Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finally claimed victory in this year’s Tour de France when he won the 10th stage with a textbook sprint in Saint-Amand-Montrond.
Philipsen, who won four stages on the world’s biggest race last year, benefited from a perfect lead-out by his teammate and world champion Mathieu van der Poel to prevail after 187.3km from Orléans.
Eritrean Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), who has already won two stages in this edition, took second place with German Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) coming home third.
Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey, 33 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step).
Philipsen claims victory on stage 10: as it happened
05:17 PM BST
Philipsen on the podium
05:13 PM BST
Top 10 in general classification after stage 10
No changes to the top 10 but here are the standings:
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Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 40hrs 02mins 48secs
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Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) +33secs
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Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1min 15secs
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Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +1mins 36secs
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Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +2mins 16secs
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Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +2mins 17secs
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Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +2mins 31secs
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Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick Step) +3mins 35secs
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Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +4mins 2secs
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Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +4mins 3secs
05:11 PM BST
Alpecin-Deceuninck celebrate their first victory at 2024 Tour
05:08 PM BST
Philipsen gets his win
Having won four stages a year ago, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider has had to wait until stage 10 to claim a victory this year.
05:06 PM BST
The thoughts of stage winner Jasper Philipsen
05:02 PM BST
Top 10 on stage 10
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Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 4hrs 20mins 06secs
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Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) Same time
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Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) “
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Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) “
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Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) “
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Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) “
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John Degenkolb (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) “
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Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) “
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Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) “
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Axel Zingle (Cofidis) “
04:59 PM BST
Celebration time for Alpecin-Deceuninck
04:57 PM BST
Top five in the points classification
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Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) 267pts
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Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 193
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Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) 107
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Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) 101
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Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) 100
04:52 PM BST
The final kilometre
Enjoy!
04:50 PM BST
The winning moment
04:48 PM BST
Top five across the line
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Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
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Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty)
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Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech)
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Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike)
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Fernando Gaviria (Movistar)
04:44 PM BST
Philipsen wins
Mathieu van der Poel gives Jasper Philipsen a good leadout and the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider who won four stages last year secures his first victory at this year’s Tour. Girmay comes home in second and Ackermann in third.
04:44 PM BST
500m to go
Cavendish is nowhere to be seen. This is going to be between Philipsen, Girmay, Gaviria and van Aert.
04:43 PM BST
1km to go
Under the flamme rouge we go and all the big hitters are there.
04:43 PM BST
1.5km to go
Astana Qazaqstan hit the front but Cavendish is further back.
04:43 PM BST
2km to go
Girmay is on the wheel of Philipsen with De Lie on Girmay’s wheel.
04:42 PM BST
3km to go
Cavendish has dropped back a bit but is in a similar position to the likes of Girmay and Philipsen.
04:41 PM BST
4km to go
Traffic islands are causing an issue for the riders with Philipsen dropping back a little. We hit the safe zone for all the GC riders.
04:40 PM BST
5km to go
Cavendish is well positioned near the front with three teammates in front of him.
04:39 PM BST
6km to go
We have got over the little uncategorised climb and now on a descent so the speed is very high.
04:37 PM BST
8km to go
The whole peloton is bunched up together as we hit 8km to go. The likes of Philipsen and De Lie are trying to make their way towards the front.
04:35 PM BST
9km to go
We have a small climb that should not be an issue for the sprinters but you never know what might happen.
04:34 PM BST
10km to go
We are now within 10km of the finish. The general classification teams are keeping their leaders safe at the front and the leadout trains for the sprinters are beginning to form.
04:31 PM BST
13km to go
Astana Qazaqstan Sport Director Mark Renshaw has told his team to move up to the front.
04:27 PM BST
15km to go
04:23 PM BST
18km to go
Currently on the front we have Visma-Lease a Bike, Team UAE Emirates, Lidl-Trek, Israel-Premier Tech and Ineos Grenadiers and Soudal-Quick Step. Those are mostly general classification teams looking after their leaders.
04:20 PM BST
20km to go
We are inside the final 20km on stage 10. Who will come out on top? Will anyone try an audacious one-man attack?
