Despite being held up by a protest in the final 30 km, fugitive Magnus Cort (Denmark/EF Education-Easypost) won Tuesday’s 10th stage of the Tour de France, the Alps calm before the storm. Cort, who was in polka dots until Sunday, outsprinted Nick Schultz atop a Cat. 2 summit finish for his second career Tour victory. Pogačar kept the yellow jersey.
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The Course
The second day in the Alps was a relatively mild one after the second rest day. Three categorized climbs were spread out evenly over the 148-km route. The final climb, Cat. 2 Montée de l’altiport de Megève, was long but not very steep: 19.3 km of 4 percent.
Second week of the #TDF2022, second day in the Alps.
Morzine Les Portes du Soleil – Megève: 148.1km and four classified climbs. pic.twitter.com/E8XR1jPum9
— Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team (@qst_alphavinyl) July 12, 2022
There was more bad news for Tadej Pogačar’s UAE-Emirates squad, as George Bennett, a key mountains worker, withdrew from the race after a COVID-19 positive. UAE and AG2R-Citroën Team are both two riders down.
There were several breakaway attempts before and after the opening climb, Cat. 4 Côte de Chevenoz, but nothing stuck. There was a lot of action on the long drag leading to the second categorized climb. By the start of Col de Jambaz, there was a 25-strong breakaway up the road, with only four teams not represented. The peloton chilled right out.
🇫🇷 #TDF2022
Finally the elastic has snapped and there are no less than 2⃣5⃣ riders in the breakaway with @PhilippeGilbert being one of them 💪
🏁80 km to go pic.twitter.com/MLk83aI6Zo
— Lotto Soudal (@Lotto_Soudal) July 12, 2022
The platoon of fugitives were 6:00 clear when it nudged over Cat. 4 Côte de Châtillon-sur-Cluses. The escape clipped along towards Montée de l’altiport de Megève where its members would vie for the day’s win.
Alberto Bettiol took his leave from the other escape and then had to wait after he skirted some protestors on the course, as the race was neutralized.
Uh, oh! Demonstrators have sat across the road and lit flares… Alberto Bettiol just managed to squeeze through there… #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/F8jRPbm7Eg
— Felix Lowe (@saddleblaze) July 12, 2022
Once the coloured smoke had cleared, Bettiol continued ahead of his breakmates and the peloton slogged on 7:00 in arrears.
Bettiol started up the long, gradual climb with…
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