First Australian win at the Tour de France this year with Michael Matthews outsprinting Peter Sagan in Revel for a revenge of the last world championship. It was a royal breakaway with former yellow jersey holder Greg Van Avermaet and 2014 Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali. Chris Froome retained the lead in the overall ranking.
15 riders in the lead after the Port d’Envalira
193 riders started stage 10 in the principality of Andorra. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) was the most active in the uphill start. Several breakaway attempts took shape on the way to the Port d’Envalira, the highest summit of this year’s Tour de France (alt.: 2408m) located after only 24km of racing. Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) managed to crest alone in the lead and a prestigious leading quartet was formed in the downhill with Sagan, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Michael Matthews (Orica-BikeExchange). A 15-man breakaway group was eventually reunited at km 73 with Mikel Landa (Sky), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R-La Mondiale), Damiano Caruso and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Edvald Boasson Hagen and Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data), Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal), Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), Luke Durbridge, Daryl Impey and Matthews (Orica-BikeExchange), Nibali, Sagan and Rui Costa.
Three Orica-BikeExchange out of seven to contest stage victory
The maximum time gap was recorded at km 103: 7.04. As Katusha gave up pretty quickly and Team Sky was only setting a steady tempo at the front of the peloton, IAM Cycling decided to chase the breakaway down and Direct Energie took over from them in the last 50 kilometres although they had Chavanel in leading group. With 40km to go, as cross winds added to the rain to make the racing harder, the deficit of the peloton was reduced to 4.40. The leading group was split at the initiative of Sagan within 25km to go. Seven riders got a gap: Sagan, Dumoulin, Van Avermaet, Boasson Hagen, Matthews, Durbridge and Impey. Durbridge was the only one to get dropped in the climb to Saint-Ferréol after working to make this breakaway a success.
Orica-BikeExchange’s superiority was obvious at the end also. Impey put Sagan under pressure on a few occasions before leading Matthews out. The Canberra-born rider who finished second to Sagan at the world championship in Richmond last year took his revenge in Revel. This is his first stage win ever at the Tour de France at the age of 25. He was very frustrated after he wasn’t able to start the 2014 Tour de France due to a crash two days before the inaugural stage in Leeds. Last year, he crashed again during stage 3. He was badly injured but completed the race as an investment for his future as he refused to give up, convinced that he had to win his first battle against the Tour de France after he already won stages at the Vuelta a España and the Giro d’Italia.
