Tour de France: Sam Bennett wins stage 10

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After finishing fourth, second and third in the Tour de France bunch sprints, so far, Irish champion Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) finally secured the victory he and his team have fought so hard for in Île de Ré. It was a picture-perfect sprint for Bennett, confirmed in the photo finish, to top stage 3 winner Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) and green jersey holder Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Bennett's last lead-out man Michael Mørkøv took advantage of Team Sunweb's train after their sprinter Cees Bol lost his position, and pulled the Irishman well into the final 200m, leaving Ewan only enough time to draw level but not come past. Sagan came with a fair bit of speed but came around too late to take a close third while Elia Viviani (Cofidis) had his best finish so far in fourth.

"I forgot to throw the bike at the line in the moment and I thought he might have got me. It hasn't hit me. I thought I'd be in a flood of tears but I'm just in shock," Bennett said in the post-race interview before the fact that he'd won a stage in the Tour de France suddenly and overwhelmingly felt real.

"I just want to thank everyone involved in this, the whole team and Patrick (Lefevere) for giving me this opportunity and everyone it took to get to here," he added, the tears of relief and joy flooding his eyes. "I was waiting to go and thought I was waiting too late, then I went and thought I was it too big a gear."

The victory moves Bennett back into the lead of the points classification after taking it from Sagan stage 5 only to give it up after two stages, this time with 21 points over the Bora-Hansgrohe rider.

"In the end, it was a messy sprint but, well, Sam Bennett showed he can win the stage and he took the green jersey. But we are about halfway in the Tour de France and I think there are still some important opportunities to take the green jersey back," Sagan said.

Matteo Trentin (CCC Team) again battled for points at the intermediate sprint, taking the win in Châtelaillon-Plage as a block headwind kept the peloton compact for most of the second half of the stage, but after missing out completely in the final sprint, he said, "If you don't score in the finish there is no reason to keep going for this."

The general classification contenders made it through a nervous stage along the flat roads of the Charente-Maritime department with the dangers of crosswinds and dangerous roads mostly not coming to pass. Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) remaining in the maillot jaune still with a 21-second lead over Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and a further seven seconds over Guillaume Martin (Cofidis).

Instead, the day was contested mostly into the wind with the peloton spread across the entire road, except for one minor surge from Jumbo-Visma. Guillaume Martin had a bit of a scare in the hectic run-in along with stage 9 winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) after a crash disrupted the bunch in Rochefort with 65km to go. Both riders made it back into the bunch but Martin again found himself fighting after crosswinds and another crash split the bunch inside 20km to go.

Bernal thus continues as the race's best young rider with 23 seconds on Pogacar, and with no classified climbs on the route, Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R La Mondiale) continues in the polka dot jersey for the ninth consecutive stage.

How it unfolded

The first Tour de France rest day usually has some strange effects on the peloton but the coronavirus pandemic edition of the race made strange into the new normal as race director Christian Prudhomme was forced to leave the race after testing positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus along with four staff members, one each from Mitchelton-Scott, Ineos Grenadiers, AG2R La Mondiale and Cofidis. With the race's future shaken, riders were keen to hit out quickly in search of what little glory remains in the season. From the flag, dropped by Prudhomme's replacement François Lemarchand, there were quickly two attackers over the La Seudre Viaduct.

Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Michael Schär (CCC Team) enjoyed a light tailwind en route from Île d'Oléron as they powered clear in the opening kilometres but with Deceuninck-Quickstep's Tim Declercq controlling proceedings for his sprinter Sam Bennett and Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) helping for Caleb Ewan, the gap was kept under strict control and never allowed to reach two minutes.

With the first half of the stage covered at a brisk 47.6kph and a pan-flat stage, there was little hope for the duo out front and a fair bit of nerves in the peloton apparent with a potential for crosswinds as the course snaked around the Marennes-Oléron oyster farms.

There was drama as the two leaders were in sight of the bunch with 96km to go with crosswinds causing a small group to be split off the back containing Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Pavel Sivakov, Dylan van Baarle (Ineos), Wout Poels (Bahrain-McLaren), Jan Hirt (CCC) and Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) and a few others.

