Bastille day heightens atmosphere at Tour de France

There was plenty of excitement in today’s stage of the Tour de France, a 179 kilometre run from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.

Wed, 14 Jul, 2010 - 19:47

There was plenty of excitement in today’s stage of the Tour de France, a 179 kilometre run from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.

An ‘Intermediate Mountain stage’ it was the perfect stage profile for a breakaway attempt and with Bastille day being celebrated across the country, the prospect of a French victory could not be ruled out.

A six man break dominated the day which included Sergio Paulinho (Team Radioshack), Vasili Kiryienka (Caisse d'Epargne), Dries Devenyns (Quick Step), Pierre Rolland (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Mario Aerts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Maxime Bouet (AG2R La Mondiale).

The sextet built up a lead of over 12 minutes on the chasing peloton but because none of the breakaway riders was in contention for the yellow jersey, the bunch decided to let them away.

Paulinho won the sprint ahead of Kiryienka (Caisse d'Epargne) with the remaining four rolling in behind but there is no change in the custody of the yellow jersey, that still rests with Andy Shleck.

Ireland's Nicolas Roche is in 17th place, seven minutes and 44 seconds off the pace.

Stage Results:

1 Sergio Paulinho (Team Radioshack)

2 Vasili Kiryienka (Caisse d'Epargne)

3 Dries Devenyns (Quick Step)

4 Pierre Rolland (Bbox Bouygues Telecom)

5 Mario Aerts (Omega Pharma-Lotto)

6 Maxime Bouet (AG2R La Mondiale)

General classification after stage 10:

1 Andy Schleck (Team Saxo Bank) 48 hours 35 mins 41 secs

2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Astana) at 41 secs

3 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Euskaltel - Euskadi) at 2 mins 45 secs