest installment here as he voices his opinion on Sky's motorhomes.

134km remaining from 167km

Fédrigo is now 6:45 ahead of the peloton with Van Bilsen still chasing at a minute back.

There was plenty of news to come out of yesterday's rest day. Richie Porte made the headlines when he confirmed that he would leave Team Sky at the end of the season. BMC is his expected new home. Read the full story here.

Another jersey that is up for grabs today is the green jersey. There are 20 points available at the intermediate sprint at the 124 mark, with Peter Sagan leading André Gripel by just 3 points. Here is how things stand at the moment.

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo 213 pts
2 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 210
3 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx - Quick-Step 159
4 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin 158
5 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Team Europcar 102
6 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 73
7 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx - Quick-Step 63
8 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 61
9 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 52
10 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 51

125km remaining from 167km

Van Bilsen is finally making ground on Fédrigo and he's got the gap down to 27 seconds now. The peloton are 10:05 behind the race leader.

It's all together at the front after 45 kilometres of racing and the gap has ballooned to 11:20 over the bunch.

All the talk before the race was about the big four contenders, after a strong first week Tejay van Garderen says that it's now the fab five.

“The Backstreet Boys have five guys. It seemed a little incomplete,” van Garderen joked during the team's press conference yesterday. Read his full comments here.

56km remaining from 167km

The leading pair have averaged 46.5kph over the first hour. They now have 13:30 on the peloton.

@olegtinkov Tue, 14th Jul 2015 12:54:32

Ian Stannard is leading the peloton for Team Sky as the advantage for the two escapees goes up to 13 minutes. It's a significant gap but they'll need much more than that when the peloton picks up the pace.

104km remaining from 167km

The two escapees are just 4 kilometres from the first climb of the day the Côte de Bougarber.

Alberto Contador, who lost one of his key riders in Ivan Basso yesterday, is targeting the Giro-Tour double this year. He's already won the Giro but he says that he's not as confident going into the second week of the Tour. Read his comments here.

The leaders are over the first climb of the day and they've got 14:16 on the peloton now. Two more climbs and an intermediate sprint to be contested before the final climb.

Nairo Quintana was the worst off of the main contenders going into Sunday's team time trial but a great performance from his Movistar outfit helped move him up the standings. The Colombian says that anything can happen in the mountains this week.

89km remaining from 167km

And as we speak Movistar have sent Alex Dowsett and Imanol Erviti to the front of the group, with Sky sitting just behind them.

As we mentioned before, the mountain's jersey could be swapping hands today. who will take it? Could it be one of our five climbers to watch?

84km remaining from 167km

Movistar's turn on the front is having an impact and the gap is edging down. It is still a sizeable margin though at 13:48

@EdwardPickering Tue, 14th Jul 2015 13:30:41

Crash in the peloton and Warren Barguil has gone down.

Barguil looks like he's in a bad way. He's lying on the groundand currently being attended to by the medics. Looks like he's injured his shoulder. Collarbone break?

Whatever he has hurt, he has decided to get back on the bike and is making his way back to the peloton. It looks like it happened in the feed zone.

The crash means that Barguil is now over three minutes behind the Movistar peloton. It appears that it's his knee that is the most hurt, and his shoulder seems to be ok. He may have just jarred it in the incident.

Van Bilsen crosses over the top of the second climb in first position. He also took the point on the first ascent. He's got two points now in the mountains classification but that will mean nothing with 50 available at the finish.

@Ride_Argyle Tue, 14th Jul 2015 13:50:27

Movistar still working on the front of the bunch. the LeTour.fr website spoke to Alejandro Valverde ahead of the stage. 

"From today onwards, every day will be decisive. The first contact with the mountain is always difficult," said Valverde. "Many things can happen today, including some important race facts. I'm well. Nairo is well. We're ready to fight. Clearly, Froome was at the top at the Dauphiné. We'll see how he'll go in the mountains here. He's got quite a big lead and he's a very unpredictable rider. We do our race to make Nairo a winner. Race circumstances might lead us to beat Froome or ther riders.”

