Third victory for Cavendish and a calm stage

After the first rest day in Tignes, the peloton resumed its march. It was a strange stage. Neither flat nor mountain. Waiting for the arrival of Mont Ventoux, 190 kilometers with a category 4 pass and a quite broken flat all the time with a predictable sprint finish in Valence.

Return to the flat stages and the infernal pace of this Tour de France 2021

We were also going into the second phase of this Tour de France 2021 with almost everything pretty much decided. Let's be honest, the first week has been spectacular, but today everything seems pretty clear. Although in cycling, we already know that anything can happen. We'll have to wait and see how these mountain days go.

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It's pretty doubtful that anyone can beat Tadej Pogacar, and the Slovenian doesn't need much more than that to win his second Tour, so we imagine the excitement will come from somewhere else. In fact, the Tour organizers shared a shattering statistic: every time Pogacar has taken the leader's jersey in a stage race, he has won it. And he has always done so, both as a junior, as an amateur and as a professional. Didn't anyone see this coming?

Today some riders came back with a lot of enthusiasm. In the first kilometer Van der Sande and Houle attacked and quickly took more than 5 minutes. The advantage, however, gradually decreased, especially when BikeExchange took the lead and increased the pace. The gap was down to a minute and a half. Then it was UAE's turn, and the time continued to drop: the breakaway was already only a minute behind.

Calmness, control and crazy pace during the last 10 kilometers

The pace was down today from the crazy and spectacular first week. It stayed at 43 kilometers on average. Not for that reason crashes were absent: Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas went to the ground hand in hand, along with several yellow Jumbo riders. All got up quickly, although Porte was visibly damaged. He was the worst off, no doubt.

Ahead, Houle and Van der Sande had only 30 seconds advantage. The peloton could see them on some wide, open stretches and there were still 50 kilometers to go. And Bike Exchango and Deceuninck were in charge of finishing it off. They caught Houle thanks to a tailwind of more than 25 kilometers per hour that was a constant push that benefits the mass. So with 30 kilometers to go, everyone was reunited, even the first few riders out of the peloton as the peloton slowed down as soon as Houle was caught. Calm down.

At that point Deceuninck lost his head a bit. Alaphilippe took the lead at over 70 Kph trying to filter the peloton and in the face of evidence that many riders were on the wire. The more filtering, the more possibilities for his sprinters. Colbrelli can attest to this: he got a flat tire and was fortunate that the peloton calmed down a bit to rejoin.

In the lavender fields, Deceuninck regrouped and was back up to 70 kilometers per hour. It seems that Cavendish was reporting how he was feeling and, depending on that, his team prepared the race in one way or another. That caused a major break in the peloton. They were already in Valence and the wind was still blowing from behind, so the race was still going fast. With 10 kilometres to go, a right turn and a change of wind, which was blowing sideways. Even Pogacar entered the relays in this strange situation. 10 seconds of difference between the two groups that put some excitement.

As the race progressed, five kilometers to the finish, the rear group was not able to counteract the situation. We were all preparing to see a fight for victory in the first group. And in it, the top favorite was Cavendish. In fact, the Deceuninck didn't stop pulling, and the rest of the sprinters stuck to Cavendish's wheel. Everyone knew that the Briton had the best chance of fighting for the stage in Valence.

And he won. Deceuninck's work was brutal: they left him 50 meters from the finish line and that last left-handed corner didn't allow much more. Cavendish is doing a tremendous Tour de France. Blessed is the hour he didn't retire.

STAGE 10

1. Cavendish, M. - Deceuninck | 4:14:07
2. Van Aert, W. - Jumbo Visma | m.t.
3. Philipsen, J. - Alpecin Fenix | m.t.

GENERAL RANKING

1. Pogacar, T. - UAE | 34:11:10
2. O´Connor, B. - AG2R | +2:01
3. Uran, R. - Education First | +5:18