Ben O'Connor has taken third place in the 10th stage of the Tour de France, narrowly outsprinted by Spanish winner Pello Bilbao after both were part of a successful breakaway.
German Georg Zimmermann was second on Tuesday's 167.5-km roller-coaster trek from the Vulcania Park to Issoire.
The main peloton came to the line a little under three minutes later with Jonas Vingegaard retaining the yellow jersey and his 17-second advantage over Tadej Pogacar.
Australia's Jai Hindley stays third, two minutes 40 seconds adrift. AG2R Citroen's O'Connor, who finished fourth in the 2021 Tour, is 17th, just over 11 minutes down on the leader.
O'Connor's podium finish came after he was forced to give up any designs on the overall win when illness on Sunday extinguished his chances.
"I felt liberated in the way I was able to ride today," he said.
"You had to have courage to get into the break today, so this definitely helps my morale for the future. The road to Paris is still long. I'm not going to give up.”
After Monday's rest day the Tour resumed with a difficult stage featuring five categorised climbs and almost no flat sections. The soaring temperatures were made even more brutal by the heat reflecting off the roads.
It was relentless from the start and many riders were clearly suffering, but eventually a break of 14 formed.
Krists Neilands attacked on the final climb but was chased down on the descent and caught by a five-strong group with just over three kilometres remaining.
O’Connor then attacked as he knew the sprint didn’t suit him but was caught by Bilbao and Zimmermann before the Spaniard launched his attack off Zimmermann’s wheel and held on for the win.
"I hadn't experienced such a day on a bike for a while," said O'Connor. "The start of the stage was absolutely brutal. I'm really happy to have managed to get into the breakaway after such a battle.
"With the heat, you had to stay focused at all times and not crack mentally. Even if I was off the back a bit, I always believed in it. In the last kilometres, I tried to manoeuvre as well as possible to try to escape my breakaway companions and win the stage.
"I didn't manage it so I'm definitely a little disappointed. But this third place shows that I can be an animator at this Tour de France."
Wednesday’s stage features three lower-category climbs on the 180 km route from Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins and is expected to end in a sprint finish.
with agencies