04:14 PM BST
24km to go
De Lie has made it easily back into the peloton.
04:12 PM BST
26km to go
In the final stages of today’s stage we have three changes of direction so positioning will be pretty important for the sprinter leadouts.
Meanwhile one of the sprinters in contention for the victory, Arnaud De Lie, just had a mechanical so is making his way back into the peloton, which should not be an issue.
04:07 PM BST
29km to go
04:04 PM BST
32km to go
We have had four bunch sprint finishes so far:
Stage three into Turin- Biniam Girmay
Stage five into Saint Vulbas- Mark Cavendish
Stage six into Dijon- Dylan Groenewegen
Stage eight into Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises- Biniam Girmay
03:57 PM BST
38km to go
Things have massively settled down from where they were 15-20km ago. The pace has dropped to around 40km/h and it is an almost guaranteed bunch sprint finish now.
03:50 PM BST
42km to go
Here is a snippet from our feature on Mark Cavendish which you can find here, where you can read about Cavendish’s win into Saint-Amand-Montrond in 2013:
“The vast majority of his wins have been a result of a lead-out train – his HTC-Highroad squad perfected the art – but Cavendish is a natural-born racer who has the ability to find gaps when most cannot see them, and opportunities when others do not. During the wind-battered 13th stage of the 2013 Tour, Cavendish spotted a chance and went for it. While his sprint rivals were caught out by echelons, Cavendish went toe-to-toe with Peter Sagan before pulling off what was, perhaps, the most impressive win of his career – a victory a seasoned classics rider would be proud of.”
03:45 PM BST
46km to go
Some interesting costumes on show:
03:41 PM BST
50km to go
We have under 50km left on today’s stage and it looks like we are all set for a sprint finish in Saint-Amand-Montrond. Remember Mark Cavendish won the stage the last time the Tour finished there.
03:33 PM BST
56km to go
We have hit the exposed roads but with the winds not being too strong will the peloton break up?
It is looking unlikely as the pace has settled down.
03:31 PM BST
58km to go
Visma-Lease a Bike hit the front of the peloton as it is being strung out.
03:29 PM BST
60km to go
There is plenty of road furniture as we hit Issoudun which is only going to increase the tension in the peloton. It had been calm for so long but it is the complete opposite at the moment.
03:26 PM BST
62km to go
The pace is ramped up even further as Astana Qazaqstan and Ineos Grenadiers accelerate as we hit a roundabout and change direction.
03:24 PM BST
63km to go
Cavendish has four of his Astana Qazaqstan teammates lined up in front of him on the left-hand side of the road. Ineos Grenadiers and UAE Team Emirates are in the middle with Visma-Lease a Bike on the right. Our yellow jersey man Tadej Pogacar is situated in the middle of the road, around three or four rows back. The Lidl-Trek riders are being told over team radio that the peloton is going to be nervous.
03:22 PM BST
65km to go
The pace has certainly ramped up to just over 50km/h. We have a direction change coming up and the peloton is a lot more serious now than it was a couple of hours ago.
03:16 PM BST
70km to go
Meanwhile in Italy…
New Zealand joins the Giro d’Italia Women roll of honour thanks to Niamh Fisher-Black, who took advantage of Team SD Worx – Protime’s numerical superiority in Toano to claim her second win of the season. Fisher-Black answered an attack launched by Mavi Garcia with 2km to go. The New Zealander counterattacked on the toughest part of the final climb, the last 1000 metres with double-digit gradients, leaving Garcia behind and winning by 6 seconds over a trio made up of her team-mate and new Maglia Rossa Lotte Kopecky, Juliette Labous, and the Maglia Rosa Elisa Longo Borghini. In the general classification Kopecky (13”) and Labous (25”) moved up to second and third place respectively, with the top 5 completed by the Maglia Bianca Niedermayer (59”) and the winner of the day, and new Maglia Azzurra, Fisher-Black (1’00”).
03:10 PM BST
75km to go
03:05 PM BST
78km to go
The man in the green jersey, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), has just stopped for a change to his back wheel.
