TdF daily: Esteban Chaves charges to fifth on stage ten

In Colombia especially, people were cheering for their national champ when he rode into the final kilometer of stage 10 in the winning break. They hoped against hope that their climber could pull off the sprint of his life.

Esteban had ridden his heart out from the start of the anarchic stage across the Massif Central. The first hours after the race director had dropped his flag in Vulcania were horrendous. After a day of rest, the peloton blazed onto the first col and exploded into groups, leaving riders to suffer under the sun in 40-degree heat. There was hardly a moment for them to catch their breath.

Undaunted, Esteban went on the attack and forced his way off the front with 13 of the strongest riders in this year’s Tour de France. They rode flat out across five categorized climbs as the asphalt melted under their tires.

On the last one, with 35 kilometers to go, Esteban made the decisive split. In a group of five, he chased a lone attacker over the summit and down the long descent towards the finish line in Issoire.

They made the catch with three kilometers left. Those kilometers never suited Esteban. He’s built to fly up alpine cols, not win match sprints, but he equalled attacks all the way to the red flag that marks one kilometer to go.

His kick in the end wasn’t a miracle. Esteban finished fifth. He is proud of his ride, but can’t help but be disappointed that he missed out on his first ever Tour de France stage win. He will try again in the Alps.

Meanwhile, Neilson Powless kept a hold of his polka dot jersey. Neilson’s lead in the Tour de France’s King of the Mountains competition remains at 10 points. Neilson suffered in the heat today and tried to save his strength in the gruppetto. There is a lot of climbing still to come in this year’s Tour de France.

Hear our riders thoughts from after today’s stage.

I have a mix of feelings. My frustration is mixed with happiness. This is the dream. It is the Tour de France. This is what I have been dreaming of. And to be that close to having a Tour de France victory for the first time in my life is disappointing. It is frustrating. But we will keep fighting. This is one characteristic of our team. We are fighters. We are resilient. And we keep dreaming, because dreams come true. We will have more opportunities. The stages coming up suit our characteristics. We will take them day by day.

It was a super hard day, as hard as it could be, as we expected it to be. Luckily, we got Esteban in that break, but even in the bunch it was a pretty solid day. It was really hot out there.

It was a really, really easy day—not! No, we have to be proud. We have with Chavito a guy in breakaway fighting to win the stage. This is what is important. We have to do the maximum, full effort, and continue to be proud. And keep trying. That is why we are here. And we have more stages ahead.

It was clearly the hardest day since the start of the Tour. I tried to make the breakaway, and I fought to stay upfront on the first climbs, but I couldn’t follow as I wanted. It’s always kind of hard to resume racing after the rest day.

I am feeling happy, because it was a super hard race, a super demanding stage, super fast stage, and in the end we had a rider there all the time. He made the breakaway today. In the beginning we had James and Esteban fighting to be in the final breakaway. Esteban made it. He did an impressive ride today. He was really good. Obviously, this finale doesn’t suit him, because when you have eight and a half kilometers flat before the end, he couldn’t even anticipate the finale. And Pello Bilbao is really fast in the sprint. But I am really happy with his performance today and with the rest of the team at the start of the day.