Tour de France 2023: Clermont Ferrand - Moulins

 

 This stage was another flat stage with a sprint finish as the Tour heads towards the Alps at the end of the week.

Route Description: The tenth stage was from Clermont Ferrand to Moulins. This stage bid adieu to the Massif Central and rolled thru flatter terrain in the center of France. The stage included three catergory 4 rated climbs. A sprint finish was all but expected.

Race Summary and Analysis: Flat stages in many ways have a pre-defined storyline to them. The breakaway will form and spend most of the day up the road. The peloton will manage the catch of the breakaway to avoid counter moves, and then the sprint trains will dial up the speed in the last 10 kilometers and launch their sprinters to compete for the stage win. In this stage Andrey Amador of EF Education-EasyPost was the first rider to attack and try to make a break that would stick. He would be joined by Tony Gallopin of Trek-Lidl, and Matis Louvel of Arkea-Samsic. Tony Gallopin would eventually sit up and wait for the peloton, but Daniel Oss of Total Energies would join the break. The trio gained an advantage of three minutes and twenty seconds, but the sprint teams including Soudal-Quickstep would start the pacemaking to control the breakaway. Due to some crosswinds the GC favorite teams would bring their teams to the front of the peloton to protect their yellow jersey candidate, including the jersey wearer himself. This would have the effect of increasing the pace in the peloton even further. At this point Matis Louvel gave up trying to be in the break with 54 km to go. Approximately 5km further down the road Andrey Amador would do the same thing. This left Daniel Oss all by himself to continue to try and hold off the peloton. He would stay out front until 13.5 km to go. It is totally understandable to ask the question of why do these riders go in the breakaway. One motivation is the hope that something goes wrong in the peloton and they fall behind by enough time to give up on re-capturing the breakaway. The peloton lead by the teams of the best sprinters foiled this option by keeping the breakaway at a reasonable time gap. The other reason for riders to get in the break is to get TV exposure time. During the stage the TV coverage will put much more focus on the breakaway than the peloton up until the sprint finish. All teams are sponsored by corporations, and for some teams getting the additional exposure of their corporate sponsors is important to their continued operation. The sprint teams set the pace the rest of the way to the finishing straight for a sprint finish. Several of the GC teams kept up at the front until the peloton got inside the three kilometer zone. Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deucink would edge out Dylan Groenwegen of Jayco AlUla for his fourth stage win of this Tour de France. He matched Mark Cavendish as the only riders to win four stages in one Tour de France. None of the jerseys in the three big competitions changed hands at the end of the stage.