03:02 PM BST
80km to go
The Astana Qazaqstan riders have been warned about the wind over their team radio and told to get themselves into a good position. That is why they are at the front of the peloton. The last time we finished in Saint-Amand-Montrond at the Tour, Mark Cavendish won and the stage got significantly impacted by crosswinds that day.
02:55 PM BST
85km to go
The roads ahead will be more exposed so crosswinds could prove problematic for the peloton.
02:49 PM BST
90km to go
We have had some changeable conditions so far. We had rain earlier but now the peloton is riding in beautiful sunshine. Remember we heard over the Lidl-Trek team radio that the longer they take to get to the finish the wetter they will get. Thunderstorms are forecast for later.
02:40 PM BST
96km to go
Darth Vader out supporting the Tour:
02:37 PM BST
100km to go
The pace is just starting to step up as teams jostle for position at the front of the peloton with the threat of crosswinds coming up. You do not want to be near the back and get caught out by those winds.
We have just dipped below the 100km-to-go mark.
02:27 PM BST
106km to go
Today is not expected to have an impact on the general classification but with crosswinds expected later in the stage, who knows! We can now hear from the man in yellow, Tadej Pogacar, ahead of today’s stage:
02:18 PM BST
112km to go
A perfect picture to sum up the Tour de France:
02:11 PM BST
117km to go
Here is the updated points classification after that intermediate sprint:
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Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) 237pts
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Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck) 143
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Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) 107
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Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) 101
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Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) 98
02:04 PM BST
121km to go
Goossens is back with the peloton, which is now the front of the race. The roads are pretty wet!
02:04 PM BST
122km to go
Here is the top five at the intermediate sprint:
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Kobe Goossens (Intermarché-Wanty), 20pts
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Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Dstny), 17
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Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), 15
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Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), 13
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Fernando Gaviria (Movistar), 11
02:03 PM BST
123km to go
Jonas Vingegaard had to use Jan Tratnik’s bike for a significant portion of stage nine on Sunday and he has had to change a wheel on his bike but nothing to panic about.
🛠️ Mechanical problem for 🇩🇰 Jonas Vingegaard. Not to worry, he’s on the way back to the peloton.
🛠️ Problème mécanique pour 🇩🇰 Jonas Vingegaard. Mais il reprend tranquillement sa place dans le peloton.#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/NLvyZwqLXz
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 9, 2024
Goossens has sat up and about to come back to the peloton.
01:54 PM BST
127km to go
Goossens has left Vanhoucke behind and gone off on his own. Vanhoucke has dropped back now to the peloton.
Goossens was presumably being used by Intermarché-Wanty to take points of Biniam Girmay’s rivals for the green jersey.
01:53 PM BST
128km to go
The front duo hit the intermediate sprint first so the maximum 20 points and 17 for second are gone.
The peloton catch the second group before they hit the intermediate sprint. We nearly have a crash as we come towards the sprint line as Philipsen was looking over his shoulder. He looked over his left and did not know that Girmay was on his right. Girmay was so, so close to hitting the barriers as Philipsen did not know he was there. The Belgian has developed a reputation when it comes to these sprints. Philipsen comes across the line third overall.
01:48 PM BST
132km to go
We are coming to the intermediate sprint at Romorantin-Lanthenay but the big points will not available to the peloton. It looks like the maximum for anyone in the peloton will be 10 points.
01:45 PM BST
135km to go
The front duo of Goossens and Vanhoucke have a 25-second lead over Madouas, Geniets and Van Gils. It is then another 50 seconds back to the peloton.
01:41 PM BST
138km to go
Now we have two Groupama-FDJ riders attack; Valentin Madouas and Kevin Geniets. Maxim Van Gils had dropped back a little from the front two but accelerates again when he seems the Groupama-FDJ duo coming through.
01:38 PM BST
140km to go
We have an attack! Two riders from Lotto Dstny, Maxim Van Gils and Harm Vanhoucke, and one from Intermarché-Wanty, Kobe Goossens, have accelerated out of the front of the peloton.
01:36 PM BST
143km to go
The Lidl-Trek team have been told over their team radio that the later the stage finishes the wetter it will be as thunderstorms are coming.
