Although the major climbs won’t occur until later in the week, the peloton still suffered a lot on Monday, during stage 10 of the Tour de France, which took place on the very hilly terrain of the Massif Central. After nearly 4,500 metres of climbing, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet crossed the finish line in 25th place, about seven minutes behind winner Simon Yates, who came from a breakaway that Quentin Pacher followed for a long time. The Groupama-FDJ leader gained two places in the overall standings on July 14th, and will enjoy, like all riders, a much-anticipated rest day tomorrow, after ten consecutive days of racing.
While waiting for the high mountains, a first very big test was on the menu this Monday on the roads of the Tour. From Ennezat to Mont-Dore, 165 kilometres without respite were to be covered through the hills of the Massif Central, with eight classified climbs, including seven of 2nd-category. In total, this tenth stage tallied more than 4300 metres of elevation gain, and it all got serious from the first five kilometres with the Loubeyrat hill. “The goal was to take the breakaway because we knew it had a chance today, but looking at the route, we also knew there would be some big guns in there, and that was the case,” said Stéphane Goubert. After ten kilometres, a first group broke away, including Quentin Pacher, then a handful of riders managed to bridge across to form a twenty-nine-man breakaway, including Simon Yates, Ben O’Connor, Ben Healy, Thymen Arensman, Michael Storer, Lenny Martinez, and many others. “The start of the stage was hard, and then it didn’t ease off in the breakaway,” explained Quentin. “It was an incredibly demanding day, extremely fast. We took a lead of five minutes, but they didn’t give it to us, we had to go and get it!”
“The Tour is only just beginning for the climbers,” Stéphane Goubert
The pace increased so much during a series of three climbs about 100 kilometres from the finish that the breakaway exploded. Less than twenty riders remained at the front, including the rider of the Groupama-FDJ cycling team. The French puncher even managed to follow until the 50-km mark, before cracking at the summit of the Col de Guéry. “Quentin fought well,” Stéphane said. “He managed to get into the breakaway, which already shows he’s got the legs! Then, he did what he could against the top riders who were in front. When he was distanced, there weren’t many guys left, and not many of them were dropped after him. When you look at the stage rankings, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.” “I found myself with an empty tank at one point, and I reached my limit in terms of climbing”, he said. “It’s one of the most demanding Tours de France I’ve ridden, and it’s not about to stop.” Eight riders from the break finally reached the finish line ahead of the peloton, including the day’s winner Simon Yates, also winner of the last Giro, and Ben Healy, the new yellow jersey rider.
Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet was forced to let go the group of favorites when the fight began on the Col de la Croix Robert, with about twelve kilometres to go. He then reached the finish in 25th position, about seven minutes behind the winner and two minutes behind Tadej Pogacar. “It was a very tiring day, as expected, and I really didn’t have good legs; I really suffered all day,” said the Frenchman. “I fought as much as I could, and you have to go through stages like that in the Tour”. “We have to remember that he crashed not so long ago,” Stéphane recalled. “Today, we switched from big to small gears, and it’s always a tricky transition, especially when you’ve crashed. He made it through that stage, and he’s going to get better and better. He had the support of the whole team, whether it was Cyril who went to get bottles in the tricky moments, Clément, who had climbing legs today, and then of course Val and Romain who were there in the end. This allowed him to fight hard until the end. It’s important that he felt that the team was around him. It’s a good sign for the Pyrenees and the Alps, because the Tour is only just beginning for the climbers.”This is how the very rich first part of the Tour came to an end on Monday, after ten stages. The peloton will finally be able to enjoy a rest day tomorrow, before hitting the road around Toulouse again on Wednesday. “Paul and Romain were up there on their terrain at the start of the Tour, and Guillaume will be up there on his terrain too,” concluded Stéphane. “There will also be stages where we can be aggressive, and it will be up to us to seize these opportunities. With the guys we have, and the shape they are in, we keep on going with the stage win goal we set for ourselves at the start.”
