Tadej Pogacar secured a commanding victory on the tenth stage of the Tour de France, held on Tuesday in the mountainous Cantal region of central France. The 27-year-old Slovenian, racing as the world champion and four-time Tour winner, claimed his third stage win of this year’s race—and for the third time on Bastille Day—extending his overall lead to more than three and a half minutes ahead of Jonas Vingegaard.
The 166.6-kilometer stage featured challenging climbs, including the 7.8-kilometer ascent of Puy Mary and the steep 4.4-kilometer Col de Pertus. Pogacar launched a decisive attack just over a kilometer from the summit of Col de Pertus, overtaking former Giro d’Italia winner Richard Carapaz, who had earlier broken away. Pogacar crossed the summit with a 20-second advantage over a chasing group that included Vingegaard, Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, French rider Paul Seixas, Florian Lipowitz, and Juan Ayuso. He extended this lead to finish the stage 32 seconds ahead of Evenepoel and 34 seconds ahead of Seixas, who claimed third place.
Pogacar’s victory on Tuesday marked his 24th stage win in Tour de France history, moving him closer to French cyclist Andre Leducq, who stands fourth on the all-time list with 25 wins. Despite some spectators booing him along the route, Pogacar remained undeterred, describing the day as “incredible” and praising his team’s strategic efforts. "We targeted this stage since a long time ago," he said, referencing his desire to honor the yellow jersey on France’s national holiday.
Reigning champion Vingegaard, who had mounted a strong move 15.5 kilometers from the finish, was unable to sustain the pace on the final climb and finished seventh on the day, 44 seconds behind Pogacar. He now trails the Slovenian leader by 3 minutes and 36 seconds in the overall standings. Evenepoel moved up to third place overall, trailing Vingegaard by about 30 seconds, while Pogacar’s teammate Isaac Del Toro slipped from third to seventh overall after finishing the stage eighth, 1 minute 31 seconds behind.
The competition behind Pogacar remains intense, with only 1 minute 33 seconds separating Vingegaard in second place and Del Toro in seventh, and less than 40 seconds between Evenepoel and Lipowitz in sixth. Early in the stage, a 31-rider breakaway formed after a high pace set by Mads Pedersen’s Lidl-Trek team, aimed at securing points for the intermediate sprint and maintaining Pedersen’s lead in the green jersey classification. Spaniard Javier Romo launched a solo move for roughly 50 kilometers before being reeled in with 38 kilometers remaining.
The stage’s demanding terrain and tactical moves underscored Pogacar’s dominance as he demonstrated superior climbing and sprinting abilities to strengthen his position as the clear favorite for overall victory.