Tour de France Tour de France 2025 Stage 10: Ennezat – Le Mont-Dore (165.3k)

[Rou]

I thought it was going to end in paris.

I said this because of this poor route. Gouvenou wants suspense but I don't like backloaded routes.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

I said this because of this poor route. Gouvenou wants suspense but I don't like backloaded routes.

But if you believe the race will be over after the first mountain stage, why would you want it early on? False tension is still better than no tension.

 

[zlev11]

a better route would've had todays stage on saturday and hautacam today, but it's been fine

 

[Schultz0620]

I said this because of this poor route. Gouvenou wants suspense but I don't like backloaded routes.

I'm with you on the route. Never been a fan of backloading the routes to create drama. It rarely works out that way.

 

[GroupDK]

For the heck of it, just to sense if "restdays" in Tour de France dont hold the same value as previously..
[ChatGTP]
Q: Are there any logic for the leading rider in yellow, and likely the future winneer of the race, to give up yellow before a restday.

A: It makes very little sense to voluntarily give up yellow just before a rest day.

---

Here's why holding yellow into a rest day is so valuable:​

✅ 1. Maximum Media Exposure​

• Rest days are when media coverage shifts entirely to off-the-bike stories: press conferences, interviews, photo ops.
• The rider in yellow is the centerpiece of all that attention — so sponsors get prime time, not just 30 seconds at the finish line.

✅ 2. Sponsor/VIP Visits​

• Teams often schedule sponsor visits and hospitality events during rest days.
• If your rider is in yellow, that’s everything the sponsor could ask for — a live demonstration of ROI.
• Many teams openly say having yellow on a rest day is worth more than most stage wins, financially.

✅ 3. No Racing Burden That Day​

• On a normal race day, being in yellow means you’re expected to help control the peloton. But on a rest day, you reap all the benefits without burning your team.
• That’s free promotion with no tactical downside at all.

Dropping yellow before a raceday, can make sense from a tactical aspect, but before a restday.. nope, would not make sense for any teammanagement to kick it, as there is no gain.. the whole purpose of TdF is promotion & having the spotlight, while the media-buzz are there alongside all your sponsores, VIPs etc..
And even seems from a teammanagement perspective to rank higher, than most stagewins in TdF (financially* according to machine learning template above)

 

[Breezy1985]

For the heck of it, just to sense if "restdays" in Tour de France dont hold the same value as previously..
[ChatGTP]
Q: Are there any logic for the leading rider in yellow, and likely the future winneer of the race, to give up yellow before a restday.


Dropping yellow before a raceday, can make sense from a tactical aspect, but before a restday.. nope, would not make sense for any teammanagement to kick it, as there is no gain.. the whole purpose of TdF is promotion & having the spotlight, while the media-buzz are there alongside all your sponsores, VIPs etc..

Pog will still get all that attention anyway. He is still the virtual leader and the biggest star.

 

[Schultz0620]

For the heck of it, just to sense if "restdays" in Tour de France dont hold the same value as previously..
[ChatGTP]
Q: Are there any logic for the leading rider in yellow, and likely the future winneer of the race, to give up yellow before a restday.


Dropping yellow before a raceday, can make sense from a tactical aspect, but before a restday.. nope, would not make sense for any teammanagement to kick it, as there is no gain.. the whole purpose of TdF is promotion & having the spotlight, while the media-buzz are there alongside all your sponsores, VIPs etc..
And even seems from a teammanagement perspective to rank higher, then many stagewin in TdF (financially*)

I really don't think UAE gives two craps about publicity on a rest day.

 

[Escarabajo]

a better route would've had todays stage on saturday and hautacam today, but it's been fine

Nothing would have worked today. 10 days in series is a bit too much. They all looked either dead or semi-dead IMHO.

 

[Oldman]

I mean, they could have kept it if they really wanted to. I don't think Tadej and the UAE will be particularly sad about this.

Spot on X10. The Rest day will be the light training day they want prior to the TT and Stage 12. Healy and EF will have the press in their face and UAE will have a staff person provide any response. Something like "Tadej and the team will need to reassess the strategy for the podium..."
While they plan to take another 5 minutes in the next week to make the final stage in Paris less of a shitshow.

 

[Escarabajo]

Its not really up for debate, its been the norm for decades.
Being in yellow on rest day is one of the biggest intermittent goals in the Tour de France, and having all the buzz, that is paramount for any team and its sponsors and its visitors.
Your not dropping a yellow jersey before rest day with purpose.

It might be true for the majority of riders, but not for Pogi. He doesn't need it now but at the end.

 

[Rackham]

Semi-controversial take: Visma wanted to achieve two goals today, i.e. a stage win and get Matteo Jorgenson higher up in GC because they want him on the podium. That's why they sent Sepp Kuss on the attack so Jorgenson could bridge over. It's what they attempted in any case.

I don't even think they were looking at Pog. I know that's not what fans want to hear but seriously it looked like those were their main objectives today.

