A nervy trip along the west coast for Stage 10 of 2020 Tour de France brought a few crashes and a fiercely contested sprint finish. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quickstep) beat Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) to win the stage, pick up the green jersey and complete his haul of stages at all three Grand Tours. Despite the odd scare, there are no changes to the general classification. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) is still in the maillot jaune.
Stage highlights
Today’s stage followed the pattern we know and love when the Tour roads go flat – scenery, siesta and sprinting! The sun-bathed coast looked gorgeous, I got a solid 30 minutes and the fast men got to battle it out.
As the race headed into the final kilometre, all the sprinting suspects were buzzing round the front. Sam Bennett proved just too strong for the rest, crossing the line ahead of Caleb Ewan and Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe). An honourable mention must go to Elia Viviani of Cofidis who showed he shouldn’t be written off with a strong fourth place finish.
Super Sam
Post-race Sam Bennett sobbed his way through his victory interview. Here’s a guy who had to leave his previous team (Bora-hansgrohe) and teammate Peter Sagan so that he could to ride the Tour. The pressure he must have felt to take his chances and win a stage was obviously immense. Watch it pour out here. [Anyone who isn’t crying with Sam has no heart – Ed]
Sam Bennett’s win certainly went down well with the fans…
Midge calls it here. The lead-out from Morkov was MIGHTY
Sam Bennett now has his Tour de France stage win to add to his Giro and Vuelta victories. Not only that, he’s nicked the green jersey from Peter Sagan too. Game on.
We Don’t Like To Be Beside The Seaside
There was a definite nervousness around the peloton with a few crashes causing concern. At one point, GC top-fivers Tadej Pogacar (UAE) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) got detached from the peloton but managed to hitch back on.
Sam Bewley of Mitchelton-Scott wasn’t as lucky and had to abandon after hitting the ground hard.
We got to see some nice echelons
And a super scary bridge.
Positively Ironic
Once upon a time, a positive test on a Tour rest day meant the gendarmes would soon have a hotel to raid. Today, we had a new meaning to testing positive, would anyone’s bubble be burst?
All riders came through clean, a few team staff members had to leave and… well… the actual guy in charge of the actual race had to go home too!
Luckily, he’s been busy overseeing the Tour and ensuring the race runs fairly and safely. It’s not like he’s been spending a lot of time in an enclosed space with anyone important. Oh… wait…
The Last Word
From a fully paid-up member of the Sam Bennett fan club.
Results
Stage 10 Top 5
1 Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick Step) 3:35:22
2 Caleb Ewan (Lotto-WhenAreTheClassics) same time
3 Peter Sagan (Bora-ExHomeOfTheWinner) s/t
4 Elia Viviani (Cofidis-dis-dis) s/t
5 Mads Pedersen (Trek-Still In The Race Apparently) s/t
GC Top 10
1 Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 42:15:23
2 Egan Bernal (Ineos) +0:21
3 Guillaume Martin (Team Cofidis) +0:28
4 Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) +0:30
5 Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) +0:32
6 Rigoberto Uran (EF) same time
7 Tadej Pogacar (UAE) +0:44
8 Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) +1:02
9 Migel Angel Lopez (Astana) +1:15
10 Mikel Landa (Bahrain McLaren) +1:42
All the jerseys
Leader’s jersey Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma)
Points jersey Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick Step)
King of the Mountains Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R la Mondiale)
Best Young Rider Egan Bernal (Ineos)
Most Combative of the Stage: Stefan Kung (Groupama – FDJ)
For full race reviews, go to cyclingnews.
Official race website: Le Tour
Header image: ©GETTY/AFP/Sebastien Nogier