Tour de France: Cédric Vasseur wins stage 10

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Cédric Vasseur in 2003.
Image: Ralf Seger.

Cédric Vasseur of France has won stage 10 of the 2007 Tour de France. Vasseur won a five man sprint to the finishline by the slimmest of margins.

"This morning I was on the phone to a friend and he told me, ‘Today is your day!’ And in all honesty I had the same confidence about this long stage. The victory had to be mine," said Vasseur after his victory.

Michael Rasmussen of Denmark retains the overall lead, finishing the stage some 10 minutes later with the peleton. In fact, all of the top ten in the overall, finished with the same time, leaving the standings unchanged from yesterday.

"It was a long, hard day and all the guys are suffering in the heat, that’s quite obvious and 230 kilometers into a headwind takes its toll on everybody. My Rabobank team defended well today and we’ll have to wait and see how we go. There is another two days before we have the big test in the time trial on Saturday and then I’ll start thinking about the Pyrenees," said Michael Rasmussen.

He went on to say that he is now the leader of the Rabobank team: "There’s been a lot said about the situation regarding leadership between myself and Denis Menchov and I think it’s quite clear now that I’m the leader in the team now and I’m here to defend the yellow jersey for as long as possible."

Patrik Sinkewitz of Germany, who has already dropped out of the Tour after a crash, got more bad news when the A sample in a drug test on June 8, came back positve.

Stage 10 results

Rank Rider Team Time
1 Cedric Vasseur Quick Step-Innergetic 5h 20'24"
2 Sandy Casar Française des Jeux s.t."
3 Michael Albasini Liquigas s.t."
4 Patrice Halgand Crédit Agricole s.t."
5 Jens Voigt Team CSC s.t."
6 Staf Scheirlinckx Cofidis 36"
7 Paolo Bossoni Lampre-Fondital s.t."
8 Marcus Burghardt T-Mobile Team 1'01"
9 Aleksandr Kuschynski Liquigas 2'34"
10 Juan Antonio Flecha Rabobank s.t."

General classification after stage 10

Rank Rider Team Time
1 Michael Rasmussen Rabobank 49h 23' 48"
2 Alejandro Valverde Caisse d'Epargne +2' 35"
3 Iban Mayo Saunier Duval-Prodir +2' 39"
4 Cadel Evans Predictor-Lotto +2' 41"
5 Alberto Contador Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team +3' 08"
6 Christophe Moreau AG2R Prévoyance +3' 18"
7 Carlos Sastre Team CSC +3' 39"
8 Andreas Klöden Astana Team +3' 50"
9 Levi Leipheimer Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team +3' 53"
10 Kim Kirchen T-Mobile Team +5' 06"

Sources