Ramon Sinkledam has come back to help Warren Barguil, although he's not doing much for the Frenchman who is currently making the most of the slipstream of the team car.

66km remaining from 167km

Movistar continue to take chunks out of the escapee's advantage. With 100km ridden they have 12 minutes over the pack.

Barguil back in the bunch and he's got a few teammates to help him move towards the front.

Tinkoff-Saxo have issued an update on Ivan Basso, who withdrew from the race yesterday after it was discovered that he had testicular cancer. The Italian will undergo surgery tomorrow.

Mark Cavendish had a small mechanical problem. Nothing too major and he is quickly back on his bike. Warren Barguil is back with the medical car once again and getting a few bandages to add to his outfit for today.

Shots of Daniel Teklehaimanot in the bunch. He's all smiles at the moment in his polka-dot jersey. We did a profile of the Eritrean earlier in the week, which you can read here.

53km remaining from 167km

With 53km remaining the escapees are nearing the intermediate sprint. Their advantage continues to fall and is now at 11:26 after peaking at over 14 minutes.

It's now three Movistar riders at the front of the bunch. Is Quintana palnning a big move today? He's currently 1:59 down in the overall classification at the moment so he'll need to go on the attack at some point.

FDJ now sending someone up to the front and the peloton is getting very strung out under the pace.

@letour Tue, 14th Jul 2015 14:21:29

45km remaining from 167km

With several GC teams interested in chasing, the gap to the leaders is coming down pretty quickly now and is 9:18 just ahead of the intermediate sprint.

@StueyOG Tue, 14th Jul 2015 14:31:03

Fédrigo takes the points at the intermediate sprint with little contest. There'll be much more activity when the bunch passes through with the green jersey up for the taking.

40km remaining from 167km

Under eight minutes for the escapees with one more climb before the ascent to the finish.

@friebos Tue, 14th Jul 2015 14:37:00

Peter Sagan is lurking near the front while Giant-Alpecin form a small leadout train for John Degenkolb. Greipel, Cavendish and Coquard also up front.

Greipel leads the bunch over ahead of Cavendish. Another Lotto-Soudal rider takes third and denies Sagan some more points. Greipel should be in the green jersey this evening - if my calculations are correct.

Greipel and Cavendish having a chit chat after that sprint. Greipel lead's the sprint victory standings with two stage wins to Cavendish's one.

Confirmation of the points situation after that sprint and Greipel now has the green jersey by 3 points over Sagan. This looks like it's going to be a ding dong battle for the jersey.

33km remaining from 167km

The escapees are on the penultimate climb now and they've got just 6:15 on the peloton. That will disappear when they hit that final climb. The peloton aren't going to let this one get away.

There is a lot of action going on at the front, with the GC teams looking to put their riders in a strong position for this climb. Chris Froome is on the right side of the bunch around four or five riders back.

Europcar also at the front of the peloton as the gap comes down to 5:44. Rolland and Voeckler are options for them today.

27km remaining from 167km

We've got just over 10 kilometres from the final climb. It's the first time it's been used as a summit finish and it will really test the overall contenders. We could see some riders moving out of contention today.

@letourdata Tue, 14th Jul 2015 15:01:52

22km remaining from 167km

The two escapees have just 4:20 now on the peloton who continue to catch them at a great pace.

@GiantAlpecin Tue, 14th Jul 2015 15:05:37

20km remaining from 167km

The pace at the front of the bunch is very high. Movistar, IAM, Cannondale and Lampre all present and correct with just 5km to the final climb.

15km remaining from 167km

We're on the final climb and the gap has dropped to 2:42. Here is what the riders are facing.

13km remaining from 167km

Riders going off the back of the bunch as Tinkoff-Saxo make their first appearance on the front. Sprinters Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel have both gone. Daniel Teklehaimanot has been dropped. He'll be handing over his polka-dot jersey after the stage.

Van Bilsen has been dropped from the escape and it is Fedrigo alone out front with a gap of 1:35

Rui Costa in trouble, the pace on these very steep ramps is obviously too much for him.

