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2015 Tour de France Stage 10: Froome takes control on first mountain stage

Race leader Chris Froome (Great Britain/Sky) stamped his authority over the 2015 Tour de France by whipping his rivals on Tuesday's first mountain stage to take the win and the King of the Mountains lead.

July 14, 2015
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Race leader Chris Froome (Great Britain/Sky) stamped his authority over the 2015 Tour de France by whipping his rivals on Tuesday’s first mountain stage to take the win and the King of the Mountains lead. Froome finished almost a minute ahead of teammate Richie Porte (Australia).

Since it was Bastille Day, Pierrick Fedrigo (Bretagne-Séché), a old French campaigner who won on the national holiday in 2009, bolted early and it took Kenneth Van Bilsen (Belgium/Cofidis) more than 10-km to catch up and make the escape a duo. The pair pulled out a maximum gap of 13:30 and Van Bilsen was first over two early Cat. 4 climbs.

FDJ and Movistar worked at the front of the peloton while one of the French GC favourites, Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin), crashed and had to be brought back to the bunch.

The intermediate sprint with 43-km to go saw Fedrigo–“the Nose of Marmande”–first over the line, with the peloton still 8:30 back. When the bunch arrived in Trois-Villes for the sprint, it was Andre Greipel (Germany/Lotto-Soudal) taking the third most points to wrest back the green jersey from Peter Sagan (Slovakia/Tinkoff-Saxo).

On the final Cat. 4 climb before the monstrous climb up the Col de Labays and Col du Soudet to La Pierre-Saint-Martin, Van Bilsen prevailed again.

The ascent to La Pierre-Saint-Martin is 15.3-km of 7.4%, with its steepest part early and a milder final 5-km. There were several teams at the front of the peloton leading it to foot of the 2015 Tour’s first HC climb, but Sky weren’t among them.

When the fugitives hit the first slopes, their lead was down to 2:44. Van Bilsen fell off and l’autobus started to form behind the peloton as Tinkoff-Saxo and Movistar kept the pace high. One notable rider after another was distanced: Rui Costa, Michal Kwiatkowski, Wilco Kelderman, Romain Bardet, Andrew Talansky, Dan Martin and Thibaut Pinot.

The brave Frenchman Fedrigo finally surrendered with 11-km to climb when Dutchman Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) made the first attack from the select group. A long way from the finish line Vincenzo Nibali and Rigoberto Uran’s aspirations were shattered as they faded back.

Gesink, 15th on GC at the start of the day, found reinforcement in Rafael Valls (Spain/Lampre). With just over 9-km left Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain/Katusha) lost contact with the yellow jersey group. By this point, Sky had taken over the front of the group. Gesink pushed on without Valls.

With 8.2-km remaining Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) took a look around and then attacked, doing little but bringing back Valls. Europcar’s Pierre Rolland and Lotto-Soudal’s Tony Gallopin were the only Frenchmen left in the little group. The momentum of the select group brought Gesink to heel.

It was a rip from Richie Porte (Australia/Sky) that split the race apart. At first Froome and Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) kept up with him but the Movistar rider couldn’t match Froome’s acceleration. Legs whirring, the Brit kept increasing the lead over his Colombian pursuer.

A foursome of Tejay Van Garderen, Valverde, Rolland and Porte started to close the gap to Quintana in the flatter final 3-km, with Porte catching and passing Quintana in the final kilometre. The Colombian is now third, 3:09 back.

Wednesday is day two in the Pyrenees, with five categorized climbs on tap, including the fearsome Tourmalet peaking with 41-km to go, and then a Cat. 3 ascent to the finish in Cauterets.

2015 Tour de France Stage 10
1) Chris Froome (Great Britain/Sky) 4:22:07
2) Richie Porte (Australia/Sky) +0:59
3) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) +1:04
45) Ryder Hesjedal (Canada/Cannondale-Garmin) +8:50
177) Svein Tuft (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +23:21

2015 Tour de France GC
1) Chris Froome (Great Britain/Sky) 35:56:09
2) Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) +2:52
3) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) +3:09
80) Ryder Hesjedal (Canada/Cannondale-Garmin) +45:28
180) Svein Tuft (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +1:27:48