July 16/19 20:27 pm - Tour de France: Stages 9 and 10

Posted by Editoress on 07/16/19
 

Stage 9

Daryl Impey became the second South African stage winner after Robert Hunter in Montpellier in 2007 as he outsprinted his last remaining breakaway companion, Belgium's Tiesj Benoot, in Brioude, the home of Romain Bardet who attacked from the peloton in the last climb but was brought back by Team Ineos. Julian Alaphilippe retained the yellow jersey after impressive riding on the roads of his Auvergne region on Bastille Day.

14 riders in the lead
172 riders took the start of stage 9 in Saint-Etienne. Polka dot jersey holder Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) was first to attack after flag off but Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) was first to open a gap. Alessandro De Marchi (CCC) was forced to abandon after a bad crash at km 10. Fourteen riders: Lukas Pöstlberger (BORA-hansgrohe), Oliver Naesen (AG2R-La Mondiale), Ivan Garcia Cortina and Jan Tratnik (Bahrain-Merida), Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma), Simon Clarke (EF Education First), Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Nicolas Roche (Sunweb), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal), Romain Sicard (Total Direct Energie), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and Anthony Delaplace (Arkéa-Samsic) rode away at km 14. Marc Soler (Movistar) counter-attacked by himself and made the joined the lead bunch 1.2km before the summit of the very steep Mur d'Aurec (km 36.5). Benoot gave Lotto-Soudal their 18th KOM victory since the start of the Tour de France (9 for Thomas De Gendt, 8 for Tim Wellens). Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) also attacked solo from the peloton and came within 25's ofthe leading group but couldn't quite bridge the gap and drifted back to the pack.

Pöstlberger at the front with 42km to go
The deficit of the peloton was 8:50 at Mur d'Aurec. A time gap of 10:49 was recorded at km 47, after which Deceuninck-Quick Step maintained it just above ten minutes. Boasson Hagen won the intermediate sprint at Arlanc (km 92). Clarke was first to attack from the front group with 62km to go. Garcia Cortina did so as well with 45km to go but following his move in a non-categorized climb, Pöstleberger found himself alone in the lead 42km before the end while the peloton let the gap increasing (13 minutes  with 30km to go, 14 minutes with 20km to go). The Austrian was caught in the last categorized climb of the day with 15km to go. Roche and Benoot attacked from the lead group, now reduced to seven riders. Impey bridged up and passed first at côte de St-Just with 13km remaining.

First South African national champion to win stage at the Tour
Benoot and Impey rode to away 7km before the end while Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale), Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) and Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) attacked in the côte de St-Just but Team Ineos was prompt to bring them back. Benoot and Impey shared the turns at the front to avoid the return of their former breakaway companions. Benoot took the initiative of launching the sprint but Impey proved to be the fastest. He's the first rider to win a Tour de France stage with the South Africa national champion jersey. The last victory of his Mitchelton-Scott team was with Michael Matthews in 2016.

Stage 10

Wout van Aert claimed his first Tour de France stage victory in Albi, the fourth for Jumbo-Visma and the third for Belgian riders, at the end of an eventful stage 10 to Albi. A lot of damage was done by Team Ineos as they managed to shatter the bunch in the crosswinds and gained a lot of time on Thibaut Pinot, Jakob Fuglsang, Richie Porte and Mikel Landa, considering that it was a fairly flat stage. Julian Alaphilippe retained the yellow jersey.

Six riders in the lead
171 riders took the start of stage 10 in Saint-Flour. Lilian Calmejane (Total Direct Energie) was first to attack right after the flag off as he was determined to win in his hometown of Albi but he was reined in and another group managed to escape, composed of five riders: Tony Gallopin (AG2R-La Mondiale), Natnael Berhane (Cofidis), Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie), Mads Würtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin) and Odd Christian Eiking (Wanty-Groupe Gobert). Michael Schär (CCC), the most aggressive rider of stage 4, bridged the gap at km 12 to make it a six-man breakaway that satisfied the peloton. Sprinters teams, namely Deceuninck-Quick Step, Lotto-Soudal and Jumbo-Visma maintained the time difference below three minutes until it reached 3:05 with 140km to go.

Action in the crosswind
73km before the end, Team Ineos and BORA-hansgrohe profited from a strong side wind to put the hammer down. It brought the gap down quickly. The time difference was only 25’s at the bottom of the côte de La Malric (km 164.5) but the peloton slowed down up the climb and the advantage of the six leaders was back to two minutes with 50km to go. As a consequence of this hard racing, Calmejane was among the riders in difficulty as the Tour entered the Tarn province he hails from. Another strong action 33km before the finish split the peloton in three with George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma), fourth on GC finding himself trapped in the third group.

Pinot and Fuglsang lose GC time
25km before the finish, the six escapees were caught by the yellow jersey group led by riders from Ineos and Movistar while Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Richie Porte and Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First), Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) were left behind in a second group and George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) in the third peloton. The Pinot-Fuglsang group was 20s behind with 20km to go and 15s behind with 15km to go. Mikel Landa (Movistar) was hampered by a mechanical. Ineos and Deceuninck-Quick Step kept driving the pace at the front and the gap increased significantly in the last 15km. On the finish line, after Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) pipped Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quick Step) on the line with Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) in third place, the deficit of the Pinot-Fuglsang group was 1:40 and Landa completed the stage 2:08 after the yellow jersey peloton that included defending champion Geraint Thomas and his team-mate Egan Bernal.

Mike Woods (EF Education First) lost considerable time on the last 3 stages and now sits 43rd in the GC at 25:13 back.