Talossan Cycling Association Tour Season 4 Leg 2: Lille -> Paris

[Glüc]

Talossan Cycling Association Tour
2025
Second Leg
Lille -> Paris


_{(Logo created by Sir Lüc)}

And we're back again after a spectacular first leg where Esqipă Velocostă debuted and won. Ten teams from 6 different provinces will do more than 3300 kilometers of cycling in the coming three weeks while the team captains sit at home and enjoy the show. The goal is to score the most points by winning stages and doing well in three classifications: the King of the Mountains classification (polkadot jersey), the points classification (green jersey) and the general classification (the famous yellow jersey) which determines which individual rider wins this leg of TCAT.

Already the first stage was quite a wild ride with a surprising outcome, but before we get to that, let's have a look at the teams:

- Esqipă Velocostă - (EVC, Belacostă) First leg score: 8615 Vingegaard Lipowitz Kuss Gall Meeus Van Aert Nys Barré Jorgenson -----------------------------------------------------	- Velociposse Florencia - (VFL, Florencia) First leg score: 8404 Vingegaard Almeida Mas Buitrago Milan Grégoire Van der Poel Benoot Ackermann -----------------------------------------------------	- Els Talossaes Rexhitais - (REX, Maricopa) First leg score: 8027 Evenepoel Jorgenson L. Martinez S. Yates Merlier Ganna Grégoire Nys Roglič -----------------------------------------------------
- Gordon Hiatus Support Team - (GHS, Belacostă) First leg score: 7508 Pogačar Evenepoel Carlos Rodriguez Alaphilippe Jeannière Abrahamsen Armirail Van der Poel Vauquelin -----------------------------------------------------	- Port Maxhestic AC - (PTM, Maritiimi-Maxhestic) First leg score: 7091 Pogačar Vingegaard Mas Kuss Groves De Buyst Rickaert Watson Sweeny -----------------------------------------------------	- Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs - (BDC, Cézembre) First leg score: 6726 Vingegaard Evenepoel O'Connor Gall Meeus Nys Grégoire Van der Poel Laurance -----------------------------------------------------
- Cyclohexane - (CHX, Belacostă) First leg score: 6568 Pogačar Evenepoel Alaphilippe Buitrago Bauhaus Van der Poel A.H Johannessen Grégoire Vauquelin -----------------------------------------------------	- Dirnalaiset Mortescu - (DED, Vuode) First leg score: 6163 Evenepoel T.H. Johannessen Buitrago Kuss Groenewegen Grégoire Nys Ganna Vingegaard -----------------------------------------------------	- Cézembre Fieschǎ - (CFA, Cézembre) First leg score: 5348 Pogačar Vingegaard Skjelmose Healy Van Poppel Van den Broek Van Dijke Van Sintmaartensdijk Van Eetvelt -----------------------------------------------------
- Naziun Cjovani - (CJO, Belacostă) First leg score: 5028 Pogačar Evenepoel Onley Skjelmose Ackermann Campenaerts Ganna Swift Abrahamsen

Links:
Registration thread
Information about the route and riders

[Glüc]

Stage 1 Lille -> Lille

The first stage was mostly flat, giving sprinters an opportunity to not just win, but gain the yellow jersey and the lead in GC on the first day. Unfortunately things immediately went wrong for Ganna (DED/CJO/REX), who had to abandon after a crash. A poor start for the teams involved.

For a long time it did look like we would get a bunch sprint with most of the peloton. However in the final 25 km the wind really started to play a role and echelons formed. Several groups formed and a lot of sprinters and GC contenders did not end up in the front group! Pogacar (CFA/CHX/CJO/GHS/PTM) and Vingegaard (BDC/CFA/DED/EVC/PTM/VFL) were present, and so were Jorgenson (EVC/REX), Vauquelin (CHX/GHS), Mas (PTM/VFL), Tobias Johannessen (DED) and O'Connor (BDC). The latter unfortunately crashed in the final kilometers but was given the same time as the front group.

However, many others were not present, including many sprint favourites like Milan (VFL), Merlier (REX), Van Aert (EVC) and Meeus (BDC/EVC), but also most GC contenders including Evenepoel (BDC/CHX/CJO/DED/GHS/REX), Lipowitz (EVC) and Roglic (REX). They all lost 49 seconds already! Some lost even more, with Simon Yates (REX) and Lenny Martinez (REX) losing many minutes.

