14 DAY TRIAL // There are 4 climbs on Stage 10 but none is particularly hard, so sprinters might again have a field day, probably their second to last one for some time as the race prepares to move into the Pyrenees.
My plan is to go for the breakaway yet again while also protecting my big riders and making sure that I do not again get caught out as I did on Stage 9.
If the situation presents itself, I might also try and get back the Yellow Jersey that I had for the first week and became quite accustomed with.
This time around, I was more active in trying to get away from the peloton with the main breakaway of the day and after a failed attempt with veteran Jens Voigt, who managed to stay away for a while but was reeled in when none of his companions would help with the pace, I managed to get away solo with Maxime Montfort.
I conquered the four peaks of the day solo and only Nocentini, from AG2R, tried a counter attack.
Unfortunately, I mismanaged my effort initially and I was forced to slow down in the last third of the stage, which allowed Nocentini to catch up to me.
I then made another tactical mistake by allowing him to pull away just a little as I was trying to get some rest and again failed to get the stage win, something that I need to stop doing in the future.
To try and compensate I pushed the pace in the last 20 km, reeled in some weak breakaways from some favorites and then launched attacks with Cancellara and the Schleck brothers, getting second, third and fourth places for this stage.
Here's how the stage looked, in its final kilometers, when played in Pro Cycling Manager 2011: