Carlos Rodríguez crossed the line in 18th place on Stage 10 of the 2025 Tour de France, finishing 5:15 behind stage winner Simon Yates. The INEOS Grenadiers rider also lost 24 seconds to Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, 21 seconds to Florian Lipowitz and Matteo Jorgenson, and 18 seconds to Remco Evenepoel, Oscar Onley, Tobias Halland Johannessen and Primoz Roglic.
After the stage, Rodríguez shared his reflections with the media, beginning with his assessment of how the day unfolded: “It was a really tough stage from the start, then the pace eased off a bit because there wasn’t much strength left in the peloton. I felt better as the day went on — I just didn’t quite have the legs to follow the accelerations, but I managed in the end.”
He finished 28 seconds ahead of Enric Mas, but made it clear that beating his compatriot is not his objective: “The goal is to move up in the overall standings — not to beat Enric. The better we both are, the better for everyone. I’d like to see him up there too, as a fellow Spaniard.”
Rodríguez now sits 12th in the general classification, 5:44 down on new race leader Ben Healy. He’s 5:15 behind Pogacar, 4:15 off the current podium which is rounded out by Evenepoel, 3:58 behind the virtual podium marked by Vingegaard, 3:38 off the top five, and just 41 seconds away from the top ten.
Despite more time loss, his performance marked a clear improvement compared to the earlier stages, where he had found it even harder to stay with the favourites: “I leave with a much better feeling today. My legs responded well on a stage that wasn’t ideally suited to me. Despite the fatigue, I felt good.”
Rodríguez was pleased with how he managed the final climb: “They started the last climb at a really high pace — I actually thought about stopping. But in the end I kept to my own rhythm and even took some turns on the front, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to follow the attacks later,” he concluded.