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As it happened: Alpecin–Deceuninck finally perform on stage 10

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Bonjour and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 10 of the 2024 Tour de France!

Racing is back at the Tour for the second week and the riders are departing from Orléans in just over an hour and a half. It's a flat day on the menu with the sprinters all hopeful of another bunch sprint with fresh legs from their day of recovery. Read the preview for the day and check out the profile below:

To catch up on what was an exhilarating first week of racing, read analysis from our expert Philippa York. She examines the state of play for the 'big four' Pogačar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel and Roglič and looks back at how things stand heading into today's stage:

Today's finish location Saint-Amand-Montrond has welcomed the Tour de France on several occasions in the past, with Carlos Sastre confirming his 2008 Tour victory there in 2008. More recently, it played host to the arrival of stunning crosswind day on stage 13 of the 2013 Tour, where a group containing Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan and Alberto Contador went up the road. The route that year was majorly heading southeast from Tours where the echelons developed, whereas today heads mostly south from Orléans so we may not see splits.

There was lots of fighting talk and mind games from the GC favourites on the rest day. They will be trying to stay safe throughout today's stage and if there are any splits, they will need to be on full alert. Catch up with how Pogačar and Vingegaard assessed the first week here:

Primož Roglič suffered an untimely blow as he lost Aleksandr Vlasov, his key climbing domestique, to an ankle injury:

Riders are completing sign-on and the team presentation in Orléans with racing set to get underway in exactly an hour with the départ fictif sheduled for 13:05 (CEST).

Here's World Champion Mathieu van der Poel ready for another day of sprinting. He'll be on lead-out duties again on stage 10 as he hopes to bring Jasper Philipsen his first win of the 2024 edition after dominating the flat finishes in 2023. 

Read Geraint Thomas' assessment of how the favourites for GC are shaping up going into the second week, as the Welshman tells Cyclingnews who he believes will be in yellow by the time the race arrives in Nice:

Current forecasts suggest the wind won't play much of a factor on today's stage but it will certainly be nervous throughout the 187.3km. Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) is definitely hoping for some splits, which is unsurprising as a Belgian:

Just twenty minutes to go now before they start making their way through the neutralised zone.

Here are the EF Education-EasyPost riders lining up at the start. They've been animated throughout the race, but still haven't managed to win a stage. Will they have something planned for today?

As we begin to second week, 14 of the 22 teams at the race remain without a stage win. Many of those will feel their best bet of doing so today will be through a bunch sprint, but, from those who don’t, will we see more desire to get into the break today?

We'll find out soon - the riders have just left the départ fictif.

Here's Tadej Pogačar talking to the press at the start. He looked relaxed as ever. 

One rider not starting today is Aleksandr Vlasov. The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider is suffering from an ankle injury sustained after his crash during stage nine. That's bad news for Primož Roglič, for whom he was the main super-domestique. 

Despite Vlasov's  withdrawal, one pleasing trend of this Tour de France has been the lack of serious crashes. In fact, Vlasov was only the fourth rider to abandon the race in the first week. Remembering just how many awful crashes characterised the first half of the season, that comes as a merciful relief.

Just 500 metres away from the flag.

187KM TO GO

...and there are no attacks. This could be a long day at this rate. 

Could this be another flat stage where nobody forms a break? The pace is very slow in the peloton, so there's a chance for anybody to go clear, but no takers for now.

The TV camera is focussing on Jonas Abrahamsen, as if urging him to make a move. But even the Tour’s most aggressive rider doesn’t fancy it today.

180KM TO GO

So why the reluctance from anyone to attack? Well, this is the flattest race of the Tour so far, and a break’s chances of survival is even lower than during the first week sprints.

An easy, relaxed day in the peloton so far.

170KM TO GO

One of those chats happening is between Jonas Vingegaard and Tim Declercq. This is the kind of day that Tim 'The Tractor' Declercq has many times in the past been relied upon to drag the bunch to the finish. 

Astana riders have moved to the front, with Mark Cavendish among them, but they're ambling without an increase in pace. 

Bahrain-Victorious and Jayco-AlUla have also taken a few turns at the front, but are using only a fraction more energy by having their nose in the wind. 

The one thing that might liven this race up is the weather, with crosswinds affecting stages in this area in the past. There are no winds for now, and the riders are sheltered by forests for now - but rain is starting to fall.

The pace is up a little in the peloton, with EF Education-EasyPost and Alpecin-Deceuninck leading. There are less chats happening now.

150KM TO GO

Happily for the riders, it isn't raining at the moment, despite the grey clouds.

UAE Team Emirates are at the front of the peloton, but are far from taking control of it. In fact, Pogačar in his yellow jersey isn't even present among them.

