TOUR DE FRANCE 2023 – STAGE 10
VULCANIA – ISSOIRE
100: WELCOME BACK, SPAIN!
At the 100th stage since their last win, Spain wins again at the Tour with Pello Bilbao. Their previous one had been the 2018 Mende stage with Omar Fraile.
The Spanish drought was the longest since the 1978-1983 period, 118 stages long. At the time Angel Arroyo closed it winning at the Puy de Dôme, a stage which followed Issoire, the same finish of today.
Pello Bilbao before today had obtained only one top-3 finish at the Tour: 2nd in Bagnères-de-Bigorre in 2019.

168X2: THE COMMITMENT FOR GINO
To honour Gino Mäder, Pello Bilbao announced he would make donations based on the number of riders he would beat in the Tour 2023, following the example set in previous years by his late teammate.
The Basque rider had already finished ahead of 1,204 riders in the first 9 days of the race, with his best result on stage 2 (5th). This time, he beat 168 riders to take the win – and he announced he would double the donation in the case of a stage win!
The money will go to a Basque association, Basoak SOS, which buys up deforested land to replant it with local species of plants.

33: THE NEW YOUNGSTERS
The winners of the last two stages are the “less young” of this year:
• Michael Woods: 36 years 8 months 27 days
• Pello Bilbao: 33 years 4 months 16 days (his first win as a 33 year-old).
The only other winner above 30 years is Adam Yates (Bilbao): 30 years 10 months 24 days.

3: SO CLOSE TO GLORY…
Krists Neilands went 3,1 kilometers from giving Latvia their 3rd win. The previous two came in 1994, by Piotr Ugrumov (Cluses, Avoriaz), the last one on the 22nd of July, 27 days before Neilands was born.

2: GERMANY IS ALMOST THERE
First Tour stage podium for Georg Zimmerman (2nd). Germany this year had already scored two top-3 placements, with Phil Bauhaus, 2nd in stage 3 and 3rd in stage 4.
The last win from Germany is now more than 2 years away (8th of July 2021: Nils Politt in Nimes).
Rather than Germany, Spain is the 8th nation to win a stage in this Tour, after Great Britain, France, Belgium, Australia, Slovenia, Denmark and Canada.
In third place, Australian Ben O’Connor had already seen a compatriot win this year: his friend Jai Hindley in Laruns.

10: ALAPHILIPPE FILLING THE VOID
There have been hard times for Julian Alaphilippe recently, but today’s stage gave signs of hope as he scored his first top-10 placement at the Tour (10th) since Nimes in 2021 (9th).
Soudal is trying to up its pace: it’s the 2nd top 10 for them this year, after Fabio Jakobsen finished 4th on day 3.
By stage 10, they had won at least once in each of the last 10 editions. The last time they failed to win a stage in the first 10 days of racing, was back in 2012, when they finished the Tour without a success.

15: ALL-TERRAIN BARGUIL
Warren Barguil was first at the Col de la Croix, his 15th KOM conquered at the Tour. He scored them in all the possible ways:
• Hors catégorie: 5
• Cat. 1: 3
• Cat. 2: 3
• Cat. 3: 2
• Cat. 4: 2
Among this year’s entrants, Barguil is in 4th place for career KOMs:
• Julian Alaphilippe 18
• Rafal Majka and Neilson Powless 16
• Warren Barguil 15

9: HOLDING ON TO THE POLKA-DOT
9th polka-dot jersey for Neilson Powless, the same, among this year’s entrants of Simon Geschke.
Only four riders in the peloton have more:
• Benoit Cosnefroy 16
• Rafal Majka 14
• Warren Barguil 13
• Julian Alaphilippe 12

16: ONE MORE
Jonas Vingegaard takes his 16th Maillot Jaune, joining Maurice De Waele (winner in 1929) at the 38th all-time spot for stages in the lead in the Tour’s history. Among the Dane’s direct rivals, Tadej Pogacar has 21 yellow jerseys.