• Dane Magnus Cort Nielsen won the 10th stage of the Tour de France, between Morzine and Megève, on Tuesday.

  • Behind him, Tadej Pogacar kept his yellow jersey for 11 seconds against Lennard Kamna, present in the breakaway of the day.

  • Weakened by the Covid and at work for long days already, the UAE team could have let go of the Slovenian leader's tunic to take the weight off the race for a while.

Asked a few minutes after the arrival, Romain Bardet does not know if Tadej Pogacar ended up keeping his yellow jersey.

“Ah yes, he keeps it?

Even when he wants to let go, he can't,” breathes the DSM runner with a smile.

The boss of the Tour de France indeed came very close to losing his tunic, this Tuesday, during the 10th stage.

Lennard Kamna, the best placed of the solid breakaway of 25 riders who broke away 100 terminals from the finish in Megève (8'43 overall), failed 11 seconds short of the line.

Really good news for Pogacar and his team?

💛 🇸🇮 @TamauPogi saves his Yellow Jersey.



💛🇸🇮 @TamauPogi saves his @MaillotjauneLCL.

#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/vEBunqrqQ5

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 12, 2022


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We can at least ask ourselves the question, while the noose is tightening on the Emirati formation.

Less strong on paper than the Jumbo-Visma or Ineos and already well put to use since its leader took power on the evening of the 6th stage in Longwy, it lost today George Bennett, who tested positive for Covid.

The second package in this Tour, after that of Vegard Stake Laengen on Saturday, and a big blow, since the New Zealander was supposed to support Pogacar in the high mountains.

And again, disaster was narrowly averted, with Chief Lieutenant Rafal Majka being allowed to continue despite also testing positive.

The Pole is asymptomatic and has "a very low risk of infectivity", according to the official communication of the organization.

Question of the unconscious?

In short, the vital forces are diminishing day by day at UAE, while two terrible stages are looming, Wednesday and Thursday.

One would have thought, then, that she would gladly leave the yellow jersey, just to breathe a little and take the weight off the race, even for a short time, before the Slovenian Cannibal recovers his due at the Granon or the 'Alpe d'Huez.

Between two waters, the team let the fugitives take more than 9 minutes in advance, but did not abdicate either, ensuring the tempo so as not to completely lose contact.

And at the foot of the last climb, they even accelerated, which surprised Wout van Aert.

“We thought maybe they would drop the jersey, but they came up at a very good pace.

They made the effort,” confirmed the green jersey.

And the yellow jersey himself - as usual - sprinted in the last 200 meters.

More to take another few seconds from its competitors and put a new blow behind their heads by showing them that they would never be in front, but still.

As Bardet pointed out, the unconscious of the outgoing double winner may have also played a role.

“Kamna is a hell of a competitor.

He could have taken the jersey, it would not have been a tragedy for me, ”debriefed the person concerned, whom we do not have to take at his word.

Our Tour de France file

Lennard Kamna, for his part, dwelled a little on not having been able to choose between the stage and yellow.

"I said to myself too late: 'Now I'm thinking of yellow'", he admitted on arrival.

Difficult to blame him however, he who had been caught 200 meters from the line at the Planche des Belles Filles last Friday.

The German knows that it would not have changed much for the physiognomy of the race, as he considers it "impossible" for him to follow the best in the high mountains.

But it's never unpleasant to spend a day in yellow on the Tour de France.

Pogacar's team members would certainly not have wanted to try the experiment.

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  • Tour de France 2022

  • Tadej Pogacar

  • Cycling

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