Finally! Sam Bennett wins a Tour de France Stage!
Same Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) beat Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) and Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) on a windy crash strewn stage 10
Sam Bennett has taken victory on stage 10 of the Tour de France into Saint-Martin-de-Ré on the island of île de Ré; his first Tour stage win, his sixth Grand Tour stage win of his career.
Bennett was well looked after by his Deceuninck-QuickStep team, the final 20km was ridden in strong crosswinds.
On a day when roundabouts and other road furniture caused crash after crash, Bennett put in a fantastic ride.
He saved his legs at the intermediate sprint, content to take 3rd across and later unleashed his power for a brilliant win on a very tough and stressful stage.
Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) was 2nd,coming off Bennett’s wheel, with Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) in 3rd.
With the stage win, Sam Bennett took back the Green Jersey from Peter Sagan.
"I don’t think it’s hit me because I forgot to throw the bike at the line in the moment and I thought he might have got me. It hasn’t hit me, I thought I’d be in floods of tears but I’m in shock," Bennett said, "I just want to thank everyone that’s been involved, I want to thank the whole team and Patrick for giving me this opportunity, just everybody it took to get to here. I want to thank my wife and everyone around me.
"You dream of it and you never think it will happen. It does and it did. it took it a while for it to hit me… Oh man…"
"I was waiting to go and I thought maybe I was waiting too late. I thought I was maybe in too big a gear. I don’t know. Sorry, I don’t mean to be a crybaby."
Primož Roglic stays in the race lead after an outstanding effort by Jumbo-Visma to keep their leader safe.
The stage saw some big pile ups due to the increasing pace, headwinds, narrrow roads,street furniture and endless roundabouts.
A touch of wheels saw a lot of riders go down, including Robert Gesink (Jumbo-Visma), Nicolas Roche, Casper Pedersen (Sunweb) and Esteban Chaves (Mitcheltin-Scott). Sam Bewley (Mitchelton-Scott) abandoned the Tour de France after going down in that crash.
With 18km to go the crosswinds hit and the bunch began to split almost immediately, with Jumbo, Ineos, Deceuninck and Bora-Hansgrohe in the perfect place at the head of the bunch. Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) found themselves dislodged from the front and were forced to chase a part of a small group.
A squeeze in the bunch at 16km caused a big crash in the front group, with Richard Carapaz (Ineos) and Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck) both getting caught up in the chaos.
The peloton hit the Île de Re bridge and the crosswinds eased, allowing for a slightly calming of the pace which let Lopez, Carapaz and Valverde rejoin the group.
Davide Formolo, a faller in one of the earlier crashes, came across the line over 16 minutes down and struggling to grip his handlebars.
VIDEO: 2020 Tour de France Stage 10 Highlights
2020 Tour de France Stage 10 Top 10
1 Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck-Quickstep 03:35:22
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal
3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
5 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
6 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
7 Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
8 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
9 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
10 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
2020 Tour de France GC after Stage 10
1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 42:15:23
2 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 00:00:21
3 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 00:00:28
4 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 00:00:30
5 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 00:00:32
6 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Pro Cycling 00:00:32
7 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 00:00:44
8 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 00:01:02
9 Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Col) Astana Pro Team 00:01:15
10 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 00:01:42