Cycling: Stalemate in gravel spectacle – Pogacar remains first

Tadej Pogacar raced at a hellish pace over the white gravel roads of Champagne, but the all-rounder simply couldn’t escape his rivals. The great spectacle on the stony dirt roads ended in a stalemate among the industry’s top stars on the ninth stage of the 111th Tour de France. At the end of the eagerly awaited exchange of blows between the Big Four, Pogacar, defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, world champion Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic reached the finish line in Troyes side by side.

The day’s victory after 199 kilometers went to Frenchman Anthony Turgis, who won the sprint of a small breakaway group ahead of British Olympic mountain bike champion Thomas Pidcock and Canadian Derek Gee. This means that everything remains the same in the overall ranking before the rest day. Pogacar continues to wear the yellow jersey and is 33 seconds ahead of Evenepoel. Behind him are Vingegaard (1:15) and Roglic (1:36).

Pogacar attacks – without success

All eyes were on the Tour stars as they rode along the dusty paths, which had a total length of 33.2 kilometers. Pogacar launched the fiercest attack a good 22 kilometers from the finish, but Vingegaard managed to catch up thanks to his strong helpers, so that the group of favorites rolled together again. Evenepoel also tried an attack during the stage – without success. So the attentive Vingegaard could feel like the moral winner.

Two-time Tour champion Pogacar was well prepared. The 25-year-old had won the Strade Bianche gravel race in the spring with an impressive 82-kilometer solo. Vingegaard, however, hit the slopes without any knowledge of the route. When his Visma team explored the terrain in May, the Dane was still suffering from the effects of his serious fall in the Tour of the Basque Country. Evenepoel had left nothing to chance and, as in the time trial, knew all the pitfalls.

Gravel roads as a tour premiere

It was the first time in the Tour’s history that the gravel roads were included in the program. After some cobblestone passages of Paris-Roubaix had been included in the route several times in the past, another element was now added in the search for more spectacle.

The riders were clearly struggling. In the steep and sometimes narrow sections, quite a few professional cyclists had to get out of the saddle and take a short walk. However, there were hardly any falls – with the exception of Roglic’s helper Alexander Vlasov, who ended up in a ditch a good 40 kilometers from the finish, but was able to continue.

At least the weather played along this time. The day before, the riders had to contend with cold, wet conditions when Biniam Girmay from Eritrea finally took his second stage win in Colombey-les-deux-Églises. Tour debutant Pascal Ackermann had achieved his best Tour placing to date by coming fourth in the sprint.

Tour pays tribute to deceased professional cyclist Drege

Before the field set off on Sunday, the deceased Norwegian cyclist André Drege was first honored. The riders of the Norwegian team Uno X appeared together in the front row on Sunday with a black armband. Only behind them were the jersey wearers around the overall winner Pogacar. Drege had fallen on the descent from the Grossglockner on Saturday during the Tour of Austria, which was held at the same time. He succumbed to his injuries.

The Tour will take a break on Monday before continuing a day later with the tenth stage over 187.3 kilometers from Orléans to Saint-Amand-Montrond. Then the sprinters could get their chance again.