The precious work of the world champion Julian Alaphilippe and the inexhaustible Mattia Cattaneo, the arrow Kasper Asgreen to keep up the pace in the final, Tim Declercq and Dries Devenyns to pull all day to catch the two fugitives on duty, Davide Ballerini and Michael Morkov to pilot the sprint in the last thousand meters. And then there’s him, Mark Cavendish, the eternal champion who is taking a personal revenge in this Tour de France, since everyone thought he was over. With great teamwork, the Deceuninck-QuickStep also makes its tenth stage of the Grande Boucle, the flat section of 190 km from Albertville to Valence.
Cannonball makes three of a kind in this edition and rises to 33 overall victories in the most important stage race in the world. Eddy Merckx’s record, which seemed unattainable for anyone, is barely a success away. And with several sprints still planned on the French roads it seems within reach. The British sprinter proved to be the strongest in the group, preceding Wout Van Aert and Jasper Philipsen in a very tight sprint, which did not see Sonny Colbrelli among the protagonists, conditioned by a puncture at -28 km from the finish and only 17 ° at the finish line. Behind the triumph of the green jersey, increasingly leader of the points classification, there is however all the support work of the team, which has brought Cannonball in the best position to show his explosiveness, which seems to be that of the best days. «I didn’t really do anything, it was the team. I have to thank you – the Isle of Man sprinter admitted, winning number 154 in his career – as soon as we went in front we shot as fast as possible so that no one could advance and try to pass us to the finish line. It was an old school sprint ».
After the rest day, the big players – starting with the yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar – had a quiet afternoon, despite some fans in the final that ignited the stage without reaping excellent victims. The ranking remains unchanged, but only for a few hours. Tomorrow, in fact, the eleventh stage of the Tour is scheduled, one of the hardest ever, with the double ascent of Mont Ventoux and the downhill arrival in Malaucene after a fraction of 198 km with 5 Gpm to climb. A fraction destined to overturn the balance of the general, dominated by the Slovenian champion but with a fight for the podium still to be deciphered.