Tour de France stage 10: Tadej Pogačar booed, but extends overall lead with revenge victory at Le Lioran

Tadej Pogačar won the 24th Tour de France stage of his career on Tuesday, attacking his rivals on the Col de Pertus, the race’s penultimate climb and soloing to victory at Le Lioran.

The result is a form of revenge after he was beaten on this same finish by Jonas Vingegaard in 2024 — and Pogačar now leads the Dane by a huge margin of three minutes and 36 seconds after 10 stages.

A large early break formed after Mads Pedersen took maximum points at the intermediate sprint but it failed to carve out much of advantage with UAE controlling the pace of the peloton behind them. Movistar’s Javier Romo was the best of the escape group, cresting the Col de la Griffoul, the Col de Prat de Bouc and the Côte de Murat alone.

Romo was caught with 38km remaining, before EF Education-Easypost’s Richard Carapaz counter-attacked and built a lead of around 40 seconds over the top of Puy Mary-Pas de Peyrol, which he extended to over a minute on the technical descent that followed — one which saw both Tom Pidcock and Matteo Jorgenson crash.

But just as it looked like Carapaz might have a chance, Pogačar closed the gap with extraordinary ease on the Col de Pertus, setting off at a pace that, once again, no-one else in the Tour peloton could live with, and some fans — who booed him — did not enjoy.

Jacob Whitehead and Beren Cross analyze the action.

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Pogačar’s 900-meter show of strength

Pogačar was once again head and shoulders above everyone else at the Tour de France as the road went uphill on stage 10. The Slovenian sealed the 24th Tour stage of his career in what was also his third victory on Bastille Day, and extended his overall lead to three minutes and 36 seconds.

After what had been a typically chaotic, up-and-down stage in the Massif Central, with multiple breakaway attempts falling short, Pogačar’s trademark attack came with less than 16km to go. By the time he crossed the finish line, his lead over second-placed Remco Evenepoel was 32 seconds, with Jonas Vingegaard a further 12 seconds back in seventh.

Pogačar’s was around 1km from the top of the category one Col de Pertus when he struck out from the bunch. UAE seemed to leave it later than expected to attack as they tried to help white jersey Isaac Del Toro, who was subsequently dropped, to finish with the podium group.

Richard Carapaz was around 45 seconds up the road when Pogacar attacked, but his lead disintegrated in the space of about 900m. As the yellow jersey went over the top of the Pertus, his lead over Vingegaard was at 20 seconds.

💛 Tadej Pogacar catches up with Richard Carapaz and leaves him behind straight away!

💛 Tadej Pogacar revient sur Richard Carapaz et le dépose immédiatement !#TDF2026 pic.twitter.com/XmqeLvwmPG

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 14, 2026

Vingegaard was leading a group which included Evenepoel, Paul Seixas, Florian Lipowitz, Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose. Del Toro was further back and suffering. By the end of the day, he would finish 91 seconds behind Pogacar and cede the white jersey to Ayuso.

On the descent from the Col de Pertus, one of UAE’s radio messages was relayed for the television coverage: “Tadej, just don’t risk. Don’t risk!” The victory was in the bag and Pogačar’s directors were sensibly making sure he did not become another faller on a day which saw several crashes.

As the front of the race hit the final flat section before the climb to Le Lioran, all of the race’s protagonists could see one another. Carapaz was chewed up and spat out by Vingegaard’s group and Evenepoel was dropped with less than six kilometres to go.

But the tenacious Belgian refused to give up and as the road flattened and then pointed downhill he passed them all to finish second. He was followed by Seixas, Lipowitz, Ayuso and Skjelmose. Vingegaard, who came into this race hoping to challenge Pogacar for the yellow jersey in Paris, was seventh.

The Dane is more than three-and-a-half minutes back from Pogacar and right now is more in danger of losing second than challenging his great rival. Evenepoel is now only 30 seconds behind him in third.

