tour de france 2026 stage 10 bastille day solo win by pogacar

Pogačar Wins Tour de France Stage 10, Lead Grows to 3:36 as Sprinters Ready for Nevers

Published: 10:58 am CEST - Wednesday, 15 July 2026 | By Gautier Durfort | Read Time - 4 Minutes

Tadej Pogačar attacked with 14 kilometres to go on the Col de Pertus and never looked back, soloing to his 24th career Tour de France stage win on Bastille Day. Jonas Vingegaard lost 44 seconds on the road alone. The gap in yellow is now 3 minutes and 36 seconds — and Stage 11 belongs to the sprinters.

Stage 10 recap: Pogačar strikes on the Col de Pertus

The stage from Aurillac to Le Lioran was never going to stay calm. Seven categorized climbs were packed into the final 100 kilometres, a 31-rider breakaway that UAE Team Emirates-XRG never let stray more than 90 seconds clear, and a finale built for exactly the kind of move Pogačar produced.

pogacar stage 10

He waited. Richard Carapaz attacked first, opening a gap on the lower slopes of the Col de Pertus, 4.4 kilometres at 8.5%, the steepest ramp of the day. Pogačar let him go, then closed the gap down like Carapaz was standing still. By the summit, only Isaac del Toro’s absence told the real story: UAE’s second leader was already cracking, and behind him, so was the group holding Vingegaard.

Remco Evenepoel briefly lost contact on the descent, clawed his way back inside the final kilometre, and out-sprinted Paul Seixas for second place. Vingegaard crossed the line seventh, head down, having done most of the pacing for a group that then beat him to the line. Full breakdown, highlights, and times on our Stage 10 results page.

Stage 10 at a glance:

  • Winner: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), solo from 14km out — his 24th Tour de France stage win
  • Podium: Remco Evenepoel 2nd (+32s), Paul Seixas 3rd (+34s)
  • GC: Vingegaard now 3:36 behind in 2nd overall, having lost time on the road plus bonus seconds
  • White jersey: Juan Ayuso takes over the youth classification from Isaac del Toro
  • Crashes: Tom Pidcock, Matteo Jorgenson and Chris Harper all went down on the Puy Mary descent
  • Season tally: Pogačar’s 16th win in just 26 race days in 2026

What else happened: crashes on Puy Mary and a jersey swap

Stage 10 wasn’t only about the GC fight. An early crash took down Lennert van Eetvelt, Alex Kirsch, Kamil Gradek, and Jake Stewart. The bigger scare came later, on the technical descent off the Puy Mary, where Tom Pidcock crashed and got back up to fight for a result; he finished the day up three positions inside the top ten. His Pinarello Q36.5 teammate Chris Harper wasn’t as fortunate, and neither was Visma’s Matteo Jorgenson, who went down on the same descent. Matteo Trentin didn’t start the stage at all.

Further back in the standings, the white jersey changed shoulders. Juan Ayuso now leads the best young rider classification by 13 seconds over Seixas, with del Toro dropping to third, 46 seconds back, a direct consequence of the time he shed on the final climbs. Mads Pedersen padded his green jersey lead at the day’s intermediate sprint, collecting the full 25 points and stretching his advantage over Biniam Girmay to 54. Track every classification live on our full standings page.

Stage 11 preview: Merlier chases a hat-trick in Nevers

After the carnage of the Massif Central, the peloton gets a flat day. Stage 11 runs 161.3 kilometres from Vichy to Nevers with zero categorized climbs — as pure a sprint stage as this Tour has offered, and Tim Merlier arrives as the outright favourite for a hat-trick.

  • Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) — winner of the last two bunch sprints, chasing a third straight
  • Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) — still searching for his first win of this Tour
  • Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team) — defending green jersey ground behind Pedersen
  • Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) — already has a stage win banked, racing with no pressure
  • Max Kanter (XDS Astana Team) — closest sprinter to breaking through from the chase group

Mads Pedersen isn’t chasing the stage win. He’s defending 293 points and a 54-point green jersey lead over Girmay, and a flat, uncontested day like this one is exactly where that gap gets protected. Expect Lidl-Trek to ride for position, not the win.

Full Stage 11 route profile and start times are on our race schedule.

How big is Tadej Pogačar’s Tour de France lead after Stage 10?

Pogačar leads Jonas Vingegaard by 3 minutes and 36 seconds after his solo win on Stage 10. Remco Evenepoel sits third overall, 4:06 behind, with Juan Ayuso and Paul Seixas rounding out the top five inside 30 seconds of each other.

Who is the favourite to win Stage 11 of the Tour de France?

Tim Merlier is the clear favourite for Stage 11’s flat run into Nevers, having already won two bunch sprints this Tour. Jasper Philipsen, Biniam Girmay and Olav Kooij are the main challengers, while Mads Pedersen focuses on defending his green jersey lead rather than chasing the win.

Stage 11 starts at 13:50 CET in Vichy. Follow every kilometre on our live stage tracker.

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