ELCHE DE LA SIERRA, Spain (AP) — French rider Bastien Tronchon got a career best result winning stage 10 of the Spanish Vuelta on Tuesday, and Enric Mas retained the leader’s red jersey he was gifted by Tadej Pogačar’s race-ending crash.
The 24-year-old Tronchon sprinted clear in the final 20 meters (yards) of a hilly 184.7-kilometer (115-mile) stage between Alcaraz and Elche de la Sierra. Magnus Cort was second and Thibau Nys placed third. Wout van Aert was fourth.
Tronchon put his right hand to his helmet in surprise crossing the line and sobbed tearfully when his Groupama-FDJ United teammates congratulated him.
Mas retained his overall lead of 1 minute, 18 seconds ahead of Primoz Roglic, the 36-year-old Slovenian who is chasing a record fifth Vuelta title. Felix Gall stayed 1’39 back in third.
The Vuelta was upended Saturday when Pogačar, the leader and overwhelming favorite to win the three-week race, crashed out and fractured his left collarbone.
Tuesday’s stage crested three third-category climbs and let a seven-man breakaway, only one of them within an hour of Mas’s overall time, build a lead of more than two and a half minutes.
The peloton reeled in the last of the breakaway inside the final five kilometers (3.5 miles) and caught further attempts by riders to steal away for the win.
Wednesday’s stage 11 is a flat stage suiting the sprinters over 153.8 kms (96 miles) from Cartagena to Lorca. The Vuelta finishes in Granada on Sept. 13.
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