The 2025 Tour de France continued Monday with stage 10 – a 165.3-kilometer ride in mountainous terrain on a route from Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy, which would be contested on Bastille Day and feature no less than eight categorized climbs, of which seven were Category 2 climbs. 

General classification favorites such as Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard were expected to show great courage and initiative in the stage, while not least French riders should engage in breakaway efforts to celebrate their National Day. Pure climbers, team lieutenants, and GC outsiders could also spread their wings in the stage.

Tadej Pogacar was still leading the general classification following yesterday’s stage 9 and the Slovenian rider would be wearing the yellow jersey on Bastille Day. UAE Team Emirates’ Pogacar was 54 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), while Kevin Vauquelin of Team Arkea B & B Hotels had advanced to third, 01:11 minutes behind the leader. Jonas Vingegaard was fourth after his disappointing performance in last week’s time trial. Pogacar would have to do without valuable lieutenant Joao Almeida, who had been forced to abandon the Tour following his stage 7 crash.

Stage 10 got off to a very fast start as the Tour de France peloton left the town of Ennezat in Auverge-Rhone-Alpes. Multiple attacks were launched from kilometer zero and riders were eager to animate the stage and honor the French nation on Bastille Day. American Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) tried his luck with Krists Neilands. Frenchman Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) attacked solo as did Julian Alaphilippe for Tudor Pro Cycling Team. 

While being cheered by many fans along the route, Alaphilippe was leading the Tour peloton as it climbed Cote de Loubeyrat – a Category 2 climb. His breakaway attempt, however, was shortlived. Powless tried his luck again and was joined by teammate Harry Sweeny as well as Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious), US National Champion Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Thymen Arensman (Ineos-Grenadiers), Michael Woods, and other riders.

The fast speed in the peloton and the many breakaway attempts on the climbs were causing multiple sprinters to find it difficult to hang onto the main peloton with 150 kilometers of the stage yet to be contested. In the front end of the peloton, Mattias Skjelmose was wearing a Tricolore-colored nasal strip to honor France in its National Day.

A front group of more than twenty-five riders had established a lead of thirty seconds over the main peloton with 142 kilometers left. Santiago Buitrago was chasing further back, while sprinters and other heavy riders had established a second peloton group three minutes back.

The front group included strong riders such as Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike), Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep), Ben Healy (EF Education), Alex Baudin (EF Education), Neilson Powless (EF Education), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) Thymen Arensman (Ineos-Grenadiers), Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling), Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling), Ben O’Connor (Jayco-Alula), and Michael Woods. Meanwhile, riders from UAE Team Emirates were spearheading the main peloton and controlling the pace for their team captain and race leader Pogacar.

Movistar’s Pablo Castrillo admirably managed to bridge solo from the main peloton to the breakaway group.

118 kilometers of the stage remained, and the riders were approaching the second categorized climb of the stage. The Cote de la Baraque is a category 2 climb with an average gradient of 7.3 percent and a 4.8-kilometer length. The breakaway group had a lead of more than two minutes over the main peloton at this point in the stage, while a van der Poel group was 03:12 minutes behind the front men, and a sprinter group was 03:34 minutes back.

While the front group remained united on the climb, Frenchman Lenny Martinez was the first rider to cross the summit line and secured the most points for the best climber classification. Martinez was now the virtual leader of the classification.

Australian Ben O’Connor launched a solo attack from the front group on Cote de Charade (Category 2; 5.2 km; 6.7 percent). O’Connor had participated in a very successful breakaway during this year’s Tour de Suisse that catapulted him to the top part of the GC and hopefully today’s attempt was not a charade - despite the name of the mountain.

O’Connors powerful attack caused splits in the breakaway group and a reduced group engaged in a chase effort to reel in the Australian breakaway optimist. Healy, Martinez, Arensman and Simmons caught O’Connor and Campenaerts joined the fun with Woods. Other riders from the original breakaway were chasing twelve seconds back, while the main peloton was 03:25 minutes behind.

The riders entered the former Formula One track Auvergne Mountain Car Circuit, which had been integrated as part of today’s stage 10 route in celebration of Bastille Day.

Eighteen of the dispersed riders of the original front group regrouped, and Martinez was the first rider to reach the summit of Cote de Berzet and secured the most points for the climber classification he was now leading.

UAE Team Emirates had increased the pace in the main peloton, which was now stretched out on the hot roads of France. It appeared Tadej Pogacar intended to deliver a grand show on Bastille Day.

Seventy-five kilometers remained of today’s stage 10 of Tour de France 2025 and sixteen riders remained part of the front group. The riders were Victor Campenaerts, Simon Yates, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Ben Healy, Alex Baudin, Harry Sweeny, Lenny Martinez, Thymen Arensman, Quinn Simmons, Quentin Pacher, Michael Storer, Ben O’Connor, Raul Garcia Pierna, Pablo Castrillo, Michael Woods, Joseph Blackmore, and Anders Halland Johannessen. A three-man group featuring Julian Alaphilippe was chasing three minutes behind, while the main peloton was 03:45 minutes back.

The front group continued to expand its time advantage over the main peloton and with 65 kilometers remaining, Irishman Ben Healy was now the virtual leader of the general classification. It would be quite a scoop for the EF Education-EasyPost team to take the yellow jersey on Bastille Day and before the first rest day. Healy’s teammates Baudin and Sweeny were contributing well to increase the team’s chances of success.

While the front group worked hard to preserve its advantage over the main peloton, Martinez was also the first rider to reach the summit of Col de Guery and banked more points for the best climber classification. Martinez remained part of a fifteen-man front group, which was five minutes ahead of the main peloton with 47 kilometers left.

