After taking on the gravel sectors of Stage 9 and a rest day, the peloton began Stage 10 began a crepe-flat 187.3 km route going from Orléans and arriving in Saint-Amand-Montrond. With the race profile, a sprint finish was nearly guaranteed on the day and relatively calm weather meant that there was not expected to be too many surprises in terms of major crashes or wheels slipping out on the approach to Saint-Amand-Montrond.
Relatively early in the stage, with 123 km still to go, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma–Lease a Bike) ran into mechanical issues and fell off the peloton a bit as he got a new bike. Into the Département des Hauts-de-Seine, Vingegaard had regained contact and the peloton travelled through in a tight pack. At this point, the Astana Qazaqstan team held control at the front of the pack.
With 79 km to go to the finish, two-time stage winner thus far at the 2024 edition of the Tour de France Biniam Girmay (Intermarché–Wanty) ran into mechanical issues. Luckily for Girmay, he was able to quickly regain contact with the peloton to contest the final sprint of the day
The Visma–Lease a Bike team began to raise the pace with approximately 58 kilometers remaining to the finish, hoping to control the tempo as jockeying for position would soon begin in preparation for the sprint finish.
Arnaud De Lie (Lotto–Dstny), who punctured a tire earlier, was able to reach the peloton with 30 km to go and was soon well positioned with 23 km to go to the finish as his team worked to ensure he would make it towards the line in place to test his legs for a sprint to the finish.
With 10 km to go, the team lead outs began to organize for the sprint finish. The pace accelerated rapidly with 6 km to go as the rider prepared for a flat and fast approach to the line.
Matthieu Van de Poel (Alpecin–Deceuninck) led off the front in the final km to assist his teammate Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin–Deceuninck). At the finish Jasper Philipsen was able to create separation and beat out two-time stage winner at the 2024 Tour Biniam Girmay. Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) put in an impressive ride, but was unable to put in enough power to hold up with Philipsen or Girmay on the day to finish 3rd on the stage.
Kobe Goossens (Intermarché–Wanty) was nominated as most combative rider on the day. All jersey holders entering the day maintained their leads in each classification, with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) keeping the Maillot Jaune as leader of the general classification, Biniam Girmay retaining the Green Jersey as leader of the points classification, Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) wearing the Polka Dot jersey as King of the Mountains, and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal–Quick-Step) sat atop the Best Young Rider list, sitting in second in the general classification as well. UAE Team Emirates leads in the team classification.
Stage 11 will feature a challenging 211 km route from Évaux-les-Bains to Le Lioran through the Massif Central region.
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