Michal Kwiatkowski is dropped, he's not been climbing particularly well during this year's Tour. perhaps down to the work he's been doing for Uran and Cavendish.

And Bardet is in trouble not along with Talansky. Bardet has had a tough Tour already and this will be a big blow to him, perhaps he can work his way back later on in the climb.

12km remaining from 167km

Just 25 seconds for Fedrigo. The peloton can see him up the road.

Pinot struggling and Péraud off the back also. The French might be slipping away.

Gesink has gone on the attack and he's caught and passed Fedrigo.

There is a lampre rider now chasing Gesink, who has just gone through 10km to go. Nibali is the next rider to struggle. He's back with Peraud now and two of his teammates are back to help him.

9km remaining from 167km

The Lampre rider doing the chasing is Rafael Valls, who won the TOur of Oman earlier this year. He's now caught Gesink.

Nibali is over 30 seconds behind the main group. He doesn't look like he's in a good place right now as sky set the pace on this ever dwindling group of favourites.

More riders who have been dropped are Rodríguez and Mollema. Sky setting a very fast pace.

8km remaining from 167km

Among the riders in the group of favourites are Froome, van Garderen, Quintana, Contador, Rolland and Simon Yates.

Gesink ups the pace out front and he drops Valls.

Gesink has a 25-second gap on the yellow jersey group. He's had a tough season this year and this would be a huge day for him if he could win this stage.

Nibali has got Westra back with him but it doesn't look like he's going to be catching the favourites' group again today.

Valverde attacks the yellow jersey group and puts Froome in trouble. Thomas continues to set the pace and brings the Spanish champion back.

Valls back with the Froome group.

7km remaining from 167km

Valverde settles back into the group of favourites. Is he softening up Movistar's rivals for an attack from Quintana?

Valverde attacks again. He doesn't get much of a gap but he's forcing Sky to chase.

Gesink has just 12 seconds out front and Valverde's attacks are cutting down his advantage.

It is actually Adam Yates that is in that group of favourites, Tony Gallopin is also there as is Richie Porte. Sky has the biggest numbers right now with three in that bunch.

Contador cracks!

Porte digs in and splits the group. Froome is with him and also Quintana. Van Garderen has been distanced while Contador is yet further behind the American.

Froome attacks

6km remaining from 167km

Quintana slow to react to Froome's attack but he doesn't look worried. The gradients aren't as steep near the top.

Froome is heading the race at the moment, with Quintana steadily chasing. Van Garderen has joined forces with Gesink and they are tracking down Contador.

Froome has 17 seconds on Quintana while van Garderen is 41 seconds down. Contador is 1:13 while defending champ Nibali is 2:40 back. This stage has blown the GC apart.

5km remaining from 167km

Froome is pulling out time on Quintana right now. 26 seconds now seperate the pair.

4km remaining from 167km

None of the other contenders have a response to Froome who just keeps pulling out time on all the groups right now.

Rigoberto Uran is back with Vincenzo Nibali at over 3 minutes back now. This must be Nibali's chances at victory all but done.

3km remaining from 167km

Contador is really trying his hardest to make it back but he's now 1:41 back.

@daniellloyd1 Tue, 14th Jul 2015 15:52:46

Froome now has 47 seconds on Quintana and continues to pull away with 3km still to go.

Van Garderen, Thomas, Valverde and Rolland are the third group on the road at 1:35 back.

2km remaining from 167km

The gap between Froome and Quintana is almost a minute, who would have thought this at the start of the day?

Froome is charging on with 1.7 to go and he's still putting time into his rivals.

1km remaining from 167km

This is an impressive performance from Froome. He's been in a confident mood throughout the Tour and he'll be brimming with confidence after this stage.

We're inside the final kilometre and Porte looks like he's about to catch Quintana.

Froome wins stage 10 of the Tour de France

Porte has caught Quintana and we could be on for a Sky 1-2

Quintana leading Porte at the moment going into the final ramp.

Porte attacks and Quintana can't respond.

Porte crosses the line 58 seconds down and Quintana is 1:03 back.

