Richie Porte and Trek-Segafredo suffered through a tough day in the crosswinds Monday during stage 10 at the Tour de France, just missing out on the lead group when the race blew into echelons with 30km to go and losing time to many of the top general classification favourites.
If the first nine days of the 2019 Tour de France were going to plan for Team Ineos – and they were, barring Geraint Thomas' crash on stage 8 – then the events of a crosswind-hit stage 10 to Albi saw them head into the first rest day flying high.
On paper at least, stage 10 at the 2019 Tour de France was supposed to be a day for the sprinters and a relatively easy 'transition' for the rest of the peloton as the race heads to the first rest day and then the Pyrenees...
There was never any danger that Julian Alaphilippe would miss the split. On all terrains and in all situations, the Frenchman has been a hyperactive presence on this Tour de France. Whenever the television cameras show the front of the race, he is invariably somewhere in the shot.
The Tour de France lasts three weeks, but in an instant the race can turn upside down. As European riders like to say: one minute you're the hammer, the next you're the nail, taking the beating. The EF Education First team were both in the final 40km of stage 10 to Albi.
An already deeply impressive debut for Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) in the World Tour this season showed no signs of ending in the Tour de France on Monday, as the Belgian clinched his first Grand Tour stage victory in a dramatic small bunch sprint at the end of stage 10.
There was a microclimate of quiet amid the hubbub on Albi's Lices Georges Pompidou after stage 10 of the Tour de France. By a barrier on the shaded side of the street, the Groupama-FDJ entourage stood...