Tour De France 2013: Breaking Down Favorites After Stage 10

Stage 10 of the Tour de France 2013 is complete and it was an exciting one as Marcel Kittel barely edged out Andrei Greipel.

With the race nearly halfway over, here's how the standings break down:

RANK	RIDER	TEAM	TIMES	GAP
1.	Christopher Froome	Sky Procycling	41h 52' 43"
2.	Alejando Valverde	Movistar Team	41h 54' 08"	+ 01' 25"
3.	Bauke Mollema	Belkin Pro Cycling	41h 54' 27"	+ 01' 44"
4.	Laurens Ten Dam	Belkin Pro Cycling	41h 54' 33"	+ 01' 50"
5.	Roman Kreuziger	Team Saxo-Tinkoff	41h 54' 34"	+ 01' 51"
6.	Alberto Contador	Team Saxo Tinkoff	41h 54' 34"	+ 01' 51"
7.	Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas	Movistar Team	41h 54' 45"	+ 02' 02"
8.	Daniel Martin	Garmin-Sharp	41h 55' 11"	+ 02' 28"
9.	Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver	Katusha Team	41h 55' 14"	+ 02' 31"
10.	Rui Alberto Costa	Movistar Team	41h 55' 28"	+ 02' 45"

*Full classifications and results can be found at LeTour.com.

Which riders have the best chance of winning with 11 stages remaining? Read on to find out.

Christopher Froome

Froome is in the lead and probably has the best chance of winning it all.

He entered the race as one of the favorites and has not disappointed. He's won the Tour of Oman, Criterium International, Tour de Romandie and Criterium du Dauphine so far this year.

His best and most important performance was in Stage 9. The Sky team fell to the back of the pack, leaving Froome all alone with the front group. Nevertheless, he did not lose any time on his lead.

As Froome explained to The Guardian:

"

Once I got into that front group and was isolated, it did sink in that it was going to be a really long day and I'm going to have to dig in. I just had to make the most of the situation I was in, try to limit any losses if there were going to be any.

"

The only thing potentially stopping Froome from holding onto the Yellow Jersey is the poor performance of his teammates. If they have more performances like the one in Stage 9, it's going to be hard for Froome to win.

In that stage alone, teammate Peter Kennaugh crashed, Richie Porte finished 17 minutes behind the pack, and Vasil Kiryienka was eliminated. 

If his team can get their act together, there's no reason why Froome won't hold on to the Yellow Jersey.

Alejandro Valverde

Valverde sits in second place. Luckily for him, the rest of the stages fit his style.

As one of the better climbers, Valverde just has to hold ground in the two stages—Stage 11 and Stage 17—where he will struggle.

A big test for him is Stage 11. The 33 kilometer sprint from Avranches to Mont-Saint-Michel will be tough for this climber. If he can hold ground, then he has a really good shot at overtaking Froome.

But a disastrous Stage 11 could knock him out of contention. He finished 20th in last year's Tour, so this year's performance has been a pleasant surprise. He did, however, win the 17th stage last year, which was a mountain stage.

The amount of mountain stages remaining give him a real chance, but he needs a decent performance in the next stage to stay in contention. 

Joaquim Rodriguez

Yes, he's two-and-a-half minutes behind Froome. But Rodriguez is a terrific climber, maybe even on par with Froome.

Because the rest of the Tour's stages favor the climbers, it wouldn't be too surprising to see someone like Rodriguez make a charge towards the Yellow Jersey. 

Of course, he needs to be nearly flawless in the mountain stages and cannot lose any ground in the sprint stages. 

With dominant mountain stages, Rodriguez could sneak his way back towards the top of the leaderboard. It's a bit of a stretch, but he did win a mountain stage in the 2010 Tour de France and has excelled on mountains in the past.