Tour de France 2025 stage 10 preview - Pogačar vs Vingegaard battle set for 'big explosion' across eight climbs on Bastille Day

A Bastille Day thriller awaits once again at the Tour de France on stage 10 of the 2025 race, with a 165-kilometre, eight-climb day to Le Mont Dore set to bring this extended first week to a close.

It's set to be an all-out battle in the Massif Central, with every French rider, of course, wanting to get ahead on the country's national day and emulate the likes of Warren Barguil, Laurent Jalabert and Bernard Thévenet as home riders to conquer July 14 at the Tour.

Expect the likes of Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) and Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) to be among the French hopefuls, though the former may be too close on GC – sat third – and the latter two possibly not strong enough to survive the GC charge behind. July 14 should bring them an extra few per cent of power, however.

For those eyeing the general classification, it will be about trying to stick to the coattails of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), with the winners of the past five Tours set to star on Monday's masterpiece of a route design.

Ennezat will host the calm before the storm before the riders head west, and the flag is dropped at 13:25 local time to kickstart an almighty battle for the breakaway. Satellite riders, French hopefuls, and those hoping to get a head start on the 4,250 metres of elevation gain will be among them, but it's a fight that could go on for some time.

First comes the Côte de Loubeyrat (4.1km at 6.3%), 11.8km into proceedings, which should provide the perfect launch pad to get away. And despite the next categorised ascent not arriving until 40km of racing are completed, there's barely a flat kilometre on the then southward road, so attacks should be in full flow at this point.

An intermediate sprint in Durtol will surely play out by those lucky enough, or strong enough, to have made it into an early move, but the damage will be done as three climbs arrive in quick succession between 110km to go and 80km to go: the Côte de La Baraque (4.8km at 7.4%), Côte de Charade (5.1km at 6.8%) and the Côte de Berzet (3.4km at 7.4%).

If a front group somehow hasn't been made by then, things will surely explode, and it could see more attacks fly anyway, with the rest day on Tuesday allowing everyone to try and empty the taps in search of stage 10 glory.

The final four climbs that will decide the Bastille Day champion of 2025 almost come in two pairs in the last 60 kilometres, with the Col de Guéry (3.4km at 6.7%) and Col de la Croix Morand (3.4km at 5.7%) offering a perfect chance for an early attack.

Descending road down to Chambon-sur-Lac could mean a move on either of those climbs sticks, but then comes the tough Col de la Croix Saint-Robert (5.1km at 6.4%), with its peak at the 10km to go mark, a small descent to Le Mont Dore and 3.3km at 8% up the first summit of the race to come.

It's going to be a war of attrition, exhausting, and a worthy end to the exciting 10 days of racing that have brought Pogačar and Vingegaard to the fore once again.

The GC battle

After the loss of João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who succumbed to the injuries he suffered on a stage 7 crash and abandoned the Tour on Sunday, Pogačar is down a teammate and his best supporter for the climbing stages.

Almeida was fourth overall last season, riding as a domestique, so would have been invaluable for stage 10 and throughout the second and third week of the Tour. Without him, the likes of Adam Yates, Pavel Sivakov and Tim Wellens will have to step up, but Pogačar could become isolated.

Pogačar will start on Monday with a 1:17 advantage over Vingegaard, and 54 seconds over Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), and has been flawless up to this point in the Tour, but we have yet to see his true climbing form. All signs point to it being higher than ever, but only the road to Le Mont Dore will confirm that.

His team will, of course, be all in, but it is a defensive strategy that will be employed on stage 10, confirmed team CEO Mauro Gianetti at the team bus after a hectic ninth stage.

"Our tactics will change. All the team will back Tadej now, and so that's our only tactic," said Gianetti.

"Of course, we're focused on the goal. We have the yellow jersey and lead by a minute. It's not a huge lead, but it's significant. In modern cycling, it's a good chunk of time. It'll be up to the others to attack, and then we'll defend the yellow jersey.

"On Monday, we'll see the real values of the GC contenders. The stage will reveal a lot. There's over 4000 metres of climbing, and above all, after nine intense and fast days of racing. The stage to Châteauroux was another crazy day of racing, and everyone went hard."

Vingegaard said he was looking forward to the day as he spoke at the team bus after stage 9, where his Visma team once again tried to split things in the crosswinds, albeit unsuccessfully.

"I think for sure there will be GC action, on a very, very hard day. It's a really hard course, up and down the whole day," said Vingegaard of Monday's route.

He described it as "the first real test outside the time trial," while Gianetti responded to the question of it being the first real day that: "I'm sure the rider would say that the 'real' Tour started a long time ago, way back in Lille. The riders are already tired. They'll enjoy the rest day because they'll have raced for ten days, that's half of the Tour."

With Almeida gone, the balance of team power has shifted in favour of Vingegaard's Visma, as Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss and Simon Yates lead an elite trio of climbing support, with Wout van Aert and Tiesj Benoot bridging the gap from their Classics stars.

"The first mountains we've seen in the Tour de France, which is always a big explosion," is how Jorgenson described stage 10 to reporters on Sunday. "We'll see big, big time gaps."

The tension between the two teams has been threatening to boil over throughout the first week, from Pogačar pushing Jorgenson on stage 7, to the World Champion continuing to win uphill sprints in front of his key rival.

It won't be words that decide things on stage 10, but the legs, and after the shocking time trial time loss, Vingegaard knows he needs to strike back. Pogačar will want to extend his lead, of course, but has to play things smart and avoid getting lured into an all-out team battle that his now seven helpers may not be up to.

Bastille Day is always a can't-miss stage of the Tour, but with the GC battle poised brilliantly at the end of a punchy first week, stage 10 of the 2025 race should be box office.

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Stage 10 Sprints

• Durtol, km. 44.4

Stage 10 Mountains

• Côte de Loubeyrat (cat. 2), km.11.8
• Côte de La Baraque (cat. 2), km. 54.5
• Côte de Charade (cat. 2), km. 66.6
• Côte de Berzet (cat. 2), km. 78.4
• Col de Guéry (cat. 2), km. 115.4
• Col de la Croix Morand (cat. 3), km. 124.1
• Col de la Croix Saint-Robert (cat. 2), km. 155.4
• Puy de Sancy (cat. 2), km. 165.3

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