Hold on, we apepar to have an attack! 2 Lotto riders and an Intermarché - Wanty have escaped out the peloton.

Given that these are the teams of green jersey Biniam Girmay and his rival Arnaud De Lie, we can only assume this is early manoeuvrings ahead of the intermediate sprint.

One of the Lotto riders have sat up, leaving his teammate Harm Vanhoucke and Intermarché - Wanty's Kobe Goossens up the road.

Now we have a Groupama-FDJ rider setting off after them.

Though the initial attack only seemed half sincere, with the riders smiling as they were making it, it seems they're more committed now.

Alpecin-Deceuninck and Jayco-AlUla are leading the chase in the peloton. They're over a minute adrift from Goossens and Vanhoucke, so are unlikely to catch them in time for the interemediate sprint. 

In between, there were actually two Groupama-FDJ riders who attacked: Valentin Madouas and Kevin Geniets. They've joined up to the other Lotto-Dstny rider from the original break, Max Van Gils, and are 45 seconds behind the leaders and 25 seconds ahead of the peloton.

Van Gils, Madouas and Geniets make for a very strong group, so we can only assume the reason they're not making any inroads is for not trying.

They might get caught in the time by the peloton as we approach the intermediate sprint, which would mean more points available for the green jersey candidates. 

130KM TO GO

The peloton has indeed caught the trio in between, and will now sprint for the remaining points.

Philipsen wins the sprint for third-place.

A heart-in-mouth moment for Girmay when he had to check his sprint when the road between himself and the barriers narrowed. He stayed upright, and managed to retain enough momentum to finish just behind Philipsen, neck and neck with Fernando Gaviria.

Arkéa - B&B Hotels led the intermediate sprint out for Arnaud Démare, but he was passed by Philipsen, Girmay and Gaviria in the sprint. 

Vanhoucke has sat up, his job presumably to take points in the green jersey classification on behalf of teammate Arnaud De Lie. That leaves Goossens as the lone leader.

Here's the intermediate sprint results in full:

Bike change for Jonas Vingegaard. Now's the time to have a problem - if and when the wind does indeed blow later, such an incident would be a disaster, but passes without stress now.

And here's the updated points classification rankings:

120KM TO GO

Here are Kobe Goossens and Harm Vanhoucke, on their short-lived breakaway.

With Girmay and Philipsen gaining more points at the intermediate sprint, the race for the green jersey is looking more and more like a two-horse race. To prevent it from becoming a one-horse race, Philipsen will need a good sprint today - preferably a stage win. The Eritrean can be expected to gain more points on non-sprint stages (as he did on the gravel two days ago), so Philipsen’s best hope of closing the gap is taking maximum points on pure sprint stages like this.

110KM TO GO

The trees you can see here in the background has been typical of the landscape throughout today's stage so far. Even if the wind was blowing, the riders have been sheltered enough for it not to affect the race.

100KM TO GO

Things might be quiet here at the Tour, but there’s been action at today’s stage of the women’s Giro d’Italia. You can read all about what happened here.

90KM TO GO

So, with a bunch sprint in store today, who are the top favourites for the stage win?

Biniam Girmay has been the most successful sprinter of the Tour so far, with two stage wins. But both of these victories came in mitigating circumstances - the first after a crash took out many of his rivals, the second on an uphill finish ill-suited to pure sprinters. 

80KM TO GO

Girmay is in need to a rear wheel change. It's been sorted now and he's in the convoy, and will be back in the peloton soon. 

As for other contenders for the stage, Dylan Groenewegen is clearly sprinting fast following his stage win last week, and will enjoy how easy the stage has been so far. However, in the past he hasn’t tended to follow up his first stage win with another, and has slowed down as the Tour continues - none of his six Tour stage wins have come in the second week.

And what of Mark Cavendish's chances? His sprint win on stage three showed that, if delivered in a good position, he's still as quick as anyone in a bunch finish. If he's still motivated now that he's broken the Merckx record he came to the Tour for, there’s no reason to believe he can’t add a 36th career win today.

Here's the peloton being led by Astana, not long ago. They're one of the sprinter teams who have come to the fore.

70KM TO GO

Definitely some more tension in the peloton now. The speed is up, and expressions on the faces of the riders more serious.

Big increase in pace now as teams jostle for position in front of a direction change.

Ineos and Astana lead the peloton into the turn.

Now Visma-Lease a Bike take over.

And now UAE lead, with two riders ahead of Pogačar.

The peloton is strung out, but not in echelon formation. No sign of any especially strong wind out there.

60KM TO GO

Now Visma-Lease a Bike take over the front, with two of their riders ahead of Vingegaard. Pogačar is still right p there too, only a few wheels down.

