July 11, 2023
It was an unusual day at the Tour that culminated in a beautiful ending
Studies have shown that extreme heat can affect mental performance. In fact, hot weather has been linked to reduced cognitive function and judgement errors. As the peloton baked in the 40 degree heat on the roads of the Massif Central on stage 10 of the Tour de France, pouring ice down their jerseys and grabbing bidons wherever they could, it seemed like the effects of the burning sun were having more than just a physical impact. Actions of teams got stranger and stranger as the stage rolled on, amounting to one of the craziest and most entertaining days that this race has seen so far.
And who else better to kick it off than Tadej Pogačar, the man who seems to be reluctant to follow any of the traditional rules of Grand Tour racing? Everyone knew it was going to be a hectic start – the peloton would race up the third category Col de la Moréno climb as soon as the flag dropped and it was prime terrain for forming a breakaway – but few expected it to be the UAE Team Emirates rider sitting second on the general classification lighting things up.
With 152km to go, Pogačar’s white jersey could be seen flying off the front of an already fractured group, and when Pog goes, Jonas Vingegaard has simply no choice but to follow. With that, all of a sudden, in a stage that was supposed to be nailed-on for a breakaway, the two gangly GC contenders were off the front, Pogačar without even a teammate alongside him. Their group was reeled back in eventually, but why did Pogačar make his move in the first place? To prove his strength? To make Vingegaard chase? Just for a bit of fun? Delirium in the heat of the day? It left more questions than answers.
But that was not to be the only head-scratching part of this savagely tough stage to Issoire. After a long, long fight, the breakaway finally established itself and pulled out a gap of three minutes to the peloton. It seemed like they would duke it out for the victory. That was, until Alpecin-Deceuninck appeared at the front of the peloton. Mathieu van der Poel began to chase hard with 50km to go and we were all left wondering what on earth Alpecin were up to. It would be a big ask to reel the break back in, and they didn’t really have a rider to contest the win…