OFFICIAL Stage 10 Results

[Laurens De Jong]

Hello, Tour de France Gamers!

 

STAGE Grade: B

 

I rate today’s stage a B. The scenery, the wilderness of Le Cantal, was fantastic, and that was really the highlight of the stage. There was nothing surprising about Tadej Pogačar winning the race, solo. It doesn’t require tactics to win like that, you don’t have to sprint for it, and it didn’t really change the general classification.

 

Route: 4/5         GC: 2/5             Tactics: 2/5       Sprint: 1/5         Surprises: 2/5

 

 

Learn to read the race. I said it yesterday. Again, after the intermediate sprint, there was an immediate attack for the day’s breakaway. Again it was Mathieu van der Poel. Again, the first attempt to break away failed. Again, van der Poel was part of a large breakaway later on. This time, though, I have no idea why. You know Tadej Pogačar is going to want to win the stage, UAE Team Emirates is never going to give the likes of van der Poel enough of a gap to stay ahead on the final category 1 climb.

 

Richard Carapaz did have a plan, though. He attacked from the group of GC riders, long after the breakaway had been caught. I’m okay with that. Carapaz can absolutely climb a category 1 mountain and if Pogačar hesitates only a little bit, Carapaz has his stage victory.

 

Of course, Pogačar didn’t hesitate. He waited, while going through his domestiques, and even Paul Seixas’ and Jonas Vingegaard’s domestiques. He attacked, later than he often does, but just as decisive. This was all Pogačar power, resistance is futile. Nobody tried to resist. Vingegaard immediately decided to ride his own pace, as too many riders have been destroyed trying to follow Pogačar. You can’t win if you don’t challenge Pogačar, but nobody can challenge Pogačar. Learn to read the race.

 

Another riders whose power blew me away today was Remco Evenepoel. Crashed, down, abandoned by his teammate Florian Lipowitz, he found the strength to race back to the front and eventually sprint for second place.

 

Evenepoel crashed on one of the whitewashed sections of roadway that we’ve been noticing in the 2026 Tour de France. I thought that was painted-over slogans, but I was wrong.

 

I wasn’t wrong about the painting, that does happen. Every morning, a van drives the course of that day’s stage and stops whenever fans have decorated the roadway with phrases or depictions that are too political, offensive, or lewd. The van then stops and a couple of guys come out with paint buckets and brushes. Sometimes they creatively repurpose the drawings, sometimes they just paint over the offensive or political.

 

But that’s not what is happening with these whitewashed sections. On hot days, also ahead of the riders, but after the commercial caravan, there’s a convoy of tankers. When the heat is likely to make the asphalt too soft to race on, they douse it with water and, in some cases, calcium hydroxide. The white mixture keeps the road surface cool, but Evenepoel and others are convinced it’s causing crashes.

 

Maybe it does, maybe it prevents crashes. Either way, all this preparation for each stage is just another mind-blowing example of how much work it is to be the race director for the biggest sporting even in the world.

 

Two riders were assigned to help Tim Merlier beat the time limit today. Pascal Eenkhoorn and Dylan van Baarle. Van Baarle is our focus rider, thanks to Team Senna#, the only participant in our dog-based category. (Generative AI picked AAVC team mascot Senna’s riders who are known to have dogs.)

 

Van Baarle has posted pictures on Instagram of his wife, Tour de France Femmes champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, and their dog Kumo. I think Kumo is a Bichon Frise or a very close relative in the “small white fluffy companion dog” family.

 

Merlier was dropped from the peloton almost immediately, before the intermediate sprint even. He couldn’t know it at the time, but the time limit was set at 45 minutes, 15 seconds. I like to wait to see if the riders beat the time limit, it’s another race inside the race. We rarely see that struggle. It’s usually, but not always, a calculated affair. They ride as slowly as possible, with a five-minute margin in case you have a mechanical.