Philipsen was the only sprint favourite left in the front group and ended up winning the stage. Best TCAT rider was Jorgenson in 8th place, followed by Watson (PTM) and Sweeny (PTM).

The result was a low scoring stage, with Port Maxhestic AC having a strong performance and taking the lead after the first day. Esqipă Velocostă also had a pretty decent start. Els Talossaes Rexhitais came in third place, but with the loss of Ganna and the time loss by Martinez and Yates it was still a pretty terrible start for them unfortunately. Dirnalaiset Mortescu also had a bad day and take the red lantern.

Standings after stage 1:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	172	+172
2nd	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	119	+119
3rd	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	97	+97
4th	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	74	+74
5th	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	70	+70
6th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	67	+67
7th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	40	+40
8th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschǎ (CFA)	36	+36
9th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	29	+29
10th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	21	+21

Today we get a somewhat hilly stage, which seems well suited to puncheurs like Van der Poel, Van Aert or Nys, but could also go to a sprinter who can climb or a more explosive climber.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 2 Lauwin-Planque -> Boulogne-sur-Mer

Yesterday's stage resulted in a punchy, hilly final part and an uphill sprint to the line that gave Mathieu van der Poel (BDC/CHX/GHS/VFL) a prime occasion to swoop in and get a first stage victory. He outsprinted a group led by Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard to the line, in a reduced bunch sprint whose front also included Grégoire (4th), Alaphilippe (5th), Onley (6th) and Vauquelin (8th). Also scoring points for their teams, Mas (12th), Buitrago (13th), Almeida (15th), Evenepoel (17th) and Jorgenson (18th).

An impressive result for Cyclohexane, who tops a generally high scoring day thanks to placing seven of their riders in the top 17 (and five in the top 8: MVDP, Pogacar, Grégoire, Alaphilippe and Vauquelin). Also scoring high, GHST, who all of those top 8 riders but Grégoire, and Velociposse, who instead has MVDP, Vingegaard and Gregoire plus three riders in minor positions. Holding the same top trio is Banqeu de Cézembre, who also goes home with a decent haul, only just preceded by Port Maxhestic, one of two teams holding Pogacar and Vingegaard.

Standings after stage 2:
                                                                               

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+3)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	977	+903
2nd	(+3)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	814	+744
3rd	(+3)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	814	+747
4th	(-3)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	680	+508
5th	(+2)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	668	+628
6th	(+2)		Cézembre Fieschǎ (CFA)	451	+415
7th	(+3)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	437	+416
8th	(+1)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	396	+367
9th	(-7)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	363	+244
10th	(-7)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	313	+216

[Glüc]

Stage 3 Valenciennes -> Dunkerque

Lots of very nasty crashes today. Thankfully there weren't any TCAT riders who had to abandon, although Meeus (BdC/EVC) and Jeannière (GHS) very both involved in a nasty crash in the run up to the sprint, stopping them from scoring any points on one of the few bunchsprint opportunities this tour and which might affect their performance as well. Philipsen did unfortunately have to abandon with a broken collarbone due to an earlier incident. One side effect is that it might result in Groves (PTM) getting some more opportunities later on.

Merlier (REX) won the bunchsprint followed by Milan (VFL) and Bauhaus (CHX). These teams scored good points as a result. Cyclohexane stay in the lead for now, while leg 1 winners Esqipă Velocostă drop to last place. Het kan verkeren.

Standings after stage 3:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	1250	+273
2nd	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1218	+404
3rd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	912	+98
4th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	892	+212
5th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	767	+99
6th	(+4)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	589	+276
7th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	548	+111
8th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	539	+143
9th	(-3)		Cézembre Fieschǎ (CFA)	522	+71
10th	(-1)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	432	+69

Today we move southwest through Normandy, starting and finishing near a famous massive cathedral. It's a stage that should favour the same type of riders as stage 2, provided an early break doesnt stay away.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 4 Amiens Métropole -> Rouen

The second of several punchy stages (hilly and peppered with short but hard climbs) saw an early four-rider breakaway including Jonas Abrahamsen (CJO/GHS) and Lenny Martinez (REX). The latter was the last one standing, with the fast approaching peloton swallowing him up on the way to the hilly finish.

