On a fast and furious stage of the Tour de France, where the racing belied the hot conditions and challenging parkour, Tadej Pogačar showed his dominance on the final category 1 climb, taking a commanding lead and getting revenge for his loss to Jonas Vingegaard in Le Lioran two years ago.
Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) was seen to be suffering big time on the final climb, fighting for his GC position, but he pulled off an miraculous recovery to launch the sprint for second place, which he won. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) secured an impressive third place, which will taste especially sweet for the French prodigy and his legions of fans on Bastille Day.
Jonas Vingegaard finished seventh – he keeps second spot in the general classification but the time gap is growing and he is now 3 minutes and 36 seconds behind the UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider.
"Today was an incredible day," Pogačar said in the interview immediately after the stage finish. "The team did a super good job. We targeted this stage since a long time ago. It also happens that two years ago Jonas beat me in the sprint fair and square. And today I had similar legs at the finish – completely destroyed.
"I didn't know I was going to win until the final kilometre. Then I remember it is Bastille Day and I tried to honour the yellow jersey. Thanks to all the fans that came today. It was a fantastic atmosphere, even though there was some booing. To all the guys who were booing - you give us more power!
"We were trying new radios, and when there was too much public [noise] I don't hear nothing in the radio. For th last 10km I didn't know what was the gap, who is doing what - all I had in my mind was try to keep pushing to the top. We also did a recon trip yesterday - there was a a little bit of doubt in my head, since two years ago, Jonas came - and then I was empty in the sprint, so I had this in my head until the final few hundred metres."
There are always fireworks in France on Bastille Day, but today the scene was set for a properly explosive show, with Pogačar looking to exorcise the ghosts of 2024, when he was defeated on this stage by Jonas Vingegaard, who beat him across the finish line in Le Lioran in a two-man sprint. Although he denied it, the Slovenian was very clearly out for revenge, and the race pace was fast all day, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG always in control.
While this wasn’t a mountain stage, the 166km route had a proper sharks-teeth profile, and plenty of bite, with seven classified climbs, including two category one ascents. Across the whole day riders had to contend with almost 4000 metres of ascent, with nearly 3000 metres of that coming in the last 100km.
There were several crashes during the day, as the peloton wounds its way around some narrow roads. The first took down Brit Jake Stewart (NSN Cycling Team), Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Intermarché), Kamil Gradek (Bahrain - Victorious) and Alex Kirsch (Cofidis), while the second involved Robbe Dhondt (Team Picnic PostNL).
Pinarello Q36.5 riders Tom Pidcock and Chris Harper suffered a spill on the descent after Puy Mary, but Pidcock in particular quickly got back on his bike and rejoined the chasing pack.
A large break formed early in the day, but it fell apart when riders failed to work together, and it was left to Ben Healy (EF Education - EasyPost) to try and get something more positive going. Javier Romo (Movistar) used this as a springboard to launch a more positive attack, but he was eventually caught by the pack on the lower slopes of category-one Puy Mary, with 38km to go.
Richard Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost) took up the baton and launched a valiant attack, which came to an end when Pogačar put the hammer down with 15km to go, leaving Vingegaard in his wake and flying past the Ecuadorian just before the top of Col de Pertus. Pogačar's wingman and apprentice Del Toro seemed to be suffering for the first time in this tour, and the yellow-jersey wearing Slovenian was flying solo.
With a 41-second lead with 1km to go, Pogačar was able to descend without taking risks, and it was a comfortable finish for Pogačar, who made his third Bastille Day victory look pretty easy in the end.
Results
Tour de France 2026 stage 10: Aurillac > Le Lorian (166.6km)
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 3:58:08
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +32s
3. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +34s
4. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, at s.t.
5. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +38s
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, at s.t.
7. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +44s
8. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:31
9. Tom Pidcock (Gbr) Pinarello Q36.5, +1:59
10. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +2:03
Tour de France 2026 general classification after stage 10
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 36:15:02
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +3:36
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Redu Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:06
4. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +4:22
5. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +4:35
6. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:44
7. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +5:08
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+5:45
9. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +6:34
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +11:49
