Denmark's Magnus Cort Nielsen won the 10th stage of the Tour de France, a 148.5 km Alpine trek from Morzine, on Tuesday, after a nail-biting cat-and-mouse struggle up the final section of the culminating 20 km climb. Tadej Pogacar however retained the overall leader's yellow jersey.
Nick Schultz of Bike Exchange was second and Luis Leon Sanchez was third after the 148 km run through sinuous Haut Savoie roads that avoided the major mountains in the region.
Tadej Pogacar sprinted in slightly ahead of the main peloton around eight minutes later.
The race was stopped for about 10 minutes after half a dozen of climate activists tried to block the riders 36 kilometres from the finish.
The activists, one of them wearing a t-shirt saying, "We have 989 days left," sat on the road some 36 kilometres (22 miles) from the finish in Megeve, according to witnesses.
The activists were pulled off the road by police, helped by Tour organisers' Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) general director Yann Le Moenner, before the race resumed.
Cort Nielsen prevailed in a nail-biting sprint finish from the day's breakaway to claim his second career stage win on the Tour after 2018.
Australian Nick Schultz took second and Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez was third.
Pogacar, the two-time defending champion who has lost two team mates after they departed the race following positive Covid-19 tests since the start in Denmark, retained the overall leader's yellow jersey.
Wednesday's 11th stage is a brutal 151.7 km mountain trek from Albertville to the Col du Granon.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)