Visma director Marc Reef accepted Pogačar’s strength after the stage: “I think it was a very hard day, Jonas did a great job, he fought all the way to the line, but Pogacar was stronger. We did not really see (Pogacar attack). We heard that Pogačar’s attacked. The next moment that we heard something was that there was a time gap to Jonas.

“From that moment on we tried to motivate him. He’s been in this situation before, on this stage two years ago. Also all the rest still stayed in his wheel and we also knew that there a part coming that they maybe could work together to close the gap. That’s also how we motivated Jonas. They came closer, but at the end the gap increased again and it was difficult to come back.”

Vingegaard’s American teammate Sepp Kuss was philosophical about UAE’s dominance when asked whether Visma could come back at them. “At the moment, no. They are riding incredibly strongly and they have the strongest rider too. So we just have to keep trying and stick to our plan and stick to our strengths and see if things come out for us on the stages that suit us.”

Beren Cross

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Pogacar booed by small number of fans: ‘Haters gonna hate’

As Pogacar crossed the line, he pulled down his jersey and pointed to the Tour de France logo, which he would later say was because he wanted to honour the race and its nation on Bastille Day. Equally, it underscored that this is a race that has become the four-time champion’s own — and it is a dominance that some cycling fans resent.

Immediately after crossing the line, Pogacar said that he had been booed by supporters, expanding on the subject during his post-race news conference.

“I mean for sure I have haters,” he said. “Haters gonna hate, even though in cycling it’s never as much as in tennis or football, there’s much more booing and going against one team or one player.

“In tennis, when it’s 50-50, you’re always against someone. If they boo me on the road they boo the whole bunch because you don’t know who it is. I always think of Novak Djokovic and his mentality, he had one of the toughest careers of being booed, and unnecessary hate, and he’s the greatest.

“I also need to say that in cycling there’s not so much, 99 per cent of people are cheering for everybody. When you see the kids, a family of kids and they have different jerseys, one in Visma, one in Groupama, one in UAE, it’s really nice to see the cycling fans, they’re the greatest of all the sports so we should be happy and grateful.

“And to all the booers, they just put wood on the fire.”

This is not new to this Tour de France. Pogačar’s teammate Tim Wellens spoke of being booed over the Tourmalet during stage six, while they were unpopular within the peloton two days ago, on Sunday, for the effort with which they chased down the day’s breakaway into Ussel.

Then, as they chased a stage win for Pogačar of Del Toro, they accused of being greedy, a line of questioning which Pogačar hates, having ended an interview after being asked about it earlier this Tour.

“To put it another way, surely we cannot be expected to perform at a lower level just to make it all more exciting?” said another of his teammates, Florian Vermeersch, in defending the team’s tactics to Belgian media.

At this Tour, UAE’s dominance has been absolute, from the domestiques, to its tactics, to Pogacar himself. Teams like these, invariably, are admired but never, in the moment, beloved — especially with the gap from the majority of squads to the sport’s ‘superteams’ only growing larger.

The booing of Pogacar comes from short-term frustration; it will take longer-term adjustments to fix it.

Jacob Whitehead

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Red Bull co-leader fight continues to thrill

After last week’s ascent over the Tourmalet, Evenepoel was furious with co-leader Lipowitz after his younger teammate allegedly refused to lead him out when sprinting for bonus sections at the end of stage six.

“Yes, I was angry, and rightly so. In Catalunya, I rode at the front for him for 30 kilometres,” he told Flemish media. “I asked him to do one kilometre of work at the front, and that wasn’t possible. That made me angry, and that will need to be discussed thoroughly tonight.”

Those are risks of co-leadership, especially with both separated by under 40 seconds in the general classification. In the Massif Central, the rivalry came to the fore again, as Evenepoel was dropped by the peloton on the Col du Pertu, the day’s final climb.

Lipowitz barely took a glance backwards, remaining in the middle of the group as Evenepoel fought to cling on. That, it should be stressed, was a good tactical decision — he should not need to sacrifice his own race on the possibility, not probability, that Evenepoel might have recovered.

