Georg Zimmermann parked his bike and disappeared in frustration into the team bus: the Augsburg cyclist narrowly missed his first stage win in the Tour de France in the downhill thriller through the volcanic landscape in the Massif Central, the 25-year-old only had to fight Pello Bilbao in the sprint of an escape group give up. After more than 100 kilometers among the breakaways, Zimmermann (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) lacked the decisive strength in the final sprint, the Spaniard Bilbao from Team Bahrain-Victorious overtook a few meters from the finish.
As expected, the next spectacular chapter in the duel between defending champion Jonas Vingegaard and challenger Tadej Pogacar did not materialize. After the first day of rest, the two rivals continued to save energy for the upcoming, possibly decisive showdown in the Alps. Here you can find the result of the stage and the overall ranking.
The favorites are stalking each other
“We throw bombs at each other every day, it’s man against man on every stage,” said two-time Tour winner Pogacar on Monday. It was “a great rivalry with Jonas”. But: “I have something like a momentum,” explained the Slovenian.
In the overall standings, however, defending champion Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) is still at the top with 17 seconds ahead of Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates). However, the continuous but hardly demanding climb of the 10th stage over 167.2 kilometers from Vulcania to Issoire also hardly offered any opportunities for an attack.
Zimmermann joins an escape group
Behind the otherworldly favorites, Jai Hindley defended third place in the sweltering summer heat. The Australian, captain of the German Bora-hansgrohe team and after the first Pyrenees stage in yellow, is already 2:23 minutes short of Pogacar. His helper Emanuel Buchmann is the best German in 13th place.
With fresh legs, the riders set off at a surprisingly high pace. Vingegaard and Pogacar also broke away from the peloton for a short time, but dropped back down a little later. Due to the enormous speed, none of the breakaway groups was able to break away in the long term. On the other hand, many sprinters had to be demolished. Around 127 kilometers from Issoire, which was the destination of a tour stage for only the second time in history, a 14-strong group around Georg Zimmermann then tried to escape to the front and temporarily gained a lead of more than three minutes.
The peloton with Vingegaard and Pogacar now saved strength. The only flat stage of the second tour week is on Wednesday. The drivers rolled over 179.8 kilometers from Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins without any major challenges, the section was made for the sprinters around the three-time winner Jasper Philipsen. After two podium places in the first week, Phil Bauhaus also wants to fight for the first tour stage win of his career.