The riders are climbing, but it’s an uncategorised hil𝓡l. The next KOM climb isn’t for abou💞t another 20km.

The peloto♏n is now slowing down, and drifting ouღt to close to a minute behind. Pablo Castrillo has jumped out of it and is trying to chase up to the lead group.

To answ🐬er the question all those celebrating Bastille Day must be wondering - there are 8 French riders in the break. And some pretty strong ones, too: Valentin Paret-Peintre and Cléme🃏nt Champoussin and Aurélien Paret-Peintre are all former Grand Tour stage winners; Bruno Armirail is looking in great form; Lenny Martinez is a great talent who should love this kind of terrain; and Julian Alaphilippe looks up for it.

Theꦓ peloton are far from sitꦇting up yet. The gap between it and the lead group is still only about 30 seconds.

140KM TO GO

EF is the best represented team in the break, with Healy accompanie⛦d by Baudin, Powless and Sweeny. They’re in a very strong position, especially consideri🐻ng how well this stage could suit Healy.

Alaphilippe is also now in the lead group.

Simon Yates and other🧸s 🅘have joined the lead group, swelling it to about 30 riders.

Another of🦩 yesterday’s crash victims has just pulled outꦗ of the race - Søren Wærenskjold, who started the race so well with third-place on the opening stage.

Ben O'Connor pushing on at the front.

Wellens has taken control of the pelo𝔍ton for UAE, prominent in his polka dot jerseﷺy.

More riders are trying to bridge up to the leadꦺ group, including Simon Yates.

The lead group only has about 10 seconds on the peloton for ⛄now.

150KM TO GO

O'Connor is eager to push on with this move. He has a history of losing time in the first week, only to bounce back on a day like this by getting into 🔥the day's break and gaining time - could he do the same today?

From the lead group, Lenny Martinez and B💛runo Armirail sprint for the KOM points at theꦑ top of the climb, with the latter coming out on top.

There are a lot of KܫOM points on offer today, so a chance for🐼 someone to take the polka-dot jersey and lay down a foundation in that competition.

KOM - COTE DE LOUBEYRAT

Ben Healy is the highest placed rider on GC here at 3:55, while O’Connor is the man with thꦺe best Grand Tour credentials - thigh considered less of a danger now he’s over 15 minutes down.

The headline names in the lead group are two Bens - Healy, and O&rs♔quo;Connor.

Riders are strewn all across the road, with the ꦺpeloton behind this lage lead group much reduced, and many dropped in small groups behind it.

This lead ꦺgroup is full of strong riders - Arensman, Simmons, Lenny Mart🥂inez, to name a few.

At the front, a group 𒈔of about 20 have a gap of༒ 12 seconds.

Lots of riders are already out the back 🌞of tꦗhe peloton, including, inevitably, many sprinters.

Alaphilippe has been caught.

Actually, the blue jersey leading is 🐎not Astana, but Decathlon - Armirail is the rider, who has looked so strong this Tour.

Astan𒁃a is leading the peloton on the climb, and closing in on Alaphilippe.

Alaphilippe starts the🥂 climb with a lead of 10 ⛦seconds on the peloton

Alaphilippe attacking on Bastille Day c🌱ertainly felt like one of the most inevitable things happening at this Tour. He🍎 hasn’t shown the form here so far that he did at the Tour de Suisse, but has he been saving himself for today?

The riders are going slightly uphill, but the official start of the climb is still a f💟ew kilometres away.

Julian Alaphilippe is the latest to attack.

The෴ break has been brought back and the peloton is all together again.

Th✱at's the short flat opening flat section done with - the riders are now on the first classified climb of the day, the 4.2km, 6.1% Côte de Loubeyrat.

Ne🐻ilands and Madouas have been joined by several other riders.

Krists Neilands was the first rider to get a gapꦿ, and he's since been joined by Valentin Madouas.

Victor Campenaerts is riding at the front - that could be a si🅷gnal of intent that Visma intend to put UAE under pressure, as they have tried to throughout this race.

And they're off!

OFFICIAL START

A couple of riders have pulled out of the race and aren’t present at the start - Georg Zimmermann, who might have been one of Intermarché - Wanty’s best options for a stage like this but w꧙ent down heavily in a crash yesterday; and EF Education - EasyPost’s sprinting all rounder Marijn van den Berg.

Despite the elevation gain of almost 4,500m, in isolation none of the hills taken on are especially hard — in fact, there isn’t ꦚa single category one climb on the menu, with all but one of the seven climbs ranked category two, and none lasting longer than 5.5km. It might be one of the hardes🎉t stages of the Tour, but it’s still quite a punchy one rather than test of pure climbing.

൩The riders are on the move, travelling slowly through Ennezat as they approach the official💮 start.

This is therefore the first real climbing test of the Tour, and should see the GC really start to ꦫtake shape.

We already have a clear hierarchy in the top ten, with Tadej Pogačar holding a sizable lead already and Remco Evenepoel, Kévin Vauquelin, Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson clustered closely together behind him, but today we could learn which of thee contenders are climbing the best on longer, bigger efforts.

Today’s stage, by contrast, is set to be a lot slower, due to the sheer number of climbs to be conquered. There are eightꦐ cla🔴ssified climbs crammed into the 165km route, with a total of 4,450m elevation gain.

Yesterday's stage 9 was the second fastest in T🅺our de France history, averaging 50.013 kph for just under three and half hours of racing.

For a deep dive into why the Tour is getting so much faster, read our deep dive:

The Tour de France is getting faster, and here's why it won't be slowing down soon

Bastille Day typically evokes exceptional national pride a♒mong French fans and riders. In the start town of Ennezat the Tour is already buzzing with activity, and one stage 🐭win prospect is Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe, who has received a warm welcome in the French town this morning.

Yesterday Tadej Pogačar lost vital wingman and UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate João Almeida, with the Portuguese rider during stage 9 to Châteauroux.

That may lead to slightly more defensive riding from Pogačar.

"I was suffering today on the bike so I can't imagine how much João was suffering," Pogačar said yesterday.

"Now we'll have to reassess but I think ꧒we'll manage. We'll keep fighting with seven riders and try to win this To๊ur also for João."

Our news writer James Moultrie is on the ground in France and has perfectly captured the tactical dynamics ahead of stage 10.

You can read his in-depth preview here:

Tour de France 2025 stage 10 preview - Pogačar vs Vingegaard battle set for 'big explosion' across eight climbs on Bastille Day

In case you missed it, here's our full report for stage 9 of the Tour de F🐠rance on Sunday, where Tim Merlier got the ꦆbetter of Jonathan Milan.

Bon🔯jour, and welcome to our Live coverage of stageꦜ 10 of the Tour de France!