MEGEVE: Magnus Cort Nielsen won stage 10 of the Tour de France on Tuesday, after a nail-biting cat-and-mouse struggle up the final section of the culminating 20km climb.

Nick Schultz of Bike Exchange was second and Luis Leon Sanchez was third after the 148km run through sinuous Haut Savoie roads that avoided the major mountains in the region.

Nielsen, a Dane who rides for EF, wore the polka dot mountain points jersey for several days after claiming it on stage two.

Tadej Pogacar led the main peloton across the line almost nine minutes later.

German Lennard Kamna leapt from 21st to second after escaping with the breakaway. Although he could not keep up on the final climb, the Bora rider still gained more than eight minutes on the race leaders and is just 11sec adrift of Pogacar.

Pogacar earlier lost a second team-mate to Covid, while his key lieutenant Rafal Majka also tested positive but was cleared to race by the UCI as he is considered not infectious.

School-holiday crowds, mainly families, were in party mode along the sinuous route, and even more expected on the two huge mountain stages coming up.

A day after the rest day, the cyclists rode through bright sunshine and 24C temperatures as the winding 148km through the valleys of the Haute Savoie skirted the major climbs.

The ride was delayed twice.

The first delay came when a team bus became stuck on a hairpin bend before the start and had to be lifted out by snowplough.

Then the racing was interrupted by demonstrators on the road with 38km left.

The stage was halted for 10 minutes after half a dozen climate activists tried to stop riders on the road before being pulled out by police and a senior organisers’ official.

The activists, one of them wearing a t-shirt saying “We have 989 days left”, sat on the road some 36 kilometres from the finish in Megeve, a Reuters witness said.

The activists were pulled off the road by police, helped by Tour organisers’ Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) general director Yann Le Moenner.

ASO declined to comment on that specific incident when contacted by Reuters.

Later, Tour director Christian Prudhomme said: “These things (protests) happen, it’s the ransom of success.”

Stage leader Alberto Bettiol rode through a cloud of pink from a flare before being asked by a race official to get off his bike just before organisers said the stage had been stopped.

Ten minutes later, race director Christian Prudhomme ordered racing to resume.

“Since the government doesn’t care about the climate crisis, we need to come and take over the Tour de France to refocus attention on what matters for our survival,” climate activists movement Derniere Renovation said in a statement.

“We need to make our government react as they lead us to the slaughterhouse.”

Wednesday’s 151km run from Albertville to Col du Granon features two beyond category climbs is considered by some of the contenders, including fourth-placed Geraint Thomas of Ineos, as the toughest in this year’s visit to the Alps.

The final climb rises to 2,400 metres while the Col du Galibier before it climbs to 2600.

“I’m comfortable with those kinds of altitudes,” the 2018 champion said on Monday.

On the July 14, Bastille Day, on Thursday the race returns over some of the same mountains but takes in three beyond category climbs before finishing at the Alpe d’Huez where crowds are traditionally less family based and an atmosphere of anarchy can reign.

On Sunday, Bob Jungels (AG2R Citroen) of Luxembourg landed a sensational 63km solo break to win stage nine at the Tour de France in the first Alpine finish.

Jungels fended off the final climb advances of Thibaut Pinot (Groupama FDJ), Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers) and Carlos Verona (Movistar) to bring home his first-ever Tour stage win, and a first victory on the road since 2019.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2022