The 2010 Tour de France begins on 3 July in Rotterdam in the Netherlands with a prologue time trial, and stage 10 occurs on 14 July, with a medium mountain stage in Gap.
LegendJerseys appearing in the table on the left of the page indicate those worn by the cyclist during the particular stage, while those appearing in the table on the right of the page indicate those awarded to the cyclist after the stage. Denotes the leader of the general classification Denotes the leader of the points classification Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the leader of the young rider classification Denotes a rider representing the leaders of the team classification Denotes the rider designated as the day's most combative s.t. indicates that the rider crossed the finish line in the same group as the one receiving the time above him, and was therefore credited with the same finishing time.
Prologue 3 July 2010 — Rotterdam (Netherlands), (individual time trial)
This time trial was short and nearly totally flat, with two very small rises in elevation (the first for the crossing of the Erasmus Bridge) occurring in the first half of the course. Tony Martin of led for most of the stage, being the eleventh person to complete the prologue. It was not until world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara, the second-to-last rider of the day, took the course that Martin's time was bettered. Rain showers plagued the middle portion of the stage, but for the riders who started at the end the rain had stopped and the course was primarily dry. This was Cancellara's fourth win in a time trial to start the Tour de France in his career. Martin's efforts did not go unrewarded; he was awarded the white jersey for best young rider.
Prologue result and general classification after prologue Rank Rider Team Time 1 10' 00" 2 + 10" 3 + 20" DSQ + 22" 4 + 23" 5 + 27" 6 + 28" 7 + 28" 8 + 32" 9 + 35"
Stage 1 4 July 2010 — Rotterdam (Netherlands) to Brussels (Belgium),
This stage is flat, winding through the islands of Zeeland before heading south into Belgium before the finish in the nation's capital. It was thought that the winds from the North Sea would cause some mayhem for this very flat stage, but this did not happen. Just after the peloton passed the stage's true beginning three riders broke away from the pack. Those riders were Lars Boom of , Maarten Wijnants of , and 's Alan Pérez. The trio stayed in front of the peloton for over . With about to go, Wijnants sprinted away from the other two breakaway members, who were quickly taken in by the charging peloton. Moldova road race champion Alexandre Pliușchin, representing , escaped from the peloton and joined Wijnants with about left in the stage. The two gained a maximum advantage of a minute over the peloton, and were caught with to go. As the peloton turned around a right hand bend, with under remaining, there was a small crash that took out two top sprinters, Mark Cavendish and Óscar Freire. Further crashes occurred in the stage's final kilometer, and riders high in the overall standings such as Lance Armstrong and Fabian Cancellara were caught up in them, along with many others. The few riders who were in front of the crash sprinted to the line, with 's Alessandro Petacchi claiming his first Tour de France stage win since 2003. Wijnants was named the most combative rider for Stage 1. All 158 riders who were together when the peloton passed through to go were given the same time regardless of when they actually finished.
Stage 1 result Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 + 2" 7 + 2" 8 + 2" 9 + 2" 10 + 2"General classification after stage 1 Rank Rider Team Time 1 5h 19' 38" 2 + 10" 3 + 20" 4 + 22" 5 + 23" 6 + 27" 7 + 28" 8 + 28" 9 + 32" 10 + 35"
Stage 2 5 July 2010 — Brussels (Belgium) to Spa (Belgium),
There are six categorized climbs in this stage, three each in the third and fourth categories. The finish comes off the descent of the Rosier Pass, visited before the conclusion of the stage. Just after passing through kilometer zero, an eight-man breakaway formed. The riders that made up the breakaway were Sylvain Chavanel and Jerome Pineau of , Matthew Lloyd and Jürgen Roelandts both from , 's Marcus Burghardt, Sébastien Turgot of , Rein Taaramäe , and 's Francesco Gavazzi. As the breakaway passed through the classification four mountains Jerome Pineau picked up enough climbing points to earn the polka dot jersey at the end of the stage, and the first polka jersey of the Tour. By the time the breakaway reached the Stockeu Sylvain Chavanel was by himself, having dropped Jürgen Roelandts who later got reabsorbed into the peloton. As the peloton caught Burghardt, 's Maxime Monfort jumped off the front of the peloton. On the descent of the Stockeu several crashes occurred. Francesco Gavazzi, who was reabsorbed by the peloton, slipped and fell to the ground causing a crash that took down GC contender Andy Schleck, the points competition leader Alessandro Petacchi, and most of the peloton. The riders that came out of the wreckage unscathed went on with the stage, but began to wait for the other riders that were involved in the crash. Most of the peloton regrouped, but they didn't try to chase down Sylvain Chavanel. While approaching the finish line the peloton caught Monfort, the only remaining escapee other than Chavanel. Fabian Cancellara called for the peloton to not go for the sprint finish, out of fairness to those who had crashed and concern for the safety of the riders who might contest the sprint. As a result, no sprint points were awarded at the finish except to Chavanel, the stage winner, who was not involved in the slowdown. This was his second career Tour de France stage victory, and along with the stage win he became the overall leader and the leader of the points classification. Stage 2 result Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 3' 56" 3 + 3' 56" 4 + 3' 56" 5 + 3' 56" 6 + 3' 56" 7 + 3' 56" 8 + 3' 56" 9 + 3' 56" 10 + 3' 56"General classification after stage 2 Rank Rider Team Time 1 10h 01' 25" 2 + 2' 57" 3 + 3' 07" 4 + 3' 17" 5 + 3' 19" 6 + 3' 20" 7 + 3' 24" 8 + 3' 25" 9 + 3' 29" 10 + 3' 32"
Stage 3 6 July 2010 – Wanze (Belgium) to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut,
This is a difficult stage, incorporating of cobblestones in seven cobbled sectors over the last . The race entered France for the first time midway through the cobbled sections, where Damiano Cunego, David Zabriskie, and a few other riders were caught in a small pileup. into the stage, seven men jumped off the front of the peloton to form a breakaway. Steve Cummings of , Ryder Hesjedal of , Pavel Brutt of , Pierre Rolland of , 's Roger Kluge, Stéphane Augé of and 's Imanol Erviti. The peloton and the breakaway passed over the first few sets of cobbles with no problem. Ryder Hesjedal soon jumped off the front of the breakaway, leaving the remaining to get picked up by the peloton. Then as Fabian Cancellara took the reins of the peloton and began to whip up the pace; a crash occurred. The crash took out most of the peloton, except for the few who were in front of Fränk Schleck. Fränk Schleck and a few other riders went to the ground, taking up the whole road. Later, Fränk Schleck would abandon the Tour with a broken collarbone.
