Tour de France

Stage 10: Chambéry to Gap, 179km/111mi

By Cathy Mehl

It was Bastille Day in France and the French riders tried in vain to earn a stage victory.  But today’s celebration came from Team RadioShack’s Portuguese rider Sérgio Paulinho who broke away from a day-long break with 15km to go and raced into Gap with Vasili Kiryienka (Caisse d’Epargne) in a head-to--head battle that put Paulinho on top.  Sharing the pace making all the way to Gap, Paulinho and Kiryienka kept up their cooperation until the final kilometer.   Paulinho slipped in behind Kiryienka and marked his man, swinging around at the last possible moment to outsprint the Belarusian and take his first stage victory in his third start of the Tour de France by half a wheel length.  It was a well-judged sprint for Paulinho who used his years of racing experience and clear thinking to secure the win.  A quick thumb-suck salute to his baby made for a perfect day for Paulinho and plenty of cause to celebrate in the Team RadioShack camp.  

There was no change in the overall with Andy Schleck of Saxo Bank still holding 41-seconds to Astana’s Alberto Contador.

Speaking of bad luck stalking the team prior to today’s victory, Paulinho concluded, “This victory is very important.  Today is the first victory in the Tour 2010.  I think tonight is a good party.  The mission for the team was to pay attention to all the breaks with the Teams classification in mind,” said a joyous Paulinho. Team RadioShack sit just behind Caisse d’Epargne in the Team classification.

After 36km of racing a group of four riders established the break of the day.  Included in the original foursome were 2004 Olympic silver medalist Paulinho, Mario Aerts (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Dries Devenyns (QuickStep) and Kiryienka  in his first Tour.  Frenchmen Maxime Bouet (Ag2r) and Pierre Rolland (Bbox) bridged across a two-minute gap to make the front group six men strong.   The group built a massive time advantage of 12 minutes while the main field turned off the gas and let them have their day in the sun – blazing hot sun with temperatures near 100F.

The gap held and the six riders tackled the only major obstacle on the stage, the category 2 climb of Col du Noyer.  Bouet lost contact on the climb but was able to get back on during the tricky descent.  The peloton was a full 6km and almost 12-minutes behind. As the main field approached  the top, Christophe Moreau (Caisse d’Epargne) went away with Yaroslav Popovych quick to mark him as The Shack and the Spanish team battle for the Teams classification.  An early crash had  Popo going down hard on the pavement and showing  signs of discomfort when he remounted his bike, but he was able to continue with the race and cover the move when the team needed him.

The descent was narrow and twisting with a severe drop-off to the right side but Saxo Bank led the group down at a slow pace.  At 15km to go Aerts attacked with Paulinho on the wheel, a move that unhinged Bouet for the final time.   Next Devenyns opened up a gap and the group split apart for good this time, with Paulinho in good position just off the pace.  Riding across to the Belgian rider and then straight by him, Sergio kept to his task, eventually joined by Kiryienka, and the duo built a solid gap to their former companions of more than 47-seconds at 5km to go.   Under the red kite the duo split strategies for the first time with Paulinho clever enough to take the following position and time his sprint to perfection, coming around Kiryienka at the last moment to claim the victory.

It was the first full day in yellow for 25-year old Andy Schleck, fulfilling a life-time dream to wear the maillot jaune in the biggest race in the world.  Team Saxo Bank had to do only a limited amount of controlling today but have had the yellow jersey for all but three days in this year’s Tour, which means a lot of work and pressure for the team riders.  Meanwhile Schleck’s closest rival and defending champion Alberto Contador has used his Astana team in two mountain stages and kept a low profile as often as possible.  What difference this makes when the Tour enters the Pyrenees on Sunday remains to be seen.

Thursday brings stage 11 as the Tour leave the Alps and has a few days of rolling respite before entering the Pyrenees on Sunday.  The 184.5km route travels from Sisteron to Bourg-Les-Valence with a long downhill and flat run to the line, a perfect day for the sprinters.

Beyond the Finish Line:  Today is Bastille Day, a national French holiday.  The holiday commemorates the storming of the Bastille fortress-prison and is celebrated with parades and fireworks.  A huge fireworks show is put on each year at Carcassonne.  If, as an oblivious tourist, you don’t pay attention to the date and swing by to visit the restored medieval town on Bastille Day, you will find yourself caught up in a massive traffic jam and never even get near the city gates….like I did on my way to the Tour in 2005.   

Top Ten Results

1              Sergio Paulinho (Por) Team Radioshack                 5:10:56                   

2              Vasili Kiryienka (Blr) Caisse d'Epargne                      

3              Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick Step               0:01:29  

4              Pierre Rolland (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom                       

5              Mario Aerts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto                 0:01:33  

6              Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale                 0:03:20  

7              Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale      0:12:58  

8              Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne       0:13:57  

9              Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team HTC - Columbia       0:14:19  

10            Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini

Team RadioShack on Stage 10

23           Levi Leipheimer (USA)

37           Jani Brajkovic (Slo)

41           Gregory Rast (Swi)

66           Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr)

84           Andreas Klöden (Ger)

109         Christopher Horner (USA)

130         Lance Armstrong (USA) 0:15:47

132         Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz)

General Classification after Stage 10

1              Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank        49:00:56                

2              Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana                 0:00:41  

3              Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi          0:02:45  

4              Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank               0:02:58  

5              Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto          0:03:31  

6              Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team Radioshack               0:03:59  

7              Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank                 0:04:22  

8              Luis León Sánchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne       0:04:41  

9              Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:05:08  

10           Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo                 0:05:09

Team RadioShack on General Classification

20           Andreas Klöden (Ger)  0:09:05 

25           Christopher Horner (USA)   0:11:06

31           Lance Armstrong (USA)   0:17:22              

35           Jani Brajkovic (Slo)   0:21:43

54           Sergio Paulinho (Por)   0:41:51   

70           Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr)   0:53:14

134         Gregory Rast (Swi)   1:27:04 

177         Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz)   1:55:00