Tour de France 2022 – Magnus Cort sneaks Stage 10 win in Alps as Lennard Kamna jumps to second in GC
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Updated 12/07/2022 at 17:43 GMT
Denmark’s Magnus Cort denied Australia’s Nick Schultz in a thrilling uphill sprint finale as a large breakaway battled for Stage 10 spoils on the altiport runway in the Alpine ski resort of Megeve. Germany’s Lennard Kamna came within 11 seconds of taking over the yellow jersey from Tadej Pogacar, who endured a stressful day after another UAE team-mate was forced out with Covid.
Stage 10 highlights – Cort stars after protest, Kamna surges into GC contention
On his first day out of the polka dot jersey, Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) returned to the Tour de France podium as winner of Stage 10 in the plush Alpine ski resort of Megeve. The moustachioed Dane duked it out with Australia’s Nick Schultz (BikeExchange-Jayco) on the runway of the local altiport as the remnants of the day’s 25-man break came together in a spectacular conclusion to the 148km stage from Morzine.
And the excitement did not end with Cort’s slender win over Schultz, with 10th place Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) having to endure a nine-minute wait to learn whether he had done enough to take over the race lead from Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates).
The Slovenian double champion ended a stressful day – marked by the withdrawal of team-mate George Bennett with Covid – with a flourish on the nose of the main field to retain the yellow jersey by just 11 seconds on Germany’s Kamna, who was left heartbroken after rising 19 places up the standings to second.
Elsewhere there was no major changes in the general classification with Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) still 39 seconds down on race favourite Pogacar but now in third place. Two British riders from Ineos Grenadiers – Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates – complete the top five at 1’17” and 1’25” respectively ahead of two blockbuster back-to-back Alpine summit finishes on the Col du Granon and Alpe d’Huez.
Spanish veteran Luis Leon Sanchez (Bahrain Victorious) led the stage until two kilometres remaining – and although he missed out on a fifth Tour stage win a decade after his last, the 38-year-old moved up 15 places to knock Neilson Powless (EF Education-EastPost) out of the top 10 on a day the American’s team-mate Cort made the headlines.
Cort’s second career win on the Tour came after 10 riders from the breakaway fought tooth and nail after coming back together in dramatic fashion on the home straight. First, lone leader Sanchez was caught by Schultz and the American Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) after the summit of the final climb, two kilometres from the finish.
Dutchman Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers) then caught and rode past the trio underneath the flamme rouge, only for an easing of pace on the runway strip allowing for the return of a chase group containing Cort and being driven by the Frenchman Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis).
Sanchez opened up the final sprint with Schultz in his wheel. The 27-year-old Australian looked destined to take a maiden Grand Tour stage win only to be denied by a late and clinical surge of pace from Cort, whose finishing speed and superior lunge ensured that the day belonged to the man whose polka-dot attacks in his native Denmark lit up the opening phase of this race.
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Cort’s win was preceded by a long foray off the front of the breakaway from his Italian teammate Alberto Bettiol who held a 30-second lead going onto the final climb despite the race being neutralised for 15 minutes owing to protestors blocking the road with around 36km remaining.
“I can’t believe what just happened today,” an ecstatic Cort said. “I was on the limit for so long on this climb. Luckily I had [Alberto] Bettiol, who was really strong and in front. That meant I was able to sit on and save some energy. I was losing my place in the group in the last couple of kilometres but suddenly it was all back together and I was there and able to take it in the sprint.
“It’s huge. For me, my type of rider, it doesn’t get bigger than this. In my first Tour I won a stage [in 2018], and I’ve tried a lot since then, but to be able to win again is unbelievable. When we entered the airport runway I looked down and saw the Tour de France sign and I told myself, ‘This one is mine’. I just had to take it, no matter the price.”
It took an hour and a half of frenetic riding for the day’s break to form, a move of 25 riders eventually being led up the road on the second climb of the day after an intriguing opening 65km that saw even the four-time Tour champion Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) test his legs off the front.
A strong move included Cort, Kamna and the aforementioned riders as well as a host of strong rouleurs such as Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo), Edvald Boasson Hagen (TotalEnergies), Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) and the oldest rider in the race, Belgium’s Philippe Gilbert (Lotto Soudal). There was also a place for Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), the Spaniard who won a mirror image of this stage from Megeve to Morzine back in 2016 for Movistar.
Once the road hierarchy was established the stage lost a lot of its zip. Frenchman Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-KTM) summited two climbs in pole position before riding clear with Britain’s Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) on the descent of the penultimate peak inside the final 50km.
The duo held a small lead until they were caught and past by Bettiol, who held a 28-second gap over the chasers when he was met by a wall of pink flares and several protestors sitting across the road. Although he managed to dodge the obstacles, Bettiol was pulled up by the race organisers moments later and the stage was neutralised until the safety of both protestors and riders could be guaranteed.
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Soon after the restart, Kamna was elevated into the virtual yellow jersey as the gap back to the peloton increased above the 8’43” by which he trailed Pogacar coming out of the second rest day. Bettiol was caught halfway up the Cat.2 Montee de l’Altiport de Megeve by the impressive Wright, Frenchman Thomas and the German Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert).
Van Baarle and Cort led a chasing group over before Bettiol tried his luck again with Zimmermann inside the final 10km. Soon there were a dozen riders on the front before Bettiol popped and Sanchez made what looked to be the decisive move, the Spanish veteran using his experience to pick the right moment to go clear on the gentle climb.
With Schultz leading the chase but Sanchez’s team-mate Wright marking all the moves, things were set up perfectly for a tense finale. Schultz and Jorgenson caught Sanchez moments after he crested the summit of the climb – but with the road still heading uphill towards the finish for another two kilometres, other riders fought back in drips and drabs, buoyed by the example of Van Baarle, who made the connection just underneath the flamme rouge.
One of those riders who refused to give in was Cort, who played his cards right to take the second Tour win of his career four years after the first. It was a worthy triumph for the 29-year-old who was involved in the first four breakaways of this Tour and who broke a long-standing record by cresting the summit of the first eleven consecutive climbs of the race during his stint in polka dots.
After a day of GC stalemate – despite Kamna’s meteoric rise to second place – the battle for yellow should ignite on Wednesday with the first of two key summit finishes. The 151.7km Stage 11 from Albertville includes the legendary Col du Galibier before the showdown on the Col du Granon, unused on the Tour since 1986.
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