Echelons cause havoc for several Tour de France GC men

EF Education First was the first team to form echelons in the crosswinds of Monday’s tenth stage of the Tour de France, but it ended up being once of the teams that suffered from the ensuing chaos the most. More importantly for the French, their great hope Thibaut Pinot lost a load of time, although Julian Alaphilippe retained the yellow jersey. Team Ineos took an important step towards winning yet another Tour de France via Geraint Thomas or Egan Bernal. Cyclocross crossover sensation Wout Van Aert gave Jumbo-Visma its fourth stage win.

The Route

The last stage before the first rest day was a lumpy one from Saint-Flour to Albi. The crosswinds would come in the final third of the course.

Another long stage, between Saint-Flour and Albi (217.5 kilometers), before the first #TDF2019 rest day. A bunch sprint is likely at the finish, but so is a victory from the breakaway, considering the difficult nature of the parcours in the first part of the day. pic.twitter.com/YW50TJdbD3

— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) July 15, 2019

With a six-man breakaway drawing closer with about 60-km to go, the Tie-Dyed Armada of EF Education First tried to shake things up with echelons. Team Ineos took over, but it was 25 km later when Ineos and Deceuninck-Quick Step’s echelons made the splits Education First couldn’t force.

The men in the second, third and fourth GC positions–Giulio Ciccone, Thibaut Pinot and George Bennett–were all in the second group, as was Jakob Fuglsang and most of Education First.

? Race situation : Nibali, Pinot, Fuglsang, Bennett, Porte and Uran have been dropped !

? Situation de course : Nibali, Pinot, Fuglsang, Bennett, Porte et Uran ont été piégés ! #TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/RsfaiGbV2b

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 15, 2019

Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal, Adam Yates, yellow jersey Julian Alaphilippe and Nairo Quintana were in the front group. Mikel Landa dropped away from the first group because of a mechanical.

The Pinot chase group got as close as 12-seconds to the front but as the group was small, it began to lose ground and would ship 1:40 by the finish in Albi.

Wout van Aert stymied Elia Viviani’s bid to win a brace of stages by an inch or two.

#TDF2019, Stage 10. Photo finish pic.twitter.com/G3omkEdgv8

— ammattipyöräily (@ammattipyoraily) July 15, 2019

Michael Woods finished +9:41 with Bennett and lost five more GC places.

To sum up:
Echelon Winners
Wout Van Aert
Julian Alaphilippe
Geraint Thomas
Egan Bernal
Nairo Quintana
Egan Bernal
Steven Kruijswijk
Adam Yates
Emanual Buchmann
Dan Martin
Romain Bardet

Echelon Losers
Thibaut Pinot +1:40
Rigoberto Uran s.t.
Richie Porte s.t.
Jakob Fuglsang s.t.
Mikel Landa +2:09
George Bennett +9:41
Michael Woods s.t.

2019 Tour de France Stage 10
1) Wout Van Aert (Belgium/Jumbo-Visma) 4:49:39
2) Elia Viviani (Italy/Deceuninck-Quick Step) s.t.
3) Michael Matthews (Australia/Sunweb) s.t.
101) Michael Woods (Canada/EF Education First) +9:41
129) Hugo Houle (Canada/Astana) s.t.

2019 Tour de France GC Going Into First Rest Day
1) Julian Alaphilippe (France/Deceuninck-Quick Step) 43:27:14
2) Geraint Thomas (Great Britain/Team Ineos) +1:12
3) Egan Bernal (Colombia/Team Ineos) +1:16
4) Steven Kruijswijk (The Netherlands/Jumbo-Visma) +1:27
5) Emanual Buchmann (Germany/Bora-Hansgrohe) +1:45
6) Enric Mas (Spain/Deceuninck-Quick Step) +1:46
7) Adam Yates (Great Britain/Mitchelton-Scott) +1:47
8) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) +2:04
9) Daniel Martin (Ireland/UAE-Emirates) +2:09
10) Giulio Ciccone (Italy/Trek-Segafredo) +2:32
43) Michael Woods (Canada/EF Education First) +25:13
100) Hugo Houle (Canada/Astana) +1:14:07