The decisive attack came on the short but extremely steep Rampe Saint-Hilaire, where Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard broke away from the then-leading group which included the likes of Remco Evenepoel and another potential favourite for today and the stage 2 winner, Mathieu van der Poel. It seemed like their effort wasn't matched by the others except they mostly sat up and were regathered by van der Poel, Evenepoel, Almeida, Onley and Jorgenson, with Vauquelin, Grégoire and Skjelmose in hot pursuit.

This group of riders ended up forming today's top ten, as the final uphill sprint was won by Pogacar (CFA/CHX/CJO/GHS/PTM), who pipped van der Poel (BDC/CHX/GHS/VFL) and Vingegaard (BDC/CFA/DED/EVC/PTM/VFL) to the line. All others were delayed by 30 or more seconds, including van Aert (EVC, 11th), T. Johannessen (DED, 15th), Benoot (VFL, 16th), Mas (PTM/VFL, 17th) and Roglic (REX, 18th). Other potential GC riders already losing time were C. Rodriguez (GHS, +39"), a trio of Gall (BDC/EVC), Lipowitz (EVC) and Buitrago (CHX/DED/VFL) all paying almost a minute, and even worse O'Connor (BDC) losing 1'49 already.

Scoring wise it is a similar story to stage 2 and another daily win for Cyclohexane, who placed five riders in the top 10. Velociposse also gets a strong finish with four out of today's top 6, including unique pick Almeida (6th) who ended up being Pogacar's last domestique today, and GHST rounds out today's podium as the other Pogacar-MVDP team in addition to Evenepoel and Vauquelin. Overall though, lots of teams got a decent points intake.

Standings after stage 4:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	2042	+792
2nd	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1976	+758
3rd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1616	+704
4th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1419	+527
5th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	1412	+645
6th	(+2)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1197	+658
7th	(+2)		Cézembre Fieschǎ (CFA)	1063	+541
8th	(-1)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	1026	+478
9th	(-3)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	1004	+415
10th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	815	+383

Coming up, the first of two time trials, a 33km flat dash from Caen to Thaon and back. With Ganna out, all eyes are clearly on Remco Evenepoel (BDC/CHX/CJO/DED/GHS/REX) as the strongest time trialist, but there's much talent ready to rise to the occasion with Pogacar (CFA/CHX/CJO/GHS/PTM) and Vingegaard (BDC/CFA/DED/EVC/PTM/VFL) also excellent time trialists and many other TCAT riders who will try and stake their claim to a top 10 finish: keep an eye on van Aert (EVC), Vauquelin (CHX/GHS), Armirail (GHS), Campenaerts (CJO) and Roglic (REX). On the other hand, the pure climbers among the riders with GC top 10 aspirations are all but doomed to lose more minutes to whoever between Pogacar and Vingegaard will grab the leader's jersey from van der Poel after tomorrow.

[Tric’hard Lenxheir]

Best day my team has had so far and I lost ground to everyone ahead of me LOL

[Glüc]

Gonna do bullet points today:

-ITT (Individual Time Trial) today

-Evenepoel (BDC/CHX/CJO/DED/GHS/REX) won, followed by Pogacar (CFA/CHX/CJO/GHS/PTM), with Armirail (GHS), Vauquelin (CHX/GHS), Lipowitz (EVC), Almeida (VFL), Jorgenson (EVC/REX), Roglic (REX), Vingegaard (BDC/CFA/DED/EVC/PTM/VFL), Van der Poel (BDC/CHX/GHS/VFL), and Skjelmose (CFA/CJO) also finishing in the top 20.

-Pogacar is the new leader in GC, followed by Evenepoel. Vingegaard disappointed and dropped to 4th place with already more than a minute on Pogacar.

- Jeannière (GHS) and De Buyst (PTM) abandoned due to earlier crashes

- Gordon Hiatus Support Team scored a massive amount of points today, but Cyclohexane also performed well and remain in the lead

Standings after stage 5:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	2703	+661
2nd	(+1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2415	+799
3rd	(-1)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	2183	+207
4th	(+1)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	1755	+343
5th	(-1)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1720	+301
6th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1706	+509
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschǎ (CFA)	1375	+312
8th	(+1)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	1375	+371
9th	(-1)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	1344	+318
10th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	1065	+250

Tomorrow:
Yet another hilly classic type stage. We are slowly getting closer to Cézembre

[Mic’haglh Autófil, O.Be]

So uh...Spain's the third stage, yeah?