Asked about their cooperation post-race, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe DS Patxi Vila said: “I still remember what that means to be in the last valley and how the legs hurt. So I think a lot of the time it’s not about that, it’s about the capacity also. That’s racing. Everyone has his own tactic and strategy. You have to understand and respect everyone.”

In the event, however, Evenepoel produced a superb recovery ride to overhaul a 15 second deficit by time-trialling back to the leaders on the flat of the final few kilometres — even winning the sprint to pick up six bonus seconds, extending his advantage over Lipowitz.

“I knew the last 500 meters were very hard, and so I had kept some strength to do a good sprint,” Evenepoel said. “Del Toro lost a bit of time, Lipo worked very well, so for the moment we are happy. The Tour is still not finished yet, there are still very, very hard steps to do and especially the last eight days are going to be very hard.”

Evenepoel now sits third on GC, 16 seconds clear of Juan Ayuso, and 38 seconds clear of sixth place Lipowitz, with an individual time trial to come where he starts as race favourite. A second Tour podium may be coming to fruition.

Jacob Whitehead

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When will we have our first French stage winner of this year’s Tour?

Seixas fought bravely, but as Bastille Day passed — pretty much the halfway point of the Tour de France — this year’s race still lacks a French winner.

This is not uncommon. Last year, France’s only win came on the greatest mountain of them all, Mont Ventoux, through Valentin Paret-Peintre on stage 16 — though two consecutive French wins, ironically taking place during an Italian Grand Depart, kicked off the 2024 edition.

But still, the French almost always secure a stage win at their home race — the last Tour without one was in 1999. But where will it come from this year?

Currently sitting third after another superb performance, Seixas is too high in the general classification to realistically be afforded the freedom to get into a breakaway — while it is difficult to see him dropping or outsprinting Pogačar.

Other riders? Netcompany-Ineos’ Dorian Godon could win from the right breakaway in a reduced bunch sprint, but two other options, national champion Romain Gregoire and Ineos’ Kevin Vauquelin, don’t seem to have their best legs.

Paret-Peintre and Lenny Martinez, as pure climbers, will fancy their chances in the break in the Alps, with Pogačar looking likely to have sewn up yellow. Julian Alaphillipe, sadly for the great champion, has lacked the punch and engine to survive at this Tour.

Jacob Whitehead

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Stage 10 top 10

1. Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates XRG (3:58:08)
2. Remco Evenepoel | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe (+32s)
3. Paul Seixas | Decathlon CMA CGM (+34s)
4. Florian Lipowitz | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe (+34s)
5. Juan Ayuso | Lidl Trek (+38s)
6. Mattias Skjelmose | Lidl-Trek (+38s)
7. Jonas Vingegaard | Visma-Lease a Bike (+44s)
8. Isaac Del Toro | UAE Team Emirates (+1m 31s)
9. Tom Pidcock | Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling (+1m 59s)
10. Lenny Martinez | Bahrain – Victorious (+2m 3s)

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General classification after stage 10

1. Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates XRG (36:15:02)
2. Jonas Vingegaard | Visma-Lease a Bike (+3m 36s)
3. Remco Evenepoel | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe (+4m 6s)
4. Juan Ayuso | Lidl Trek (+4m 22s)
5. Paul Seixas | Decathlon CMA CGM (+4m 35s)
6. Florian Lipowitz | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe (4m 44s)
7. Isaac Del Toro | UAE Team Emirates (+5m 8s)
8. Mattias Skjelmose | Lidl-Trek (+5m 45s)
9. Lenny Martinez | Bahrain – Victorious (+6m 34s)
10. Tom Pidcock | Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling (+11m 49s)

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Who’s wearing the jerseys after stage 10?

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What’s coming up tomorrow?

Stage 11 – Wednesday, July 15: Vichy to Nevers, 161km, flat

A couple of category four climbs won’t trouble anyone in the peloton. Expect collaboration between the sprinters’ teams to reel in any breakaway before the finish in Nevers.