Paulinho Gets First Tour Win in Stage Ten of 2010 Tour de France

Sergio Paulinho (R) crosses the finish line inches ahead of Vasili Kiryienka in Stage Ten of the 2010 Tour de France. (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

After nine stages of bad breaks which saw team leader Lance Armstrong sent to the back of the pack, Radio Shack’s Sergio Paulinho seized the chance to strike out on his own for a stage win in the 2010 Tour de France.

Paulinho chose Wednesday’s Stage Ten, the final stage in the Alps, a day when the GC contenders were resting, to join a breakaway. As the finish line approached, the Portuguese rider used a combination of strategy and stamina to take the win.

“The team has been unlucky during the first week and during the two important stages [Three and Eight] we were unlucky as well,” Paulinho told LeTour.fr. “Finally we managed to obtain what we were looking for—a stage win.”

Radio Shack is second in the Team General Classification, behind Caisse d’Epargne, and team orders were to latch on to into every breakaway. “I went with the break, I see there is one guy from Caisse d’Epargne, so this is very good for the team,” Paulinho told Versus-TV.

Wednesday was blisteringly hot—98 degrees—and the stage started with a brutally steep climb. The top contenders, Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador, were not about to repeat the leg-beating battles of the day before, and the rest of the peloton was more than willing to rest as well.

Stage Ten was perfect for the young riders to make their reputations, and the small teams to earn their sponsorship dollars, by riding long breakaways. For the first 35 kilometers, several groups tried to escape, but the Saxo Bank, protecting the yellow jersey, wouldn’t let just any group go.

Finally, an escape composed of six riders that were no threat to the leaders got away. The peloton didn’t even try to chase. The breakaway group opened a gap of twelve minutes—they were in their own race, unrelated to the Tour as a whole.

Stamina and Strategy

The breakaway worked as a team until the final small climb. Then Mario Aerts of Omega Pharma-Lotto attacked, seeing that AG2R’s Maxime Bouet was struggling. When Aerts ran out of energy, Quick Step’s Dries Devenyns saw his chance and charged.

Meanwhile Paulinho and his rival from Caisse d’Epargne, Vassi Kiryienka, waited, and when Aerts and Devenyns tired, Paulinho pounced.

Kiryienka waited until Paulinho slowed, and then Kiryienka attacked, thinking Pauhlinho was spent. But Paulinho expected the move; as Kiryienka passed, Paulinho surged forward again and stuck with the Belorussian rider.

“I attacked at that point because the race was at its peak,” Paulinho explained. “Everyone was trying to attack, and at one point I felt really good, so I tried my luck.”

The two riders then worked together to stay ahead; they knew if they kept fighting, they would get caught by the riders they had just dropped. The pair took turns setting the pace until the final kilometer, when suddenly they slowed, and the contest began in earnest.

The pair rode slowly towards the finish line, trying to watch each other, ready to attack or defend, waiting for the other to lose focus. Paulinho was wily; he stayed in back and made the Belorussian look around for him.

Suddenly, Paulinho saw what he was looking for and exploded into the lead. Kieiryienka had looked away for a split second, when his whole race depended on total concentration.

Perhaps he was tired; perhaps the heat and the pace had hurt him. For whatever reason, Kiryienka hesitated a fraction of a second before responding. Paulinho went all out, but Kiryienkia, the faster rider, caught up—just past the finish line. Sergio Paulinho won by about nine inches after 179 kilometers of racing.

Because they finished so close together, neither rider lost or gained any time for their teams. But Sergio Paulinho has something that matters immensely in the world of professional cycling: a stage victory in the ultimate race, the Tour de France.

Stage 10 2010 Tour de France
	Rider		Team			Time
1	Sandy Casar		FDJ			4h 54' 11"
2	Anthony Charteau		Bbox Bouygues Telecom			+ 00' 00”
3	Alberto Contador		Astana			+ 00' 10”
4	Andy Schleck		Team Saxo Bank			+ 00' 10”
5.	Samuel Sanchez		Euskatel-Euskadi			+ 00' 10”
6	Joaquin Rodriguez		Katusha			+ 00' 10”
7	Levi Leiphemer		Radio Shack			+ 00' 10”
8	Robert Gesink		Rabobank			+ 00' 10”
9	Jens Voigt		Saxo Bank			+ 00' 10”
10	Denis Menchov		Rabobank			+ 00' 10”
11	Kevin de Weert		Quick Step			+ 00' 10”
12	Ivan Basso		Liquigas			+ 00' 20”
13	Ruben Plaza Molina		Caisse d’Epargne			+ 00' 39”
14	Jurgen Van Den Broeck		Omega Pharma-Lotto			+ 01' 14”
15	Lance Armstrong		Radio Shack			+ 01' 14”
16	Roman Kreuziger		Liquigas			+ 01' 14”
17	Alexandre Vinokourov		Astana			+ 01' 37”
18	Michael Rogers		HTC-Columbia			+ 01' 45”
19	Carlos Sastre		Cervelo			+ 01' 45”
20	Ryder Hesjedal		Garmin-Transitions			+ 02' 05”
General Classification after Stage 10
		Rider		Team	Time
1		Andy Schleck		Team Saxo Bank	49h 00' 56”
2		Alberto Contador		Astana	+ 00' 41”
3		Samuel Sanchez		Euskatel-Euskadi	+ 02' 45”
4		Denis Menchov		Rabobank	+ 02' 58”
5		Jurgen Van Den Broeck		Omega Pharma-Lotto	+ 03' 31”
6		Levi Leiphemer		Radio Shack	+ 03' 59”
7		Robert Gesink		Rabobank	+ 04' 22”
8		Luis-Leon Sanchez		Caisse d’Epargne	+ 04' 41”
9		Joaquin Rodriguez		Katusha	+ 05' 08”
10		Ivan Basso		Liquigas	+ 05' 09”
11		Roman Kreuziger		Liquigas	+ 05' 11”
12		Ryder Hesjedal		Garmin-Transitions	+ 05' 42”
13		Nicolas Roche		AG2R la Mondiale	+ 06' 31”
14		Alexandre Vinokourov		Astana	+ 07' 04”
15		Michael Rogers		HTC-Columbia	+ 07' 13”
16		Carlos Sastre		Cervelo	+ 07' 18”
17		Bradley Wiggins		Sky	+ 07' 44”
18		Cadel Evans		BMC	+ 07' 47”
19		Thomas Lovvkist		Sky	+ 08' 03”
20		Andréas Klöden		Radio Shack	+ 09' 05”