Riders arrived at the start line of stage 10 of Tour de France 2024 following a well-deserved rest day. The human batteries were recharged, and the rider minds revived when the riders took off from Orleans. Orleans held strategic ad symbolic significance to both sides of the Hundred Years’ War between England and France and Joan of Arc repulsed the siege of Orleans in 1429 in such an inspiring and encouraging fashion it caused the French to regain the initiative in the conflict.

While no armed conflict was taking place in the Tour de France, conflict between the general classification favorites was certainly present as Remco Evenepoel had criticized defending Tour de France Champion Jonas Vingegaard after Sunday’s gravel stage and claimed the Dane was passive and afraid when he refused to engage in the Evenepoel-Pogacar-Vingegaard attack that had left Primoz Roglic behind.

Tour de France race organizer A.S.O. had chosen an interesting 187.3-kilometer route for what could potentially become an exciting stage, not only because of its predicted mass sprint finish in Saint-Amand-Montrond, but also because the parcours would allow for strong winds to potentially split the peloton, which could cause problems or opportunities for general classification favorites such as Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe).

While Aleksandr Vlasov had abandoned the Tour before the start of today’s stage 10 after his bike frame exploded in stage 9, which caused him to crash heavily, the remaining riders in the Tour de France peloton would pass by the beautiful and famous Chateau de Chambord on today’s route. Chateau de Chambord is characterized by its distinctive French Renaissance architecture. While Tuscan Domenico da Cortona is listed as its main architect, its design is influenced by Leonardo da Vinci and blends classic Renaissance structures with French medieval forms.

The weather conditions were twenty-five degrees Celsius and overcast and, contrary to what had happened in previous stages, no riders appeared interested in launching attacks shortly after the start of today’s stage 10. Possible thunderstorms were predicted later in the afternoon.

The riders in the peloton were still having an easy day in the saddle with 155 kilometers remaining of today’s stage 10. No breakaway attempts had been detected, but it had started raining.

141 kilometers remained when the first attack of the day was launched. Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ), Kobe Goossens (Intermarche-Wanty), and Brent van Moer (Lotto-Dstny) were the breakaway optimists who prevented the riders in the main peloton from falling asleep in an otherwise monotonous stage.

It turned out the attack had been launched with the hidden agenda of scooping up points for the points competition in the intermediate sprint of today’s stage and the sneaky breakaway riders fell back to the chasing peloton after the sprint.

The peloton was still together with eighty kilometers remaining.

The speed in the peloton increased significantly with 65 kilometers left of today’s stage 10 of Tour de France 2024. Several teams sent riders to the front of the peloton to take advantage of the windy conditions and try to split the peloton into echelons, which could cause some general classification favorites to lose valuable time in today’s stage.

The alarm was called off with 55 kilometers remaining. Apparently, there wasn’t strong enough winds blowing for the peloton to split into multiple parts.

Things were calm with forty and twenty kilometers remaining.

When fifteen kilometers remained, the sprinter teams approached the front of the peloton to increase the pace and position their sprinters and sprint lead-out trains as optimally as possible for the anticipated mass sprint finish of today’s stage 10.

There were some tricky corners in the final kilometers of today’s stage. It was therefore important for the riders to position themselves optimally in the peloton as there were major risks of crashes and splits in the peloton in the stage finale.

EF Education-EasyPost riders were leading the peloton with three kilometers remaining. They were looking to position their sprinter Marijn van den Berg as optimally as possible for the mass sprint. Mark Cavendish (Astana) appeared absent – would he show up in time? 

Christophe Laporte was leading Wout van Aert (Team Visma-Lease a Bike). Alpecin-Deceuninck riders moved to the front for Jasper Philipsen. 

Jasper Philipsen launched his sprint, and no other rider was able to overtake him. Philipsen took his first stage victory in this year’s Tour de France. Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) finished second, while Pascal Ackermann (Team PremierTech) completed the stage podium.

Tadej Pogacar remains general classification leader in this year’s Tour de France following today’s stage 10. 

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from Tour de France 2024.

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