ALBI, France (AFP) – Dutch rookie Wout van Aert won stage 10 of the Tour de France on Monday as Julian Alaphilippe extended his overall lead after a blistering late charge split the peloton.
Yellow jersey wearer Alaphilippe launched the attack from 38km out, where narrow road and a crosswind created perfect conditions for the devastating attack.
Defending champion Geraint Thomas and his powerful Ineos team leapt into the fray in what turned into a rampage all the way to the quaint Tarn town of Albi.
Pre-stage title pretenders Richie Porte, Thibaut Pinot, Jakob Fuglsang, Rigoberto Uran all lost 1min 40sec, while Movistar’s Mikel Landa lost over 2 minutes.
Frenchman Alaphilippe leads second placed Thomas by 1min 12sec, a second Ineos rider, Egan Bernal, is at 1min 16sec, and van Aert’s teammate Steven Kruijswijk is another 11sec off in fourth.
Pinot, who started in third, dropped to 11th, 2min 33sec behind his countryman.
“We knew there was a chance of a split,” said the 27-year-old former soldier Alaphilippe.
“I have my ambitions, and we will defend this jersey every day.”
Ineos boss Dave Brailsford said the stage went exactly as he had planned.
“I feel like we just scored a goal,” said Brailsford.
“It’s really rare that you put that much time into so many top guys,” he said.
“This race is like no other, if you lose your attention you can end up losing major time, and that’s what happened to all those guys.”
“We saw the weather and spoke about this in the pre-race briefing,” said the Briton who has plotted six Tour de France victories from the last seven.
Thomas, the 2018 champion looked like the cat that got the cream.
“It was just a positioning error from them and they lose a minute and a half. That’s how it goes,” he explained.
The 22-year-old Bernal takes the best young rider’s white jersey.