We have around 10km until the intermediate sprint at Romorantin-Lanthenay.
01:31 PM BST
145km to go
A special milestone for Geraint Thomas today:
01:27 PM BST
148km to go
More news! During the rest day Michael Morkov (Astana Qazaqstan) announced that he will retire at the end of this season. Morkov will be representing Denmark at the Olympics on the road and on the track.
01:20 PM BST
153km to go
We have Olympics news! Nations have been announcing their teams for the Olympic Road Race. Julian Alaphilippe has been named in the French team alongside Kevin Vauquelin, who won stage two, Valentin Madouas and Christophe Laporte. Vauquelin will also compete in the individual time trial as France’s sole entrant.
Spain have also announced their team which includes Juan Ayuso, Oier Lazkano and and Alex Aranburu. Ayuso will also compete in the individual time trial.
01:12 PM BST
159km to go
We spoke about storms later in the stage but rain is already falling. It could be a little on and off.
01:06 PM BST
162km to go
Things are very steady in the peloton with no attacks so far. There is a risk of storms towards the end of the stage and we could have crosswinds later so it could very much be a case of the calm before the storm.
12:58 PM BST
167km to go
Biniam Grimay (Intermarché-Wanty) became the first black African to win a stage at the Tour on stage three in Turin but then made it two stage victories in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises on stage eight. He currently holds the green jersey (points classification) and here he is speaking ahead of today’s stage:
12:50 PM BST
172km to go
Today’s stage should not have an impact on the general classification but here is the top five:
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Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 35hrs 42mins 42secs
-
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) +33secs
-
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1min 15secs
-
Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +1min 36secs
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Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +2min 16secs
12:42 PM BST
177km to go
Here is how the top five in the points classification (green jersey) looks after stage nine:
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Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) 224pts
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Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 128
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Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) 107
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Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) 96
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Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) 92
We do have an intermediate sprint at Romorantin-Lanthenay with 130km left, which is in around 55km time.
12:35 PM BST
181km to go
Amidst the chaos of the gravel sections on stage nine on Sunday, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) had to ride a significant portion of the stage on his teammate Jan Tratnik’s bike. Vingegaard will be back on his own bike today!
12:31 PM BST
184km to go
The last time a Tour stage finished in Saint-Amand-Montrond, Mark Cavendish was victorious back in 2013. Here he is speaking ahead of today’s stage:
“In those days it was just left to us (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) to control it for a bunch sprint. There was a little bit of wind, so we thought, ‘go’, we hadn’t planned it or anything”
Mark Cavendish remembers his stage win in Saint-Amand-Montrond in 2013 🇮🇲🚀#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/yjWi87WoGo
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 9, 2024
12:24 PM BST
Flag drops
We hit kilometre zero and off we go on stage 10!
No sign of anyone interested yet in forming a breakaway. A quiet start to stage 10.
12:20 PM BST
Stage 10 profile
12:17 PM BST
Stage 10 preview
Good afternoon and welcome to stage 10 of the 2024 Tour de France. We are coming off the first rest day of the 2024 Tour and it felt like everyone needed it. Before the rest day Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) claimed victory on stage nine on a dramatic day over 14 gravel sections to make it three French victories at the Tour this year. Turgis pipped Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) at the line as the riders had to negotiate all those gravel sections. Despite worrying moments for a few of the general classification contenders, all of them came in together with the same time.
Today is set to be a day for the sprinters as we have a 187.3km flat stage from Orléans to Saint-Amand-Montrond. Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) has one stage victory to his name, the historic 35th on stage five, whilst Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) already has two. He is currently in possession of the green jersey (points classification) and has a near 100-point advantage over Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who won four stages at the Tour last year but has yet to win a stage so far this year. Others to look our for include Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla).
Today should not have any ramifications on the general classification, where Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) has a 33-second lead over Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) and a one minute and 15 second-advantage over Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Could Cavendish make it 36 stage victories today? Will Philipsen secure his first at this year’s Tour? Can Girmay continue his strong form with stage victory number three? All those questions will be answered in the next few hours. Stay with us for all the action from stage 10.
Source Agencies