It's calmed down a big again now. Certainly no signs of any splits. 

50KM TO GO

It's slow enough now for riders to take comfort breaks. Fernando Gaviria and it seems Biniam Girmay have both stopped for one.

Stefan Küng stops for a mechanical. With no sprinter in his Groupama-FDJ team for him to lead-out, this is in off-day for him anyway.

Girmay is back in the peloton after his comfort break.

Küng is in the convoy, and picking up some bidons for his teammates.

Philipsen is also back at his Alpecin team car, taking a bidon.

40KM TO GO

Here's the peloton from earlier, just before a change in direction, when UAE Team Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike moved to the front. They and the rest of the GC teams negotiated this potentially risky part of the stage with no problems.

Sandy Dujardin is back at the doctors car. He's having his wrist looked at, which was injured during the race last week.

30KM TO GO

Mechanical for De Lie. He'll be grateful that the racing isn't fully on just yet.

De Lie has fixed the problem and is chasing back now. He's got his team car beside him in the convoy. 

De Lie is back in the peloton, thanks to some assistance from a teammate.  

A sighting of Didi the Devil on the roadside. He remains as excitable and energetic as ever, doing his trademark knees-up jump, despite the lack of action on the road.

20KM TO GO

There's still an unusual lack of urgency, as the riders near the 15km to go point. Normally at this point there would be an intense race for position in the peloton, but still the pace remains casual. 

A mechanical for Goossens. He is presumably the frontrunner for the day's combativity award, despite the short-lived nature of his attack earlier in the day.

Peloton

(Image credit: Getty Images)

10KM TO GO

They're about to go over a small unclassified hill. It's unlikely to be hard enough to have any effect, but it might come as a bit of a shock to the system as the toughest challenge they've faced all day.

Lots of teams all massed at the front, including EF, Ineos and Intermarche.

They're done climbing - that mini-hill barely seemed to register.

Now the pace is up! The rider are flying down this descent as the fight for positionning intensifies.

5KM TO GO

We're under the 4km to go banner ,which means the GC riders are safe. No time will be loss now if there's an incident.

EF take over at the front.

There are lots of twists and turns in this technical finale, so positionning will be important.

EF still lead as they go under the 3km to go banner.

Abrahamsen takes over at the front for Uno-X.

Astana take to the front,but seem to have lost Cavendish.

They swing over, and Alpecin take over from them.

1KM TO GO

This looks good for Alpecin who have a line of riders.

Van der Poel starts his lead out...

Now Philipsen goes...

Philispen wins!

A massive win for the Belgian there. Nobody was close to him.

Biniam Girmay finished second, and Pascal Ackermann third.

It was a vinatge lead-out from Alpecin-Deceuninck. Even before Van der Poel started his lead out, they had the bunch all strung out with two other riders setting the pace. Van der Poel's work then meant Philipsen could delay starting his sprint until he sensed Gaviria doing so behind him, and when he started his sprint, he burst ahead of him and everyone to win comfortably. 

Wout van Aert was also up there in the sprint, finishing fourth place. That's his highest finish since the opening stage - is he beginning to come into some form again?

Alpecin-Deceuninck team's Belgian rider Jasper Philipsen cycles to the finish line to win ahead of second-placed Intermarche - Wanty team's Eritrean rider Biniam Girmay (R) during the 10th stage of the 111th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 187,3 km between Orleans and Saint-Amand-Montrond, central France, on July 9, 2024. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP)

(Image credit: Marco BERTORELLO / AFP / Getty Images)

Here's the top ten in full:

And in case anyone is wondering - no indication this time that Philipsen deviated from his sprinting line. This time, the result will definitely stand!

Today is a triumph for Philipsen, who bounces back after a difficult start to the Tour, and proves he can dig deep and stay resilient when things aren't going his way.

It's also a great result for runner-up Biniam Girmay. He might not have landed a third stage win, but that's a big result in the points classification, and a lot of points for him to earn on a finish that we didn't think (at least until the start of this Tour) uit him so well. 

Here are the updated results in the points classification. Philipsen did all he could today, but remains a long way adrift from Girmay. It certainly looks like a two-horse race, though. 

And here's the GC rankings, which remain unchanged with everyone finishing together in the peloton.

Delight for Jasper Philipsen at the finish. You sensed he really needed that win, having endured so much frustration during the first week. 

Thanks for joining us today! Not a lot happened, but when we look back we won't remember the boring bits - we'll remember the bunch sprint won by Jasper Philipsen. The sprints this Tour have been intriguingly unpredictable, but we won't have one for at least a couple of days, as we enter the Massif Central, for a day in the hills - and possibly some GC action.

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