The long-anticipated gravel stage around Troyes was exactly the spectacle that was hoped for as two races unfolded over the chemin blanc, the white roads, that wound through the Champagne vineyards.
There was a great deal of action in the peloton as Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) couldn’t help themselves over the aggressive terrain, but the day belonged to the breakaway in the end, and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) was the final victor, rejoicing at his first Grand Tour stage win – he’s also the third Frenchman to raise his arms at this Tour.
- It was a hard fight for the breakaway, but after almost 50 km of racing, a group of 12 finally got together to form the move of the day: Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Maxim van Gils (Lotto Dstny), Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), Axel Zingle (Cofidis), Alex Aranburu, Oier Lazkano and Javier Romo (Movistar), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) and Turgis.
- The break was never given much room, and their advantage became perilous when the peloton pulled focus, with early splits wreaking havoc and briefly dislodging Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe).
- The pace was furious wherever the roads would allow, and entry to the early gravel sectors created huge bottlenecks, but that particular drama was neutralised before too long.
- There was no time for resting on laurels though, with Pogačar putting his nose in the wind about 90 km from the finish, choosing his moment carefully to slip away on a descent after his team stretched out the peloton on the gravel – almost exactly how he escaped at Strade Bianche earlier this year.
- Pogačar’s move was neutralised too, but he’d put the fear in his rivals, and Evenepoel was next to go on the attack, the Belgian choosing a steep climb to test his rivals.
- Almost as soon as Evenepoel attacked, both Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard leapt into action, the Dane glueing himself to the yellow jersey’s wheel.
- Pogačar soon brought his limpet up to Evenepoel who was determined to crack on, offering the universal symbol for “let’s work together” from the front of the group. Pogačar was happy to do some work, but Vingegaard was not game.
- The trio soon latched onto the back of the breakaway, but rather than spelling the end for the day’s early attackers, the GC favourites pulled the plug – much to Evenepoel’s disappointment – and as the break were spurred back into action, Pogačar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel soft-pedalled until their teammates regained contact. And everyone breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment.
- There were more attacks from both Pogačar and Evenepoel, and if it weren’t for Visma-Lease a Bike – Christophe Laporte and Matteo Jorgenson especially – Pogačar may have slipped away 20 km from the finish.
- As the yellow jersey group seemed finally to run out of ideas – or road – focus finally returned to the front of the race where the original breakaway still had an advantage of more than half a minute to a seven-man chase group containing Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and green jersey Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty).
- The now-eight-rider breakaway – Lazkano, Van Gils, Vermeersch and Zingle all dropped – were at risk of being caught by the strong counter-move behind them in the last 15 km. One would attack, then drop back, then another would go, then the group would reform, with no one committing to riding as a group.
- In the end, Stuyven took advantage of one of the lulls in momentum, cutting through the group in disarray, then accelerating hard on the opposite side of the road.
- With Stuyven gaining around 10 seconds and the group struggling in the chase, it looked like it was all over.
- However, a huge pull from Lutsenko brought the Lidl-Trek rider back to within reach, allowing the group to catch Stuyven as he ran out of gas just inside the flamme rouge.
- Ben Healy threw caution to the wind with an acceleration 750 metres from the line, but the better sprinters on his tail made sure to keep the Irishman in hand.
- Derek Gee opened up his sprint early with Pidcock on his shoulder, but Turgis had the power to beat both of them to the line to take the biggest victory of his career.
Stage 9 top 10
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GC after stage 9
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Quotes of the day
I held on, I was cracking, I came back … it was a long, long day. I had ‘carte blanche’ from the team to leave my leader Stef Cras … I dedicate this to all those who’ve trusted me and followed.”
Anthony Turgis said in his winner’s interview.
It was a pity Jonas didn’t work with us because the race could have been over, we could have taken 3-4 minutes. It’s their tactics, we can’t do anything about it … a good day, I had fun, I proved I can ride on the white roads.”
Remco Evenepoel said post-stage.
Pogačar said in advance that it would be a lot of drama for little [gain], but it turned out to be a great race.”
Tim Wellens of UAE Team Emirates said following stage 9.
Brief analysis
- While Pogačar and Evenepoel may have won fans for their aggressive approach to the blockbuster gravel stage, Visma-Lease a Bike ended the first long week of the Tour with a solid team performance. Wout van Aert joined Christophe Laporte in some of the hard and fast pace-setting, but it was the European champion who, along with Matteo Jorgenson, played the most valuable role in keeping their leader safe – with Jan Tratnik also doing his duty by offering up his bike to Vingegaard when the Dane punctured. The Dutch outfit were most consistent in their presence at the front of the bunch, and Vingegaard also performed admirably on a stage that would not typically be marked down as favourable for the climber.
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