Tour De France 2018 Stage 10

Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe claimed an impressive solo victory on stage 10 of the Tour de France as Greg van Avermaet extended his overall lead.

Alaphilippe went clear with just under 30km to go and held his advantage over the final climb to take his first Tour stage win in Le Grand-Bornand.

BMC's Van Avermaet got into the early breakaway and held on to finish fourth, behind Ion Izagirre and Rein Taaramae.

The Belgian now leads Britain's Geraint Thomas by two minutes and 22 seconds.

Four-time winner Chris Froome is up to sixth overall, three minutes and 21 seconds back on Van Avermaet, while fellow Briton Adam Yates is seventh, on the same time.

Team Sky and the other general classification teams know Van Avermaet, who is not a pure climber, should still lose the race lead over the next two days in the Alps but this was a superb ride to keep his yellow jersey into an eighth day.

"We were expecting that from Van Avermaet, he did that last time he had the jersey in 2016," said Thomas, who started the day 43 seconds down.

"It would have been nice to take the yellow jersey but it's the Tour de France - it doesn't come easily and doesn't come just because you want it."


Stage 10 result

1. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Quick-Step Floors) 4hrs 25mins 27secs
2. Ion Izagirre (Spa/Bahrain-Merida) +1min 34secs
3. Rein Taaramae (Est/Direct Energie) +1min 40secs
4. Greg van Avermaet (Bel/BMC Racing) +1min 44secs
5. Serge Pauwels (Bel/Team Dimension Data) same time
6. Lilian Calmejane (Fra/Direct Energie) +2mins 24secs
7. Dan Martin (Ire/UAE Team Emirates) +3mins 23secs
8. Primoz Roglic (Slo/LottoNL-Jumbo) same time
9. David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama-FDJ)
10. Geraint Thomas (GB/Team Sky)


General classification after stage 10

1. Greg van Avermaet (Bel/BMC Racing) 40hrs 34mins 28secs
2. Geraint Thomas (GB/Team Sky) +2mins 22secs
3. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +3mins 10secs
4. Jakob Fuglsang (Den/Astana) +3mins 12secs
5. Bob Jungels (Lux/Quick-Step Floors) +3mins 20secs
6. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) +3mins 21secs
7. Adam Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) same time
8. Mikel Landa (Spa/Movistar)
9. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Bahrain-Merida) +3mins 27secs
10. Primoz Roglic (Slo/LottoNL-Jumbo) +3mins 36secs