Tour de France stage 10 analysis: Under pressure

2020 Tour de France stage 10
The peloton duringg stage 10 of the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Stress hung in the air like salt on the sea breeze all the way through stage 10 of the 2020 Tour de France. The results sheet will show that Sam Bennett beat Caleb Ewan and Peter Sagan in a bunch kick on the Île de Ré, and no doubt in future years, fans may look at the result and assume that this had been a straightforward flat stage, some welcome relief between mountain ranges, a day for a long, harmless break and a sprint.

That went out of the window almost immediately. A textbook-looking two-up break with Michael Schär and Stefan Küng went away… and came back within an hour. There was no chase - teams trying to keep themselves and their leaders out of trouble just ended up riding so fast that the Swiss duo were caught - no mean feat, given the time trialling strength of both men.

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Edward Pickering is Procycling magazine's editor. He graduated in French and Art History from Leeds University and spent three years teaching English in Japan before returning to do a postgraduate diploma in magazine journalism at Harlow College, Essex. He did a two-week internship at Cycling Weekly in late 2001 and didn't leave until 11 years later, by which time he was Cycle Sport magazine's deputy editor. After two years as a freelance writer, he joined Procycling as editor in 2015. He is the author of The Race Against Time, The Yellow Jersey Club and Ronde, and he spends his spare time running, playing the piano and playing taiko drums.