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Gonna do bullet points today:

-ITT (Individual Time Trial) today

-Evenepoel (BDC/CHX/CJO/DED/GHS/REX) won, followed by Pogacar (CFA/CHX/CJO/GHS/PTM), with Armirail (GHS), Vauquelin (CHX/GHS), Lipowitz (EVC), Almeida (VFL), Jorgenson (EVC/REX), Roglic (REX), Vingegaard (BDC/CFA/DED/EVC/PTM/VFL), Van der Poel (BDC/CHX/GHS/VFL), and Skjelmose (CFA/CJO) also finishing in the top 20.

-Pogacar is the new leader in GC, followed by Evenepoel. Vingegaard disappointed and dropped to 4th place with already more than a minute on Pogacar.

- Jeannière (GHS) and De Buyst (PTM) abandoned due to earlier crashes

- Gordon Hiatus Support Team scored a massive amount of points today, but Cyclohexane also performed well and remain in the lead

Standings after stage 5:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	2703	+661
2nd	(+1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2415	+799
3rd	(-1)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	2183	+207
4th	(+1)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	1755	+343
5th	(-1)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1720	+301
6th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1706	+509
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschǎ (CFA)	1375	+312
8th	(+1)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	1375	+371
9th	(-1)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	1344	+318
10th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	1065	+250

Tomorrow:
Yet another hilly classic type stage. We are slowly getting closer to Cézembre

For one brief shining moment, the Posse considered the possibility of the first place...

[Glüc]

Stage almost starting in Talossa today! Obviously it can't actually start on Cézembre for logistics reasons (no bridge to get off the island...), but I'm sure there will be many Cézembre flags flown along the route regardless.

[Glüc]

For those with access to a channel broadcasting the entire stage not just the second half (over here Eurosport broadcasts everything) it's definitely worth watching the start. Some nice heli and drone shots of St Malo that show Cézembre as well

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 6  Bayeux -> Vire Normandie

Quick update:

- Hilly stage à la Liege-Bastogne-Liege
- Healy (CFA) won after an impressive solo effort, attacking from an early eight-riders break
- The other two TCAT riders in the breakaway, S. Yates (REX) and van der Poel (BDC/CHX/GHS/VFL) finished 5th and 8th (and last). Just too much climbing for the Dutch rider who, however, regains the yellow jersey by just one second
- Places 9-19 are all TCAT riders, with Pogacar 9th and first among the group of favourites
- Fieschă gets a home daily win, but overall the scores are not too far apart and thus no movements happened.

Standings after stage 6:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	3111	+408
2nd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2802	+387
3rd	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	2533	+350
4th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	2085	+330
5th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1975	+255
6th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1948	+242
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschǎ (CFA)	1851	+476
8th	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	1687	+312
9th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	1534	+190
10th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	1303	+238

As Glüc mentioned, today's stage started in St. Malo, very close to Cézembre, and will feature another explosive finale on the famed Mur de Bretagne.

[Glüc]

Stage 7  Saint-Malo  -> Mûr-de-Bretagne

The break didn't get much of a chance today. The stage was decided by the two ascents of the mur de bretagne. After the first time there were about 30 riders left. By the time the peloton got to the final kilometer that number had reduced to 9, unfortunately partly due to a big crash that left Almeida (VFL), Buitrago (CHX/DED/VFL) and several other riders injured. It's unclear whether they will start tomorrow.  Several others were dropped on the steep section of the mur, including yellow jersey wearer Van der Poel (BDC/CHX/GHS/VFL) and GC favourites Roglic (REX) and Lipowitz (EVC).

Pogacar (CFA/CHX/CJO/GHS/PTM) showed why he is the favourite, winning the stage, followed by Vingegaard (BDC/CFA/DED/EVC/PTM/VFL), Onley (CJO), Gall (BDC/EVC), Jorgenson (EVC/REX), Evenepoel (BDC/CHX/CJO/DED/GHS/REX) and Vauquelin (CHX/GHS). Pogacar also takes the yellow jersey, with a lead in GC of nearly a minute over Evenepoel and more than a minute over Vingegaard.

Naziun Cjovani scored the most points as a result and gain fifth place in the standings.
 