Gesink comes home in fourth at 1:32, a good day for him.

Valverde leads Thomas over the line for fifth with Thomas in sixth. A great ride for Adam Yates to take seventh.

Contador loses 2:51 to Froome, while van Garderen is 2:30 back.

We having got the official timings yet but here is the top 10 from this stage.

1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
2 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky
3 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
4 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
5 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
6 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
7 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge
8 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar
9 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal
10 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team

A very bad day for Nibali, he is led over the line by his teammate at well over 4 minutes back.

@willfoth Tue, 14th Jul 2015 16:05:20

Riders still trickling across the line in ones and twos. That was a brutal finish and is has had a huge impact on the overall classification.

Speaking of the GC, this is how is looks after stage 10

1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 35:56:09
2 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:02:52
3 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:03:09
4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:04:01
5 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:04:03
6 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:04:04
7 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:04:33
8 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:04:35
9 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:06:12
10 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:06:57

@fmk_RoI Tue, 14th Jul 2015 16:08:18

Looking at the GC, it was a strong performance from Tony Gallopin today to stay in 7th place.

With two more summit finishes in the next two days and another two to come next week, it will be interesting to see if Froome can keep up this level performance. 

@mrconde Tue, 14th Jul 2015 16:13:32

We're already building a stage report and gallery from today, you can find it here.

Stage winner and yellow jersey Chris Froome spoke after the stage, he said: "I’m at a loss for words. That was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe it when I asked the guys to push hard a little bit and we were hearing on the radio that the big names were getting dropped. It was textbook from the team, the guys rode such a good race. I’m over the moon to be able to finish it off for them."

Froome's teammate Richie Porte finished second today and this is what he had to say. "I think it’s one day in the Tour we can’t get too carried away. We saw it in 2013 when we got first and second on a stage and the disaster there. So we’re not getting too far ahead of ourselves. It’s still a fantastic feeling.

"I felt a bit bad doing that, picking his (Nairo Quintana's) pocket but it’s a race and Chris was absolutely fantastic today. I take my hat off to Geraint Thomas as well, he was still up on GC and he could have sat behind me and he didn’t, he put in and did a great pull and softened them up."

@TrekFactory Tue, 14th Jul 2015 16:26:07

Here is the moment that Chris Froome crossed the line.

Alberto Contador lost a lot of time today and here is what eh had to say after the stage: "I didn't feel great today. I wasn't able to breathe very well. it just wasn't my day. I usually do well on this sort of day, but this just didn't go well."

@petercossins Tue, 14th Jul 2015 16:36:35

@inrng Tue, 14th Jul 2015 16:41:06

Tejay van Garderen kept his place in the overall classification today, although he lost 2:30 to Froome. Here is what he had to say after the stage: "It was extremely difficult. Those first 10k were really steep. Sky definitely put on quite the performance. I tried my best to stay with them and then when it got a bit too much for me I tried to stay in my rhythm and just focus on getting to the top."

Full results and report are now available. You can find them here.

If you want to discuss today's stage, head over to the stage 10 thread in our forum

@friebos Tue, 14th Jul 2015 16:53:57

it was a disappointing day for Tinkoff-saxo and Alberto Contador after he slipped to sixth. His directeur sportif Sean Yates had this to say after the stage.

"When Alberto was up there with the guys we thought that he was on a good day but I think it was the acceleration by Valverde that was the start of the end for Alberto and he had to limit his losses. Froome was obviously flying and the gap just kept on growing," said Yates. 

"The first mountain stage and the heat can have varying effects and we saw Nibali and Rigoberto Uran suffering. Thibaut Pinot, who has been flying in the mountains, went out very early on. Obviously we’re not happy with what happened and Albeto won’t be either but the Tour’s not over and we have to keep on fighting."
 

@Cyclingnewsfeed Tue, 14th Jul 2015 16:03:28

Movistar did a lot of work on the front today but Nairo Quintana could only manage third.

@Cyclingnewsfeed Tue, 14th Jul 2015 16:10:43