Paulinho narrowly wins hilly 10th stage of Tour de France; Schleck retains overall lead

Paulinho wins Tour 10th stage

GAP, France — Sergio Paulinho of Portugal gave Team RadioShack its first success of the 2010 Tour de France on Wednesday, winning the 10th stage in a two-man sprint among breakaway riders.

Andy Schleck of Luxembourg retained the yellow jersey. He finished in the main pack more than 14 minutes back, alongside his biggest rivals for the title.

Paulinho edged Vasil Kiryienka of Belarus over the sun-baked 111-mile trek from Chambery to Gap that featured one difficult climb — the Laffrey pass — as the race left the Alps.

Paulinho pointed skyward then sucked his thumb after beating Kiryienka by less than half a wheel at the finish. They both clocked 5 hours, 10 minutes, 56 seconds. Belgium’s Dries Devenyns was third: 1:29.

It was the Portuguese rider’s first individual stage win at the Tour, though he was part of the Astana squad — including Lance Armstrong and 2010 Tour winner Alberto Contador — that won the team time-trial last year.

RadioShack leader Armstrong fell out of contention in the first Alpine stage on Sunday after getting tangled up in three crashes and losing crucial minutes against the top contenders. The team is now banking on the podium hopes of Levi Leipheimer, who is sixth overall.

“This is a victory we’ve been looking for a while, after all the bad luck we had in the first week,” Paulinho said. “I hope this victory gives morale back to our team.”

The 30-year-old Paulinho and Kiryienka, of Caisse d’Epargne, were part of a six-man breakaway made up of riders far back in the overall standings. The pack finished 14:19 behind Paulinho.

The overall standings didn’t change. Schleck leads Contador by 41 seconds, while Samuel Sanchez of Spain was third, 2:45 back. Leipheimer is 3:59 behind.

Riders are likely to breathe a bit easier during Thursday’s 11th stage, a flatter 114.65-mile route from Sisteron to Bourg-les-Valence.