Standings after stage 7:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	3695	+584
2nd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3380	+578
3rd	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	2863	+330
4th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	2710	+625
5th	(+1)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2595	+647
6th	(-1)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2489	+514
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschǎ (CFA)	2406	+555
8th	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	2055	+368
9th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	2000	+466
10th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	1876	+573

Tomorrow we head east, away from the coast for what should normally be a day for sprinters.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 8  Saint-Méen-le-Grand  ->  Laval (Espace Mayenne)

Quick update for a straightforward and uneventful sprint stage. Jonathan Milan (VFL) won his first Tour stage ever, and the first Tour stage for an Italian rider since 2019, reclaiming the lead in the points classification in the process. He beat out Wout van Aert (EVC) and Kaden Groves (PTM). Disappointingly for REX, Tim Merlier did not feature in the sprint, and neither did EVC and BDC's Jordi Meeus.

Velociposse, one of just two sprint-oriented teams, handily takes the daily win by also placing Pascal Ackermann (also of CJO) in fourth in addition to Milan. EVC, PTM and CJO unsurprisingly end up close together but far behind; PTM, the other two-sprinter team, also placed Watson in 15th.

Standings after stage 8:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	3857	+162
2nd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3506	+126
3rd	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	3345	+482
4th	(+1)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2856	+261
5th	(-1)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	2810	+100
6th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2780	+291
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschǎ (CFA)	2577	+171
8th	(+2)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	2165	+289
9th	(-1)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	2163	+108
10th	(-1)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	2111	+111

Tomorrow, another flat, sprinter-oriented stage. Unfortunately for sprint-oriented teams, it will also be the last one, even though we're not even halfway through the leg. Teams who spent big (really, anything more than the bare minimum) on sprinters will need the best possible result in order to justify the investment.

[Sir Lüc]

Oof, it very nearly did not pan out as expected. Teammates Mathieu van der Poel (BDC/CHX/GHS/VFL) and Jonas Rickaert (PTM) went on an impressive duo attack for most of the stage, with MVDP remaining alone for the last six kilometres or so. Unfortunately, he was caught by the charging peloton with a mere 700m to go.

Would have been one of the rides to remember in pretty much the unlikeliest type of stage for this to happen.

[Iason Taiwos]

I would like to say that I am pleased with two things. First, the Naziun Cjovani team leaping into fourth place. (Hot damn!) (The Iason method at work!) Secondly, I am pleased by the representation of Belacosta in all the recent TCAT events. (Especially since the Talossan Cycling Association was a creation of our province.)
Also thanks to Glüc and Lüc for these updates, and for keeping these events going. I just wish I had a way to watch it.

[Glüc]

Stage 9 Chinon -> Châteauroux

Most of the stage was what Lüc said basically. A valiant effort that stranded very close to the finish. Of course, we did still have a sprint after that. Merlier (REX) won, Milan (VFL) got second. Earlier in the stage Almeida (VFL) unfortunately had to abandon due to his injuries from stage 8.

Standings after stage 9:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	4117	+260
2nd	(+1)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	3706	+361
3rd	(-1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3675	+169
4th	(+1)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	3024	+214
5th	(-1)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	3017	+161
6th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2972	+192
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschǎ (CFA)	2698	+121
8th	(+1)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	2481	+318
9th	(-1)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	2339	+174
10th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	2223	+112

Today we don't have a restday as usual. Instead the restday will be on tuesday and today we get the first mountain stage. Not the Pyrenees or Alps just yet, but a single stage in the Massif Central, with no fewer than 8 categorised summits, most of them of the second category. So a lot of ups and down. There will certainly be some shifts in GC as a result, the stage itself could either go to the break or to some GC favourite.

[Sir Lüc]

A brief note on sprinters now that the update for yesterday is out - as I mentioned, all flat stages are over already so according to my notes there's just two three chances for sprinters to make their mark - stages 17 and 21 (edit: and 11). But they aren't quite flat - 17 looks promising for a breakaway but could be managed by sprint teams, and 21 is the traditional Paris finale, which this years includes three laps of the Montmartre hill, the last one a mere 6km from the finish - a very tempting prize for puncheurs and maybe too steep for pure sprinters.
(Belated edit: the next stage, stage 11, has similar vertical meters as stage 17 but a tough but short climb about 10km from the finish.)

As such, the bulk of the work for sprinters is done already. Sprinters will still be able to contest intermediate sprint points of course, provided there's no big hill before that, but the Velogames points on offer for those are pennies (max. 20/stage) compared to those on offer for a sprint finish (max. 220/stage). Therefore, we can already take a look at how our sprint picks fared and assume this general outline will only meaningfully change if we do get one or two more sprint finishes.

