'It can cause chaos' – Pogacar and Vingegaard face Tour's toughest day so far
It's not a full-blown mountain stage, but it will certainly do until the high mountains get here. Stage 10 of the Tour de France features some 4,300m of climbing in just 165km. Just about anything is possible
Stage 10 of the Tour de France promises to be the most demanding of the race so far, with no fewer than eight classified climbs on the road to Le Mont-Dore. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team-Emirates) sets out in the yellow jersey but there is considerable expectation that Jonas Vingegaard and his Visma | Lease a Bike squad have planned a grand offensive for the Tour’s entry into the Massif Central.
Speaking at the start in Ennezat, Vingegaard was typically coy about the prospect.
“The whole Tour is cooking about today. It’s the national day of France, everyone wants to be on the front,” Vingegaard told Eurosport, adding that he hadn’t warmed up on the rollers before the start.
“It will be a very hard stage. My plan is to spin the legs in the neutral start. I saw some guys on the rollers and that says enough.”
Vingegaard also confirmed that he was familiar with the terrain ahead. “I know the climbs pretty well. It will be a very hard day, up and down all day, with basically no flat metres.”
Vingegaard’s teammate Tiesj Benoot placed a little more emphasis on the importance of stage 10 when he spoke to Sporza before the start.
“We’ve stuck to our tactics and our plan every day and hopefully we will do the same today,” Benoot said. “For guys like Sepp Kuss and Simon Yates, the Tour really begins today. This is a stage with many possibilities.”
Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL) spoke for many when he pointed to the unpredictable nature of the parcours. Any one of the day’s climbs could be a springboard for a grand offensive.
“There’s specific climb where you can say that’s where the racing will start,” Only said. “If a team like Visma really want to light it up, it can cause a lot of chaos.”
Pogačar will set out without key domestique João Almeida, but he expressed confidence in his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad’s ability to control what might prove to be a most unruly stage.
“We will see. We can decide after a few climbs and see if we are riding strong or not,” Pogačar told Eurosport. “Today we need to stick as a team, and we need to recalculate after the first few climbs. I think we are ready for today.”
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) lies second overall after the opening week. While he acknowledged the challenge of the Tour’s first real day of climbing, which features more than 4,000m of altitude gain, he noted that there are more arduous – and decisive – stages still to come.
“I'm going into it with an open mind. I have to be ready for all scenarios and tactics. It will be an important day, but to be honest, I have no idea what to expect,” Evenepoel told Sporza.
“I have to be ready for anything and I'm ready to show the best version of myself, but I don't think the Tour will be decided today.”
