Simon Yates wins stage 10 of the 2025 Tour de France as Visma attempt to explode race before first rest day

Simon Yates has won stage 10 of the 2025 Tour de France as Team Visma | Lease a Bike exploded the race on the final day before the first rest day.

There was an almighty fight for the breakaway on this first mountain stage of the 2025 Tour de France. In the end, a strong group of 29 riders managed to snap the elastic. Best placed GC wise was stage 6 winner Ben Healy, who started the day just 3:55 down on Tadej Pogacar's Maillot Jaune.

Other notable names in the break included the likes of Simon Yates, Ilan Van Wilder, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Neilson Powless, Lenny Martinez, Thymen Arensman, Quinn Simmons, Julian Alaphilippe, Michael Storer, Ben O'Connor, Ivan Romeo, Aurelien Paret-Peintre, Clement Champoussin, Steff Cras, Michael Woods, Joseph Blackmore and Alexey Lutsenko.

As Nils Politt and Tim Wellens kept the break at around 2 minutes for the UAE-led peloton, there was some concern for the team at the back of the bunch as Pavel Sivakov was notably struggling. After Joao Almeida's abandon on stage 9, another domestique in trouble was the last thing Pogacar needed.

With just over 100km to go, O'Connor attacked again from the breakaway, getting a gap solo at the head of the race. O'Connor was caught soon after though, with Lenny Martinez consistently coming to the front of the break at the top of the categorised climbs, picking up key KoM points in his search for the polka-dot jersey.

There had been a split in the breakaway created however, with those in the lead group alongside O'Connor and Martinez including the likes of Healy, Woods, Arensman, Storer and Simon Yates among others.

As Martinez continued to sweep up maximum points at the KoM climbs, the gap from the lead group to the peloton was growing and soon Healy was on the verge of moving into the provisional Yellow Jersey. With around 65km to go, the time gap crossed the four minute mark, and Healy took the Maillot Jaune on the road. With Healy having teammates Harry Sweeny and Alex Baudin working hard at the front of the break, the UAE-led peloton was struggling to match the pace as the gap extended further to 5:00 at 50km to go.

With Sweeny and Baudin both cooked by 41.5km to go, it was then Victor Campenaerts that took to the front of the break, potentially looking to set things up for Yates. The lead group was still relatively in tact as they entered the final 30km though, and the peloton now close to six minutes down the road, the Maillot Jaune looked secured for Healy.

The next big attack came from Quinn Simmons, and sensing the danger, Healy was the first to try and shut down the American champion's attack. With 24.5km to go, Healy finally bridged the gap, bringing Yates, Arensman, Storer and O'Connor along with him.

In the peloton behind meanwhile, Visma had come to the front and upped the pace. When Matteo Jorgenson launched an attack, the GC group was properly sparked into life. Although his move was quickly stopped by Pogacar, Sepp Kuss countered swiftly after as Visma's American duo continued to one-two UAE.

Although these accelerations had started to close the gap to Healy, when Visma relented slightly things calmed back down in the bunch, meaning that as the lead group began the penultimate climb of the day at around 15km to go, there was still more than five minutes advantage for the leaders.

With Healy just relentlessly riding a hard tempo at the front, Simmons was soon ridden off the wheel, leaving just 5 in the break. On the front of the GC group though, Team Visma | Lease a Bike returned to the front on the penultimate climb, with Kuss and Jorgenson active again.

At 3.5km to go at the front, Simon Yates attacked, starting the final climb of the day solo at the front, just as his teammates in the GC group were splitting things behind, with 3rd at the start of the day Kevin Vauquelin a notable casualty. With Healy dropped and Visma powering the GC group however, the Irishman's chances of a Maillot Jaune were suddenly at threat.

Despite the best efforts of Thymen Arensman behind, Yates entered the final kilometre with a narrow lead. Healy meanwhile was less than four minutes ahead of the Maillot Jaune now. The stage win though was Yates'.

Behind, Vingegaard and Pogacar rode away from the rest of the GC contenders.