Sprinter	Team	Points	Credits	Points per credit (PPC) higher is better	Points remaining to reach 100 PPC lower is better
Ackermann	CJO/VFL	270	6c	45	330
Bauhaus	CHX	295	6c	49	305
Groenewegen	DED	80	8c	10	720
Groves	PTM	397	8c	50	403
Jeanniere (DNF)	GHS	0	6c	0	600
Meeus	BDC/EVC	85	8c	10	715
Merlier	REX	502	10c	50	498
Milan	VFL	773	12c	64	427
van Poppel	CFA	58	6c	10	542

• The best TCAT sprinter by points-per-credit is current points classification leader Jonathan Milan, of Velociposse. He's also the best of the three expensive sprinters (him, REX's Merlier and non-TCAT Philipsen) when looking at both PPC and points remaining to get 100 points-per-credit.
• The best TCAT sprinter by the number of points left to get to 100 points-per-credit is Phil Bauhaus of Cyclohexane. He's also the second best 6c sprinter behind non-TCAT Waerenskjold, who however just abandoned the race and cannot improve on his record. Not far behind Bauhaus is CJO and VFL's Pascal Ackermann.
• Port Maxhestic's Kaden Groves is halfway through to 100 ppc and the joint second-best pick by that metric together with Tim Merlier. However, he may be a wiser pick because he has fewer to go to get to 100 PPC, being a cheaper pick, which means it will be easier for him to get there (an important factor given the limited sprint occasions).
• Like Bauhaus however, Groves is not the best possible 8c pick - that would be non-TCAT Biniam Girmay, who much like last year remained unpicked but is actually the best possible sprint pick overall, with 68 PPC currently and just 249 points to go to get 100 PPC.
• A separate mention to PTM's Samuel Watson, who is an unclassed 6c rider for some reason; he scored 16 PPC and is 504 points from 100 PPC, which technically means he's not doing brilliantly, but it might be more accurate to compare him against other TCAT 6c unclassed picks, among which so far he would actually be the second best pick.
• Also a separate mention goes to EVC's Wout van Aert, who is also unclassed and too much of a wildcard to just assume he won't be scoring any more points. He's 25% of the way to 100 PPC though, so it seems he will have to feature heavily for his team in order to be worth it.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 10 Ennezat -> Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy

The first mountain stage of Tour was peppered with categorised climbs, and saw a relatively large breakaway form quite early, including several TCAT riders. Ultimately though, those that made it far enough to collect breakaway points were just Anders Johannessen (CHX), O'Connor (BDC), Campenaerts (CJO), Sweeny (PTM), Healy (CFA), and the REX duo Martinez and Simon Yates.

Of those seven, four actually made it all the way, and it was Yates who prevailed, with Healy in third, O'Connor in fourth, Johannessen in seventh and Martinez eighth, as he was dropped but still managed to finish together and ahead of Pogacar (9th) and Vingegaard (10th). Mostly in the same group and finishing 11-16th are also Lipowitz, Jorgenson, Evenepoel, Onley, other Johannessen and Roglic, with Gall and Rodriguez in 17-18th slightly more delayed and closing this big block of TCAT points finishers.

Surprisingly, Healy finished with enough of a gap to the GC favourites to unexpectedly be the new GC leader. This first mountain stage saw a natural round of plummets on the GC standings, with Vauquelin (CHX/GHS) losing three spots, Skjelmose (CFA/CJO) five and falling out of the top10, and of course Mathieu van der Poel (BDC/CHX/GHS/VFL) having exhausted his time at the top à la Mads Pedersen in this year's Giro.

The Rexhitais get their crown back thanks to Yates and Martinez, with Fieschă and BDC rounding off the daily top three. Not a lot of movement in the standings however, with just GHS and VFL trading places again.

Standings after stage 10:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	4437	+320
2nd	(+1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	3901	+226
3rd	(-1)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	3840	+134
4th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	3374	+350
5th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	3273	+256
6th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	3245	+273
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschǎ (CFA)	3125	+427
8th	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhitais (REX)	3010	+529
9th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	2628	+289
10th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	2428	+205

Restday coming up - next stage and update on Wednesday, with potential analysis to fill the gap tomorrow.

[Tric’hard Lenxheir]

Well...at least I didn't lose any ground in the overall standings!