Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) turned on the style to secure his maiden Tour de France stage win on Tuesday as Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) stubbornly held on to the yellow jersey.
Alaphilippe launched an audacious lone attack on the third and penultimate climb and went on to solo over the finish several minutes ahead of the main peloton after a first day in the Alps marked by a yellow jersey truce.
“There’s a lot of emotion, because winning at the Tour is not easy,” Alaphilippe said. “I came close in my first Tour two years ago, and to win in this way, it’s unexpected because… I don’t even have the words… I’m just thinking about my family. I’m happy to make them happy. I’m happy for myself as well. Now I hope things go well for Bob [Jungels] on GC, and there are lots of great things still do, but today I really want to enjoy this.”
Van Avermaet appeared under threat at the beginning of the 158.5 km race from Annecy featuring four categorised climbs and with a downhill finish into Le Grand Bornand.
But the wily BMC rider exceeded expectations, joining an early breakaway that went on to build a healthy lead on the main peloton to stymie whatever plans Sky may have had of taking control of the race.
In the end, Van Avermaet produced a fantastic performance to finish 1min 43secs behind Alaphilippe, Thomas, Froome and Team Sky trailing over the finish over three minutes behind the stage winner.
In the overall standings Van Avermaet now leads Thomas, in second, by 2:22, with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) now up to third overall at 3:10.
The 11th stage, held over 108.5 km between Albertville and La Rosiere, features the first summit finish of the race. The third and final day in the Alps is on Thursday when sparks are expected to fly on the 14km climb, over 21 hairpin bends, to the summit of Alpe d’Huez.
Tour de France 2018 – stage 10 results (Annecy – Le Grand-Bornand):
| 1 | Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) | 4:25:27 |
| 2 | Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) | +01’34” |
| 3 | Rein Taaramäe (Direct Energie) | +01’40” |
| 4 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) | +01’44” |
| 5 | Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 6 | Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) | +02’24” |
| 7 | Daniel Martin (UAE Team Emirates) | +03’23” |
| 8 | Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 9 | David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 10 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 11 | Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 12 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 13 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 14 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | ,, |
| 15 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 16 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 17 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | ,, |
| 18 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | ,, |
| 19 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 20 | Mikel Landa (Movistar) | ,, |
General classification after stage 10:
| 1 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) | 40:34:28 |
| 2 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | +02’22” |
| 3 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +03’10” |
| 4 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | +03’12” |
| 5 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | +03’20” |
| 6 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | +03’21” |
| 7 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 8 | Mikel Landa (Movistar) | ,, |
| 9 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) | +03’27” |
| 10 | Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +03’36” |
| 11 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | +03’42” |
| 12 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +03’45” |
| 13 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +04’02” |
| 14 | Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) | +04’11” |
| 15 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | +04’28” |
| 16 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +04’29” |
| 17 | Daniel Martin (UAE Team Emirates) | +05’01” |
| 18 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +05’12” |
| 19 | Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 20 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) | +05’18” |