As Cancellara, Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck, and Thor Hushovd sped away, the rest of the field was trying to pick their way around the pileup. This created some distance between the GC hopefuls, such as Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong. Initially Contador was knocked off of his bike. As the whole field made its way past the wreckage there were now two pelotons. Armstrong was initially in the first bunch of riders, but dropped off the back after needing a front wheel change. Contador fought back to the first main field, which was further up the road than the second peloton. Armstrong charged back, only to join the second peloton, and ultimately lost two minutes of time to the winners, and one minute to Contador. Ryder Hesjedal was caught by the chase group, led by Cancellara, with to go in the stage. The group made its way to the line where Thor Hushovd won the stage, also taking the lead in the points classification. Cancellara took the overall lead back from Sylvain Chavanel. Over a minute later Alexander Vinokourov led the second group over the line, with Contador coming in a few seconds later due to a flat tyre. Two minutes after Hushovd crossed the line, the group containing Armstrong crossed the line.
Stage 3 result Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 + 53" 8 + 53" 9 + 53" 10 + 53"General classification after stage 3 Rank Rider Team Time 1 14h 54' 00" 2 + 23" 3 + 39" 4 + 46" 5 + 1' 01" 6 + 1' 09" 7 + 1' 19" 8 + 1' 31" 9 + 1' 40" 10 + 1' 42"
Stage 4 7 July 2010 — Cambrai to Reims,
This stage is short and mostly flat, undulating gently for its duration and incorporating one fourth-category climb. The stage got off to a normal start, with a five-man group jumping off the front of the peloton to form a breakaway. Those five riders were Dimitri Champion of , Iban Mayoz of , Nicolas Vogondy of , Francis De Greef of and 's Iñaki Isasi. The peloton would not let the breakaway gain more than three minutes advantage on them, but they stayed out in front until the final kilometres. The breakaway dropped De Greef with just under remaining in the stage. As the sprinters teams were gearing up for the sprint finish, they absorbed the remaining breakaway members. As the sprinters came to the line Alessandro Petacchi jumped off of Thor Hushovd's back wheel and sprinted to the line for the stage win.
Stage 4 result Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 s.t. 8 s.t. 9 s.t. 10 s.t.General classification after stage 4 Rank Rider Team Time 1 18h 28' 55" 2 + 23" 3 + 39" 4 + 46" 5 + 1' 01" 6 + 1' 09" 7 + 1' 19" 8 + 1' 31" 9 + 1' 40" 10 + 1' 42"
Stage 5 8 July 2010 — Épernay to Montargis,
This is another flat stage, with two fourth-category climbs occurring early on. Stage 5 got off to a normal start, 6 km into the stage the riders broke away from the peloton. Jurgen Van De Walle of , José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios of , and 's Julien El Fares made up the three man breakaway. The breakaway gained a maximum advantage of eight minutes before being pulled back in by the peloton. As the final kilometers were approaching, Van De Walle and El Fares were caught by the peloton. Gutierrez remained out in front for only a little while longer, until being caught. Then the sprinters teams fought for position. As the teams came down to the final stretch; Mark Renshaw lead out Mark Cavendish for the stage win. This was Cavendish's eleventh Tour de France stage win of his career.
Stage 5 result Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 s.t. 8 s.t. 9 s.t. 10 s.t.General classification after stage 5 Rank Rider Team Time 1 22h 59' 45" 2 + 23" 3 + 39" 4 + 46" 5 + 1' 01" 6 + 1' 09" 7 + 1' 19" 8 + 1' 31" 9 + 1' 40" 10 + 1' 42"
Stage 6 9 July 2010 — Montargis to Gueugnon,