Tour de France: Heartbreak for Australian Cyclists as They Fall Short of Podium in Stage 10 Finish

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Ben O’Connor and Michael Storer have narrowly missed out on a podium finish at the Tour de France after riding in a punishing breakaway in the mountains of the Massif Central.

O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) finished fourth and Storer (Tudor Pro) fifth, so close but so far, after the Aussie duo were unable to match the pace on the last climb of the 165.3km 10th stage.

Briton Simon Yates (Visma Lease-A-Bike) won the first mountain stage of this year’s Tour while third-placed Irish rider Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) took the yellow jersey, 31 seconds behind him.

In between was Dutchman Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers), nine seconds behind Yates.

O’Connor, who had spearheaded several attacks as part of a 28-strong breakaway group that eventually reduced to five, couldn’t maintain the pace after those efforts and finished 18 seconds behind Healy, with Storer trailing 34 seconds further behind.

Storer has never been on the podium in the Tour de France while O’Connor has won one stage, in 2021, when he was fourth overall.

The peloton were more than two-and-a-half minutes behind the quintet, which is how Healy earned yellow. The Irishman, who claimed his first stage victory on Thursday, took the overall lead, 29 seconds ahead of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates-XRG), after driving the breakaway single-handedly in the closing 20km as he sacrificed the possibility of another stage win to become leader.

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) is third in GC standings, 1:29 behind, and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease-A-Bike) 1:46 behind in fourth. O’Connor’s efforts moved him up to 18th, 11.50 behind Healy. He is the leading Australian.

The grueling stage from Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy featured a 4,400m elevation gain over seven category-two climbs and one category-three ascent. The usual Monday rest day was postponed since 14 July is Bastille Day, a national holiday in France commemorating the 1789 revolution.

Irish Ben Healy of EF Education-EasyPost celebrates on the podium in the yellow jersey of leader in the overall ranking after stage 10

New Tour de France overall leader Ben Healy celebrates on the podium after the tenth stage. Source: SIPA USA / David Pintens

The break formed after around 10km and solidified after 20km with Harry Sweeney (EF Education-EasyPost) and Lucas Plapp (Jayco AlUla) making a quartet of Australians involved.

Sweeney and O’Connor tried to lead an attack with 128km left but were caught, O’Connor went again with 102km, being caught by nine others to form a ten-man breakaway. Sweeney and Storer later joined them as the group grew to 18 but the former was dropped with 55km left.

Three more attacks by O’Connor reduced the frontrunners to seven with 29km and it was down to five when Yates attacked. Initially the West Australian went with him, but Yates, who won the Giro D’Italia a few weeks ago, was too strong.

“I was not really expecting any opportunities here,” said the Englishman. “We came here fully focused on Jonas (Vingegaard) and the GC, but the stage played out in a way that I could be there for the win.”

“It was insanely tough, it was a battle against myself really,” said Healy, who became the first Irishman to wear yellow since Stephen Roche in 1987.

Healy, who paid tribute to teammate Sweeny’s help, added: “I gambled a bit. I had the stage win in the bank and how often do you get the opportunity to put yourself into yellow? I felt I had to really go for it.”

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