2015 Tour de France results and standings, Stage 10: Chris Froome crushes field up Pyrenees

Chris Froome broke every single rider up La Pierre-St. Martin -- Vincenzo Nibali, Alberto Contador, Tejay Van Garderen and, eventually and most surprisingly, Nairo Quintana. If there was anyone who could beat Froome up a 1,200-meter ascent, it was Quintana, the 25-year-old Colombian who had been biding his time until the Pyrenees to begin his yellow jersey campaign. He and Movistar put everything they had into winning Stage 10, and Froome decimated them.

Froome now leads by 2 minutes and 52 seconds over Van Garderen, still in second place on the general classification. This is Froome’s Tour to lose.

Movistar led a breakneck pace up La Pierre-St. Martin, with Sky waiting and ready to pounce just behind. Big names cracked everywhere. The first to go was Nibali. The defending Tour de France winner fell off the back with a little more than 10 kilometers to go. Upon realizing that Nibali had fallen off, Sky drove the chase containing Froome, Van Garderen, Contador and Quintana hard toward a breakaway of Robert Gesink and Rafael Valls.

By the point that just 6.2 kilometers remained, with roughly 20 minutes of racing left, Contador and Van Garderen had fallen off, leaving just Froome and Quintana to duel. What could have been an epic dogfight was conceded by Quintana with a whimper. With 3 kilometers to go, he was 50 seconds behind Froome. Then with less than 200 meters remaining, Quintana was overtaken by Froome’s Sky teammate Richie Porte to salt the wound.

It was also a rough day for French riders on Bastille Day. Thibaut Pinot, Romain Bardet and Jean-Christophe Péraud, all once expected to be near the top of the general classification by the end of the 2016 Tour, could not muster much revolutionary gusto. Pierre Rolland and Tony Gallopin finished eight and ninth on the stage, respectively, on a brutal day.