Quinn Simmons attacked from the front group on the descent and was followed by Alex Baudin. The attempt was neutralized. Ben Healy launched a fast attack with 45.8-kilometers remaining and though he looked very fast, he did not establish a lead over the attentive breakaway challengers.

The riders continued up the Col de la Croix Morand, which was a relatively challenging climb despite being categorized as a category 3 climb. The warm racing conditions and the many climbing meters of the stage had taken their toll on the riders in the Tour de France.

Ben O’Connor attacked from the breakaway with 32 kilometers left and was joined by Joseph Blackmore and Ben Healy. The trio opened a narrow gap. Quin Simmons, Simon Yates and Michael Storer bridged the gap as did other riders.

Captain America Quinn Simmons attacked 27 kilometers from the finish line and Healy did the hard work needed to close the gap. The Irishman was pulling several riders that didn’t contribute.

Healy caught Simmons with 24.5 kilometers left and the Irishman pressed on together with Simmons, Arensman, Simon Yates, Storer, and O’Connor.

Riders from Team Visma-Lease a Bike moved to the front of the main peloton, which featured the GC favorites, and increased the pace. The increased pace caused most riders to drop off the back of the peloton and a reduced GC favorites group was formed. 22 kilometers remained. Sepp Kuss attacked from the group and Matteo Jorgenson joined him. UAE Team Emirates closed the attack down.

With twenty kilometers to the finish line, a six-man group featuring Healy, Simon Yates, Arensman, Simmons, Storer, and O’Connor was in front. A breakaway chase group featuring Campenaerts, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Baudin, Martinez and other riders was 01:30 minutes behind, while a reduced main peloton featuring the GC favorites was 05:20 minutes back. A slower group, which featured the sprinters and other heavy riders was no less than 24 minutes behind.

The front group approached the penultimate categorized climb of the day’s racing menu. Col de la Croix Saint-Robert was a category 2 climb and Healy was still spearheading the front group. Further back, riders from Decathlon-AG2R were leading the main peloton group. Simmons proved unable to follow his fellow frontmen.

With Healy leading the five-rider front group further up the road, Matteo Jorgenson attacked from the main peloton on the climb, but Pogacar immediately responded. Sepp Kuss continued to set a fast pace, which did not appear to annoy Pogacar in any way at all.

A fast descent now awaited the riders before they reached the final climb of the stage, which would take the riders to the finish line. Le Mont-Dore was a Category 2 climb and while Healy’s chances of claiming the GC lead and yellow jersey were improving, his chances of a stage victory were likely slim after many kilometers of hard work at the front of the front group.

Simon Yates attacked from the bottom of Le Mont-Dore and initiated a mission to claim the stage victory for his Visma-Lease a Bike team. While Healy proved unable to follow, Ben O’Connor joined the rider from Great Britain. Arensman was fighting to close the gap with 2.6 kilometers to the finish line.

O’Connor got dropped at the 2.2-kilometer mark and Yates pressed on solo, but with Arensman fighting card to close the gap for Ineos-Grenadiers. Healy was now 18 seconds back while fighting to take the yellow jersey. Such amazing and impressive persistence from the Irishman of Team EF Education-EasyPost.

Simon Yates entered the final kilometer solo and Arensman was finding it hard to catch the British frontman. 

Simon Yates was also solo in front when five hundred meters remained. The man from Great Britain and Team Visma-Lease a Bike crossed the finish line first and secured a valuable stage victory in this year’s Tour after winning this year’s Giro d’Italia. Thymen Arensman finished second for Ineos-Grenadiers, while Ben Healy impressively managed to complete the stage podium.

Pogacar attacked from the main peloton late on the climb to the finish line, but Jonas Vingegaard immediately responded and clung to his rear wheel. Lenny Martinez joined the GC duo. Martinez crossed the finish line ahead of Pogacar and Vingegaard with no late strides between the two GC favorites.

“I didn’t feel like it out there at first today and I had lots of strong guys with me. I was looking for a head start on the climb, so I attacked early,” stage winner Simon Yates explained to Roadcycling.com shortly after the stage finish.

“I would normally not expect any opportunities here as we are focusing on Jonas Vingegaard in this race. My main intention was to be ready to assist Jonas if something happened from behind, but the gap was too big. The first stages have been quite rusty for me, but my condition is improving,” Yates continued.

“We wanted to have a good man in the breakaway, and I am extremely happy for Simon winning the stage. I’m happy with my own legs and how I finished today. Of course UAE has a very strong team, but Pogacar had to do some work himself. We were attacking to apply some pressure on UAE and if Pogacar had stayed in yellow he would have had to spend energy on the podium each day,” Jonas Vingegaard explained after the stage.

Irishman Ben Healy is the new general classification leader after today’s stage and can wear the yellow jersey while recovering during tomorrow’s rest day and celebrating with his EF Education-EasyPost teammates.

“If you’d told me before the Tour, I would be wearing the yellow jersey I wouldn’t have believed you,” GC leader Ben Healy explained to Roadcycling.com while wearing the yellow jersey. “Sweeny worked like a truck for me in the breakaway. Thanks a lot to my teammates in the breakaway. I knew I just had to put my head down and go, so I did,” Healy added.

Tuesday will be the first rest day of the 2025 Tour de France. The Tour will continue Wednesday with stage 11 – a 156.8-kilometer ride in relatively flat terrain from Toulouse and back. The stage will feature some small hills and five categorized climbs (Categories 3 and 4). Look for the stage to be won from a long breakaway or for the pure sprinters to battle in a mass sprint finish if their teams manage to keep the action under control.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from the 2025 Tour de France.