Proving his talents as one of the world’s best, Christian Vande Velde stuck with the true Tour contenders over the Tourmalet and up Hautacam to finish stage 10 with the new yellow jersey Cadel Evans.

Leaving Kirchen and Valverde behind on the mountain, Christian’s group finished just two minutes off Frank Schleck, who finished third on the stage and moved into second overall. In the last few hundred meters of the climb, Christian attacked, pulling the group up to the finish where Evans just managed to take the yellow.

All of Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O worked to keep Christian in position early in the stage with Trent Lowe hanging in until La Mongie on the Tourmalet climb. Taking his turn on defense, Ryder Hesjedal joined a short break on the Tourmalet before falling off pace. And early in the stage, Danny Pate crashed but was fine and quietly did his full share of the day’s work.