Stage 10

Another day of the Tour de France, another shake up. I'm writing this at 9:44AM local time (France) and am just stunned at the flip-flopping of riders, absence of a strong team and a cloudy outcome to the race.

Above all, I'm thrilled. This is how the Tour is supposed to shake out.

Better still, Stage 10 was won by a Frenchman!!

Just after the 73KM mark, there was a breakaway with ten riders in it. They were chasing two other riders and finally caught them at the 81KM mark. Then, the core of this 10-rider group stayed away to the finish.

In the lead group of 11 riders at 81KM were Burghardt (TMO), Voigt (CSC), Flecha (RAB), Bossoni (LAM), Halgand (C.A), Scheirlinckx (COF), Albasini and Kuschynski (LIQ), Casar (FDJ), Vasseur (QSI) and Grivko (MRM).

The group that broke off of this group was made up of Voigt, Casar, Halgand, Vasseur and Albasini.

They stayed away with around 18KM left in the race to give France a win by 3CM - that's right, three centimeters. Vasseur took the stage with the rest of the five riders zipping home right on his wheel.

Here's the top five list for Stage 10.

1. Cedric Vasseur (QSI) 229.5km in 5h20'24" (42.977km/h)
2. Sandy Casar (FDJ)
3. Michael Albasini (LIQ)
4. Patrice Halgand (C.A)
5. Jens Voigt (CSC)