As Küng and Schär dangled ahead of the lead peloton and the pace slowed, a touch of wheels in the middle of the pack took down half a dozen riders including Sunweb's Nicolas Roche, who remained on the pavement in pain and frustration at another unlucky crash in a Grand Tour.

Also involved in the wreck were Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling), Robert Gesink (Jumbo-Visma), his second fall of the race, Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo), Sam Bewley and Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott), and Roche's teammate Casper Pedersen. Skujins returned to the lead group with his jersey and shorts ripped to shreds while Bewley clearly would not continue in the Tour but Roche managed to get back up and into the peloton 20km later.

The crash distracted somewhat from the catch of the breakaway and forced the peloton to settle its nerves and let the now more sizable chasing group rejoin. Amongst those caught out temporarily were Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) but a lull in the pace allowed most riders to come back and once again in this Tour de France the peloton was intact with 80km still left to race.

With some tricky roads expected, the teams spread across the road with each of the overall contenders having a lead-out train riding side-by-side at the front of the peloton, making a pace so quick no one could attack. The GC and sprinters teams seemed to call a temporary truce and just set a brisk, steady pace hoping only to stay out of trouble.

The truce wasn't enough and, as they entered a series of roundabouts and traffic islands near Rochefort, as expected, the course had a few pitfalls. As the road split into two on a left-hand bend, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) went down with his teammate Davide Formolo on the traffic island, while third-placed overall Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) also was caught up in the fray and paced back to the peloton his teammates. Sprinter Bryan Coquard, whose B&B Hotels team had been present and accounted for at the head of the peloton, was caught out, too.

Both Martin and Pogačar seemed unhurt but required mechanical assistance and faced an energy-sapping chase back to the front group. Ewan, too, had to chase back with just over 50km to go after having an unspecified mechanical problem but the pressure was not yet on and his teammates brought him back in without incident.

The intermediate sprint in Châtelaillon-Plage injected even more speed into the bunch with 40km to go as Coquard attacked to go for the sprint but was mowed down by Deceuninck-Quickstep. Matteo Trentin (CCC Team) once again made his designs on that green jersey clear, winning the intermediate sprint over Sagan and Bennett.

Another crash with 31km to go took down Warren Barguil (Arkéa Samsic) and caused some splits in the peloton as they snaked through farmlands and entered the highly technical and twisting final section of the stage 10 parcours but once again the headwind meant the chasers could mostly rejoin.

There was a brief moment of pace when Deceuninck-Quickstep strung out the peloton with Danish champion Kasper Asgreen and then Sunweb came forward to do the same before a much-discussed section of the course riddled with turns, traffic furniture and potential for crosswinds.

The pace of the peloton was so high heading into the final 20km - touching 56kph - that any split could spell disaster - and the constant twisting and turning through the tiny streets of L'Houmeau made for high adrenaline. Dylan van Baarle buried himself for Ineos and Bernal himself came to the fore after the Dutchman pulled off to try and create splits as the crosswinds picked up.

Jumbo-Visma came forward in a display of dominance, and the damage was quickly apparent as a large group was spit out the back and dozens fighting desperately to hang onto the single-file tail of the fast-moving lead group - among them Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana). A crash on a traffic island by Jonas Koch (CCC Team) spelt even more trouble, while Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep) had to stop for a mechanical at the same time.

Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) was the biggest victim in the split, his third place overall in danger of slipping away under the pressure of Jumbo-Visma - but his teammates managed to haul him back to the safety of the front group as the race turned into the headwind again as the race crossed the Île de Ré bridge into Rivedoux-Plage. The more favourable wind brought the peloton largely back together, while another attack by Küng ensured the Swiss rider a trip to the podium as the most aggressive rider.

Jumbo-Visma controlled the bunch heading into the safety zone of 3km to go as UAE Team Emirates, Sunweb, Trek-Segafredo, NTT, and a smattering of French team riders nudged forward to have a go in the sprint. Peter Sagan pushed and shouldered his way onto the wheel of Sam Bennett while Ewan latched on behind the green jersey as Sunweb controlled the front into the final few hundred metres.

Unfortunately, Bol had lost touch with his train and Sunweb provided a perfect lead-out for Mørkøv, who led Bennett deep into the sprint. The Irishman surged to the fore late to finally take his Tour de France stage win over Ewan and Sagan.