Stage 10 TDF 2022 Blog: Magnus Opum
It’s enjoyable watching Magnus Cort, because when he succeeds in his goals he is clearly delighted. He doesn’t expect to win everything all the time, and his pleasure in success is not arrogant, but has an innocent purity to it.
Lennard Kamna was 8min43 behind on GC before Stage 10. Kamna and Cort were part of a breakaway of 25 riders. UAE had lost George Bennett to Covid overnight, and are starting to lack the numbers to control breakaways. They were happy to let the break extend its advantage to around 9 minutes.
Alberto Bettiol (EF) attacked out of the breakaway group and had a lead of around 40s.
A climate protest blocked the road with around 30km left. In their highlights package, ITV gave the protest the briefest of mentions; they effectively censored out the reasons behind it.
It’s uncomfortable to see them and other broadcasters give credibility to riders promoting oil, plastics and SUVs, while ignoring or presenting as the bad guys protestors against climate breakdown.
All the riders had to wait, but when the race re-started, the time gaps were preserved.
Fred Wright and Georg Zimmermann chased Bettiol. Bettiol was eventually caught by the breakaway with 12km left.
On the Montée de l’Altiport, Luis Léon Sanchez attacked. Nick Shultz and Matteo Jorgensen joined him, then Dylan van Baarle made it on as well. Van Baarle tried a long-range attack, but Jorgensen marked him.
The rest of the group caught the four leading riders with 450m left. Sanchez tried to sprint, but Shultz overtook him, then Magnus Cort came alongside Schultz. Cort pipped Schultz to the line in a photo finish.
The GC Battle
Pogacar sprinted for the line, and got a bit of a gap – but not enough to count as a time difference.
Breakaway participant Lennard Kamna was tenth on the stage, 22s behind the winner, and 8min32 ahead of Pogacar. Kamna just failed to take the yellow jersey, but is now second on GC, 11s behind Pogacar.