 

[AnotherArmChair]

Does healy have any chance of challenging remco in the white jersey comp?

That challenge is Onley ...He is climbing better than Remco so far though Remco will do much better in the TT

 

[fenns]

Carlos Rodriguez back from the dead

 

[Rou]

By the way this was the best stage performance for Arensman since his win on Sierra Nevada?

 

[Oldman]

It might be true for the majority of riders, but not for Pogi. He doesn't need it now but at the end.

And having several yellow shirts in the closet he'd probably prefer some real chill prep time for stage 12 and the TT. He could be out of reach completely after stage 14, barring disaster.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

It might be true for the majority of riders, but not for Pogi. He doesn't need it now but at the end.

Agree - he's been there and done it. We all know the press will be lined up to ask the Yellow jersey holder all kinds of questions - some to do with the race, others about other issues......
Leave that for EF & Healy, whilst UAE/ Pogacar concentrate on their rest day.

 

[Kazistuta]

Its not really up for debate, its been the norm for decades.
Being in yellow on rest day is one of the biggest intermittent goals in the Tour de France, and having all the buzz, that is paramount for any team and its sponsors and its visitors.
Your not dropping a yellow jersey before rest day with purpose.

Yeah, especially for a team like UAE that's important.....

 

[Kazistuta]

Spot on.
Let me say something else.
Yesterday's stage was 50 km/h. I have repeated that a dozen times but I'll do it again. Such stages hurt a smaller rider like Jonas.
Last year Stage 13 was a super fast echelon day. Stage 14 Pog dropped Jonas and on Stage 15 he finished him. In fact Jonas digging so deep caused him to be weaker in the third week.
Don't be surprised if Jonas collapses this year if pushed over his limit.
'' The make the race harder'' is a mantra they keep repeating but when they get a reality check on FTP like a time trial or a long mountain they say:' 'We don' t know what happened. ''

Last year Vingegaard didn't have a restitution base due to his crash. You can't compare with this year, where his base should be much better.

 

[Psycat]

No we’ve seen Pogacar fatigued. We saw massive collapses 2 years in a row. We could see one this year as well since his team looks ragged right now.

That was before he skipped a couple of evolutional steps though not nearly the same rider probably improved a good 10-20% since, also I am pretty sure he faked it at Loze(after the, somewhat, unexpected knockout TT from Jonas he probably figured he cant drop him and rather go for a stage the following day).

 

[Cycling111]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1944790811171750232

View: https://x.com/lucasaganronald/status/1944790811171750232

 

[Gingivitis]

Silly thinking UAE would want to keep the yellow. Restday without fuss to prepare for the mountains and less of a worry on stage 11 and possibly stage 12 for much of the day as EF will honor it and try to keep it for Healy regardless of imminent loss.
Visma has tried a lot of things wanting to hurt UAE but only thing they actually have to show for it is today's stage.

It will be interesting to see if Tadej will attack first to add more time on Hautacam stage or he will ride it defensively counting on Visma to drill it for Jonas and maybe counterattack if he feels up to it.

 

[GroupDK]

Agree - he's been there and done it. We all know the press will be lined up to ask the Yellow jersey holder all kinds of questions - some to do with the race, others about other issues......
Leave that for EF & Healy, whilst UAE/ Pogacar concentrate on their rest day.

Sorry to pop your balloon, but take the wording "rest day" with a pinch of salt... a TdF profile like Pogacar ain't gonna get a much easier day - publicity-wise, depending on if he is in Yellow or not.
Its not like all the VIP invitations, UAE day-program isn't finalized before today's stage..
The main difference gonna be him parading in his normal jersey, for all the press briefing, meet & greet & photoshoots with a shutload of VIPs.

 

[Hugh Januss]

Semi-controversial take: Visma wanted to achieve two goals today, i.e. a stage win and get Matteo Jorgenson higher up in GC because they want him on the podium. That's why they sent Sepp Kuss on the attack so Jorgenson could bridge over. It's what they attempted in any case.

I don't even think they were looking at Pog. I know that's not what fans want to hear but seriously it looked like those were their main objectives today.

It's Vingo's job to look at Pogi, like a hawk. I think Visma's long game is to provoke enough reactions out of Pogi that he shows weakness at some point. Then and only then does Vingo attack, picking away seconds here and there is not Vingo's thing he's waiting for the one big play.

 

[Cookster15]

And the "fatigue"-thing is just complete nonsense. Pogacar won't get fatigued by riding his own pace while Vingegaard desperately tries to limit his losses.

Ironic. This sounds the opposite of what happened in 2022. Except then Pogacar attacked almost every day after Granon before cracking again on Hautacam.

 

[Cookster15]

Congrats to Simon Yates and Ben Healy !

Visma trying hard to wear Pogi down. We will see if it works or else only wear themselves down, but what else can they do? Hautacam will tell us more.