Tour de France 2010
Start: 3 July, Rotterdam Finish: 25 July, Paris
Coverage: Listen to the final hour of every stage on the BBC Sport website (UK only), with selected stages on BBC 5 live sports extra ; Watch live on Eurosport and ITV4; Live text commentary each day on BBC Sport website

Paulinho (right) edged out Kiryienka on the line

Portugal's Sergio Paulinho won stage 10 of the Tour de France, as the host nation missed out on celebrating a French win on Bastille Day.

Paulinho pipped Vasil Kiryienka of Belarus on the line after the pair's decisive attack with 14km remaining.

In an uneventful stage, albeit in spectacular surroundings en route from Chambery to Gap, none of the breakaway threatened Andy Schleck's overall lead.

Britain's Mark Cavendish collected 12 points in the green jersey standings.

Cavendish led the peloton home, but points classification leader Thor Hushovd was two places behind to add nine to his tally, while Alessandro Petacchi finished 10th.

Quick Step's Jerome Pineau reclaimed the polka dot jersey from Bouygues Telecom's Anthony Charteau, who topped the King of the Mountains standings following Tuesday's dramatic stage up the hors-category Cote de la Madeleine.

Paulinho's win was RadioShack's first in the Tour de France and a boost for the team after leader Lance Armstrong dropped out of contention for the yellow jersey on Sunday.

We were happy to let the breakaway go. That allowed us to ride at an easy pace for most of the day Race leader Andy Schleck

The last Portuguese stage winner was Acacio Da Silva in 1989.

"I've been dreaming of this since I was a little child," said the 30-year-old, who won silver in the 2004 Olympics in the road race.

"I haven't seen my team-mates yet but I'm sure we're going to celebrate this win because it's the first for us on the race."

Paulinho was part of a six-man break, which included French pair Pierre Rolland and Maxime Bouet, but he and Caisse d'Epargne's Kiryienka eventually finished over a minute ahead of the other four.

Kiryienka was denied a first win for Belarus by a matter of centimetres in a thrilling climax which was at odds with a pedestrian stage.

The peloton were content to let a breakaway sextet contest the finish, which came half an hour after the scheduled time anticipated by organisers.

Schleck ensured he will wear the yellow jersey for a second day as the top 10 of the general classification standings remained unchanged.

Thursday's 184.5km stage 11 is one for the sprinters, so Cavendish - twice a winner on this year's Tour already - should be back in contention.

A relatively incident-free stage was in stark contrast to Tuesday's drama, when Cadel Evans's hopes of wearing the yellow jersey to Paris evaporated as he wilted on the Cote de la Madeleine.

606: DEBATE We will see if Contador has indeed deceived Andy Schleck in the Alps and that the the ostensible desperation in keeping with the Luxembourger belies an intent to explode up the road in the Pyrenees, a move that cannot hoped to be paralleled nadarsenal

Schleck, who holds a 41-second lead over defending champion Alberto Contador, opted to play safe over the 179km terrain, which included one first-category climb at the Cote de Laffrey.

The Saxo Bank rider and Astana's Contador seem set to reacquaint their battle for the title when the tour moves to the Pyrenees next week.

"It was very, very hot and I think most of the guys are still feeling the effects of yesterday's stage," said Schleck, who took the race lead from Evans on Tuesday.

"A lot of the French guys were motivated today, since it's the national holiday.

"But we were happy to let the breakaway go. That allowed us to ride at an easy pace for most of the day."

The easy pace allowed four riders - Paulinho, Kiryienka, Dries Devenyns and Mario Aerts to break away from the peloton at about the 35km mark.

The quartet were soon joined by Pierre Rolland and Maxime Bouet, boosting the chances of a first French rider to win on Bastille Day since David Moncoutie in 2005.

However, the French duo could not respond as Paulinho and Kiryienka attacked with 14km to go, resulting in an enthralling photo finish.

Stage 10 results:

1. Sergio Paulinho (Por/RadioShack) 5h 10m 56s
2. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR/Caisse d'Epargne) same time
3. Dries Devenyns (Bel/Quick-Step) +1' 29"
4. Pierre Rolland (Fra/Bouygues) same time
5. Mario Aerts (Bel/Omega Pharma) +1' 33"
6. Maxime Bouet (Fra/AG2R) +3' 20"
7. Nicolas Roche (Irl/AG2R) +12' 58"
8. Remi Pauriol (Fra/Cofidis) +13' 57"
9. Mark Cavendish (GB/HTC-Columbia) +14' 19"
10. Alessandro Petacchi (Italy / Lampre) same time

Overall Standings:

1. Andy Schleck (Lux/Saxo Bank) 49h 0m 56s
2. Alberto Contador (Esp/Astana) +41"
3. Samuel Sanchez (Esp/Euskatel) +2'45"
4. Denis Menchov (Rus/Rabobank) +2'58"
5. Jurgen van den Broeck (Bel/Omega Pharma-Lotto) +3'31"
6. Levi Leipheimer (US/RadioShack) +3'59"
7. Robert Gesnik (Ned/Rabobank) +4'22"
8. Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa/Caisse d'Epargne) +4'41"
9. Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa/Katusha) +5'08"
10. Ivan Basso (Ita/Liquigas) +5'09"

For full results visit the official Tour de France site

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