 

Merlier and his grupetto were never in danger. They finished 168^th and so on, almost 42 minutes behind. You can read it in the results, and you’ll notice that other sprinters like Max Kanter were ahead by a minute, and Søren Wærenskjold was behind a few seconds. We didn’t get to see it, the TV coverage finished a few minutes too early, but I can guarantee that all the sprinters were in the same grupetto. A kilometer, two kilometers from the finish, some of them are saying “enough already, I know I’ll make the time limit” and lose a few more minutes, or seconds.

 

Eenkhoorn, Merlier, and van Baarle thus saved a few microcalories that they will need on Wednesday, when another bunch sprint finish beckons.

 

Watch the final kilometer HERE.

Watch the FloBikes highlights HERE.

Watch NBC Sports’ Extended highlights HERE.

Read the TNT Sports report HERE.

 

Spoiler alert: there are no changes in the standings today.

 

The points scoring table looked a lot like the overall standings today. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer.

 

Nobody is richer than Team Ansel right now. Most points from the stage, most overall, most riders in the Top-25 (eleven), and they are even taking command of the classifications now: Mattias Skjelmose overtook Lenny Martinez in the general classification, further advantage Team Ansel.

 

Team Tadej finished a second, at distance, and Team Hugo third, about the same distance. Team Josh came right behind in fourth, then a further gap to Team Oliver in sixth and Team Caleb and Team Matthew who went back to sharing seventh place.

 

Team Wesley finished ninth and Team Amalia tenth. Those who missed the boat today were Team Grace and Team Cameron.

 

Stage 11 will be a bunch sprint. There’s no wind, it’s flat, and the final kilometers are more or less straight. The sprint teams will keep the inevitable breakaway in sight and then pounce like they always do. I’ve given up on Girmay and Philipsen — although both have looked strong in intermediate sprints. If Tim Merlier sprints like he did on Sunday then nobody can beat him. Olav Kooij has a chance, but he needs something to go wrong for Merlier.

 

Standings after stage 10:

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Ansel*	2420	1	0
2	Team Tadej*	2394	2	0
3	Team Josh*	2354	3	0
4	Team Hugo*	2168	4	0
5	Team Charles*	2044	5	0
6	Team Caleb*	1973	6	0
7	Team Matthew*	1912	7	0
8	Team Oliver*	1753	8	0
9	Team Amalia*	1708	9	0
10	Team Wesley*	1233	10	0
11	Team Grace*	907	11	0
12	Team Cameron*	700	12	0

 

Standings after stage 10 (including dogs and adults):

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Ansel*	2420	1	0
2	Team Tadej*	2394	2	0
3	Team Kent	2367	4	1
4	Team Josh*	2354	3	-1
5	Team Amelia	2338	5	0
6	Team Kari	2334	6	0
7	Team Melanie	2278	7	0
8	Team Rob	2237	8	0
9	Team Eric	2222	9	0
10	Team Jon	2188	10	0
11	Team Hugo*	2168	11	0
12	Team Craig	2148	12	0
13	Team Kurt	2130	13	0
14	Team Julie	2115	14	0
15	Team Jonwaine	2094	17	2
16	Team Ed	2049	16	0
17	Team Charles*	2044	15	-2
18	Team Laurens	2014	19	1
19	Team Caleb*	1973	18	-1
20	Team Corsa	1964	20	0
21	Team Matthew*	1912	21	0
22	Team Ambrose	1878	22	0
23	Team Kate	1836	23	0
24	Team Grace	1794	24	0
25	Team Jonathan	1765	28	3
26	Team Ellie	1757	25	-1
27	Team Oliver*	1753	26	-1
28	Team Adam	1709	27	-1
29	Team Amalia*	1708	28	-1
30	Team Charlotte	1705	31	1
31	Team Cameron	1701	30	-1
32	Team Erin	1566	33	1
	Team Suzanne	1566	32	0
34	Team Furner	1504	36	2
35	Team Allison	1501	34	-1
36	Team Lichterman	1457	35	-1
37	Team Wesley	1443	37	0
38	Team Senna#	1277	38	0
39	Team Izzy	1235	39	0
40	Team Wesley*	1233	40	0
41	Team Valerie	979	41	0
42	Team Grace*	907	42	0
43	Team Cameron*	700	43	0
44	Team Sam	691	44	0

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 10:

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	YELLOW JERSEY	GREEN JERSEY	POLKA DOT JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Amalia*	143	36	5	9	11	61	204	1504	1708
Team Ansel*	228	53	14	10	15	92	320	2100	2420
Team Caleb*	169	43	10	10	14	77	246	1727	1973
Team Cameron*	56	12	1	5	5	23	79	621	700
Team Charles*	169	43	14	10	14	81	250	1794	2044
Team Grace*	85	20	2	9	5	36	121	786	907
Team Hugo*	197	49	10	13	15	89	286	1882	2168
Team Josh*	191	50	14	10	15	89	280	2074	2354
Team Matthew*	169	43	10	10	14	77	246	1666	1912
Team Oliver*	167	43	14	11	12	80	247	1506	1753
Team Tadej*	215	52	14	10	15	91	306	2088	2394
Team Wesley*	153	36	0	6	14	56	209	1024	1233

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 10 (including dogs and adults):

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	YELLOW JERSEY	GREEN JERSEY	POLKA DOT JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Adam	137	37	9	12	9	67	204	1505	1709
Team Allison	132	32	9	8	9	60	192	1309	1501
Team Amalia*	143	36	5	9	11	61	204	1504	1708
Team Ambrose	145	38	14	10	12	74	219	1659	1878
Team Amelia	232	54	10	10	15	89	321	2017	2338
Team Ansel*	228	53	14	10	15	92	320	2100	2420
Team Caleb*	169	43	10	10	14	77	246	1727	1973
Team Cameron	155	38	7	12	9	66	221	1480	1701
Team Cameron*	56	12	1	5	5	23	79	621	700
Team Charles*	169	43	14	10	14	81	250	1794	2044
Team Charlotte	170	37	5	15	10	69	239	1466	1705
Team Corsa	174	49	11	10	15	85	259	1705	1964
Team Craig	185	49	14	12	15	90	275	1873	2148
Team Ed	178	43	14	10	14	81	259	1790	2049
Team Ellie	148	38	11	12	10	73	221	1536	1757
Team Eric	206	50	14	15	15	96	302	1920	2222
Team Erin	167	36	4	13	12	67	234	1332	1566
Team Furner	166	37	2	13	9	63	229	1275	1504
Team Grace	156	39	11	12	10	74	230	1564	1794
Team Grace*	85	20	2	9	5	36	121	786	907
Team Hugo*	197	49	10	13	15	89	286	1882	2168
Team Izzy	96	23	7	12	5	49	145	1090	1235
Team Jon	199	51	14	10	15	90	289	1899	2188
Team Jonathan	193	47	0	9	12	68	261	1504	1765
Team Jonwaine	248	55	3	13	15	88	336	1758	2094
Team Josh*	191	50	14	10	15	89	280	2074	2354
Team Julie	182	45	14	13	13	87	269	1846	2115
Team Kari	222	52	14	13	15	96	318	2016	2334
Team Kate	162	40	14	12	12	80	242	1594	1836
Team Kent	222	52	14	13	15	96	318	2049	2367
Team Kurt	179	42	14	15	12	85	264	1866	2130
Team Laurens	209	52	5	13	15	87	296	1718	2014
Team Lichterman	118	30	11	10	8	59	177	1280	1457
Team Matthew*	169	43	10	10	14	77	246	1666	1912
Team Melanie	189	49	14	13	15	93	282	1996	2278
Team Oliver*	167	43	14	11	12	80	247	1506	1753
Team Rob	211	53	14	10	15	92	303	1934	2237
Team Sam	68	16	0	6	8	30	98	593	691
Team Senna#	110	28	7	9	9	53	163	1114	1277
Team Suzanne	157	38	4	10	12	64	221	1345	1566
Team Tadej*	215	52	14	10	15	91	306	2088	2394
Team Valerie	54	19	7	9	5	40	94	885	979
Team Wesley	120	30	7	9	9	55	175	1268	1443
Team Wesley*	153	36	0	6	14	56	209	1024	1233

 

Allez le Tour!

 

-Laurens.