Cycling: Exactly 225 years ago was the storming of the Bastille. And today's tenth stage of the Tour de France on the French national holiday was also stormy.
Immediately after the start there were several attacks. The group of the day was found even before the first of seven mountain classifications to be driven. Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha), Peter Sagan (Cannondale), Jan Barta (NetApp-Endura) and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) were among the well-known drivers, some of whom were able to hold their own up to the final.
This was partly due to Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), who drove his captain Michal Kwiatkowski to the front on the descent from the second mountain and finally set the pace over the other mountains up to twenty kilometers from the finish.
At this point, Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo) was the second favorite after Chris Froome (Sky) to drop out of the race. The Spaniard fell on the way to the highest point of the day, the Col du Platzerwasel. Although he initially continued his journey, he got out a few kilometers later.
The focus was again on Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), who lost the overall lead yesterday to Frenchman Tony Gallopin (Lotto Belisol). He fought doggedly today. However, he couldn't make it against the Italian.
He put his men at the head of the chasing group, which was chasing Rodriguez in the final. The Spaniard secured the mountain jersey today and broke away from his last companion, the Pole Kwiatkowski, at the beginning of the last climb.
Nibali finally pulverized the lead of 1:30 minutes with an acceleration with almost 2,5 kilometers to go. As a soloist, the Italian went in pursuit of Rodriguez, whom he put under the devil's rag.
Both tackled the last kilometer together. Behind, Nibali's competitors suffered and struggled to limit the damage.
With 500 meters to go, Rodriguez had to surrender to the Tempo Nibalis. He stormed solo towards the finish at La Planche des Belles Filles and took further important seconds from the remaining competition.
Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) lost 15 seconds to Nibali in second. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) was 20 seconds ahead of Richie Porte (Sky) and Romain Bardet (Ag2R La Mondiale). Leopold König from Team NetApp-Endura lost 50 seconds, Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) and Bauke Mollema (Belkin) lost 1:07 minutes. Tony Gallopin lost the overall leader's yellow jersey after just one day, 4:44 behind.
With that, Nibali starts tomorrow's rest day in yellow. Porte follows him in the overall standings with 2:23 minutes. Valverde is 2:47 minutes behind in third place.