The prodigious Marc Hirschi, thwarted on stage two in Nice and again on stage nine to Laruns, finally struck gold to take his debut Tour de France stage victory on the longest day in this year’s race, the 218km leg to Sarran Corrèze. The former under-23 world champion, riding for Team Sunweb, proved to be the strongest rider in the day’s final breakaway group as they climbed the Suc au May, deep in the thick woods of the Corrèze. The Swiss is a protege of the former world time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara, a winner of eight stages in the Tour. Hirschi had come within a hair’s breadth of victory twice already, initially outsprinted by Julian Alaphilippe of Deceuninck Quick-Step in Nice and then by Tadej Pogacar, riding for Team Emirates, in Laruns last weekend. “I was doubtful because of the last two experiences I had,” Hirschi said. “It’s made it all the more special. I was really sad after Sunday’s stage and [had to] discover the confidence to try again. In the last kilometre I was full of emotion, it was an incredibly nice feeling.” The overall race leader, Primoz Roglic, and his Jumbo-Visma team remained vigilant but were also content to let the stage be decided by opportunist attackers, as serial breakaways tried their hand until the final definitive group of five entered the gruelling and hilly finale. Hirschi’s power took him clear on the steepest ramps and, with Alaphilippe among those chasing, he ensured this time he stayed clear to win. Friday’s stage takes the peloton to a summit finish at the Pas de Peyrol in the Cantal. The final two kilometres include sections of 15% gradient, which is certain to provide a springboard for attacks on Roglic’s lead among the favourites for the general classification. The Tour convoy may find itself less than warmly welcomed in Lyon when it arrives there on Saturday. “The Tour de France continues to convey a macho image of sport,” said the Lyon mayor, Grégory Doucet, interviewed in Le Progrès. “There should have been a women’s Tour de France for a long time. It’s the last major event not to have taken the plunge,” he said, before describing the Tour as “not eco-responsible” and “polluting”. Doucet, elected on a green platform, also attacked the “goodies” thrown to fans by the publicity caravan and the presence of sponsors such as Total and Ineos. The threat of expulsion from the Tour hanging over four teams after the results of last Monday’s first batch of Covid-19 tests has eased after the race organisation said the “two strikes” protocol for positive tests would be reset before the batch of testing on Sunday and Monday. Following comments from the stand-in Tour director, Francois Lemarchand, it had been thought that if any of Ineos Grenadiers, AG2R-La Mondiale, Mitchelton-Scott or Cofidis had recorded another positive among their staff or riders, they would be sent home. Lemarchand, acting as the race director in the absence of the quarantined Christian Prudhomme, who was among those to test positive earlier this week, had said “teams who had received one positive test would be excluded if there was another from the next battery of tests”. ASO, in consultation with the French government, have now eased that ruling and confirmed the count of positives will be reset from 13-14 September, the Tour’s next rest day. “We are resetting the counters for the next round of tests. However, if before those tests one of the four teams has another positive then they will be out,” ASO told Reuters.