2022 Tour de France Stage 10 Temporarily Stopped After Protesters Block Road

Stage 10 at the Tour de France was halted Tuesday after protesters blocked the course mid-race, sitting across the road, per David Close and Matt Foster of CNN.com.

"The race is neutralized," the Tour de France race center said in a statement. "The race will resume with the same time gaps once the road will be cleared."

The protesters, from the French climate group Derniere Renovation, said they were trying "to force legislation to drastically reduce France's emissions, starting with energy reform, the area most likely to bring together social and climate justice today."

While there was some level of irony to protesting emissions during a pedal-bike race, the protestors added that they were trying to end "deadly heat, extreme weather events, famines, mass migrations, [and] armed conflicts."

MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images

Michael Steele/Getty Images

Michael Steele/Getty Images

The race, which was stopped about 22 miles short of Tuesday's finish line, resumed after a 15-minute delay.

Once the race continued, Denmark's Magnus Cort won the stage, narrowly edging Australia's Nick Schultz.

Tadej Pogacar continues to hold the yellow jersey as the overall leader, though Lennard Kamna cut into his lead Tuesday and trails by just 11 seconds.

New Zealand's George Bennett, one of Pogacar's teammates, had to withdraw before Tuesday's stage after testing positive for COVID-19. Another member of that team, Rafal Majka, also tested positive but was allowed to race after being deemed to be asymptomatic with "a very low risk of infectivity" by the International Cycling Union medical team.