Simon Yates attacked from the break to win an arduous day in the Tour de France that saw yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar successfully fend off multiple blows from Yates's Visma-Lease a Bike team.
However, the Slovenian ultimately gave up yellow, with Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), who had been so active in the break, moving into the GC lead after spending so much time at or around the front of the breakaway.
"I didn't even feel that good," admitted Yates after winning what was his third career Tour stage victory. "It was a really hard start to be there. And that's why I took advantage into the final corners at the bottom of the last descent, because I was looking for a bit of a head start; And I just did my best from there.
Yates, whose last stage win in the Tour de France was in 2019, added: "It's been a long time. But actually I wasn't expecting any opportunities here. We came here fully focused on Jonas and the GC. Yeah and the stage played out in a way that I could be there for the stage, and I took it with both hands."
He said he'd had a tough start to the Tour, and was still tired after his Giro d'Italia overall victory in May. "It's not easy, I'm still a bit tired from there but I'm getting better every day. I was a bit rusty at the start but I've been growing into the race."
Yates had attacked out of the wheels of Ben Healy at the bottom of the final climb with three kilometres to go. Healy had been pushing on the front of the breakaway for much of the final part of the stage, and the Irishman seemed well aware he stood to take the yellow jersey and appeared ready and willing to sacrifice his own stage win chances in favour of the GC lead.
There were a few tense moments at finish line as he and his EF Education-EasyPost team-mates counted down the seconds as they waited for Pogačar to arrive. But ultimately it was a relatively comfortable margin of 29 seconds that Healy took yellow by, jumping 10 places into the top spot.
It leaves Pogačar in second at 29sec, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) at 1:29 in third, and Vingegaard fourth at 1:46.
How it happened
France's Bastille Day national holiday saw a huge stage between Ennezat and Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy that featured eight classified climbs totalling 4,500m. None of them were huge in their own right, but the ups and downs were difficult and constant, with seven of them cat-two, and one cat-three.
The parcours pointed uphill pretty much from the start, with the riders cresting the first classified climb of the day – the Côte de Loubeyrat – inside around 12km. It was on its slopes that the day's big breakaway went clear. A big group of riders numbering around 20 pushed on over the top and after a semblance of a chase for a short period, the peloton cut them loose.
The gap climbed steadily over the first half of the race, with the riders tucking away three further category-two climbs.
There were plenty of teams represented in the breakaway, with prominent riders included Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Simon Yates and Victor Campanaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike), Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Joe Blackmore (Israel-Premier Tech) and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious).
Healy had looked active throughout and attacked almost constantly. Heading into the final 40km, he went clear with O'Connor and Joe Blackmore (Israel-Premier Tech) and was joined by Yates, Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling), Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), Anders Johanssen (Uno-X Mobility) and Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost).
Aware of the yellow jersey potential, Healy drove the break hard, in all likelihood sacrificing his own stage win chances.
At 3km to go on the final climb Simon Yates attacked out of Healy's wheel, with O'Connor managing to hold on to the Brit. Another push a kilometre later saw Yates drop O'Connor, and despite a concerted chase by Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), Yates dragged out a small gap that he managed to hold until the finish to win.
While the peloton were someway behind and it was already apparent that Pogačar would be giving up his yellow jersey, it was still action stations. Visma-Lease a Bike were continuously attacking the Slovenian, with Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson jabbing at Pogačar again and again. Come the second last climb, they had succeeded in isolating him from all of his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team-mates.
However the anticipated move from Vingegaard never materialised. Even after Healy had finished and anxiously counted down the seconds, Pogačar attacked the reduced peloton and dropped everyone bar Vingegaard, who stuck to his wheel like a limpet all the way to the line.
Results
Tour de France 2025, stage 10: Ennezat > Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy, 165.3km
1. Simon Yates (Gbr) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 4:20:05
2. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, +9s
3. Ben Healy (Ire) EF Education-EasyPost, +31s
4. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +39
5. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +1:23
6. Joe Blackmore (Gbr) Israel-Premier Tech, +3:57
7. Anders Halland Johanssen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +4:38
8. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +4:51
9. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG
10. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, both at same time
General Classification after stage 10
1. Ben Healy (Ire) EF Education-EasyPost, in 37:41:49
2. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirate-XRG, +29s
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:29
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:17
5. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:34
6. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +1:46
7. Oscar Onley (GBr) Picnic PostNL, +3:24
8. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +3:34
9. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +3:41
10. Tobias Halland Johanssen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +5:06
