Tour de France 2023 stage 10 preview: Route map and profile of 145km from Parc Vulcania to Issoire
The 2023 Tour de France resumes after the first rest day with a hilly 167km stage 10 on Tuesday that suits punchy superstars Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel perfectly – if they are let off the leash. Both riders are yet to win a stage in this Tour, and the next three days present opportunities before the road heads high into the Alps later this week.
This lumpy route takes the peloton into the centre of France, beginning from Vulcania, passing through the Volcans d’Auvergne regional park and finishing down in the small town of Issoire.
With five categorised climbs, including the sizeable Col de Guery (7.8km at 5%) and the Croix Saint-Robert (6km at 6.3%), it will be a draining ride with virtually no sustained flat sections, and a long descent to the finish town. The sprinters will sit this out and it looks like a good day to plot something in the breakaway, as the big general classification contenders save their legs for bigger challenges to come.
Belgium’s Van Aert and Dutchman Van der Poel have long been rivals, most notably at the cyclo-cross world championships where they’ve finished one-two on five occasions. This year Van der Poel beat Van Aert to the line in a sprint finish.
There have been plenty of cross words down the years too but recently their rivalry has mellowed, and they have been kept apart at this Tour by virtue of their wider responsibilities: Van der Poel has been pulling hard for his Alpecin–Deceuninck teammate Jasper Philipsen, who has won three sprint stages; Van Aert has been working tirelessly for Jumbo-Visma leader Jonas Vingegaard, the man in the yellow jersey trying to defend his crown.
If either are to win today then they may need to get in the breakaway, which the GC riders are likely to let escape up the road just as they did on stage nine, so long as the break doesn’t contain any major threats to the top of the leaderboard. If they can’t get in the break then their teams will need to work hard to reel in the leaders and set up more of a bunch finish. The weather is hot with some rain forecast too, and it is all set up to be another eventful day at the Tour de France.
Stage 10 route map and profile
Start time
The stage is set to begin at around 12.30pm BST and is expected to finish at around 4.30pm BST.
Prediction
If the breakaway goes to the end then there are a whole host of riders who could win here. Let’s go with Van der Poel, who should have free rein to attack after doing so much work for his team over the opening week.
