Cycling: Anthony Turgis has won the ninth stage of the Tour de France. The Frenchman won his first Tour stage in a sprint from a breakaway group. The GC favorites neutralized each other despite numerous attacks. This means that Tadej Pogacar remains in the yellow jersey.
Turgis celebrates its greatest success
He has already finished second at Milan-Sanremo and fourth at the Ronde van Vlaanderen. But today he is celebrating the greatest success of his career. Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) won the ninth stage of the Tour de France after 199 kilometers with start and finish in Troyes. 14 gravel sectors, six of them in the last quarter of the race, could not stop the Frenchman today. In the sprint of the breakaway group, he was able to tom pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Derek Gee (Israel – Premier-Tech). The favorites were unable to take time away from each other, although they repeatedly tried to attack. Pascal Ackermann (Israel – Premier-Tech). The German was always seen at the front of the group of favorites and would have had a chance of winning the stage if a sprint had been decided from this group.
Many attacks at the beginning of the race
Even before the first gravel passage, there were numerous attacks. In the meantime, over 30 men – divided into several groups – were able to break away from the peloton. But due to the high speed, they could not find each other. Many professionals were caught up by the main field. The group of the day thus comprised twelve riders, including tom pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), Derek Gee (Israel – Premier Tech) and Ben Healy (EF Education - EasyPost).
Roglic is left behind by Visma – Lease a Bike
After the first gravel sector was tackled relatively comfortably by the main field, the second section was already quite intense. Up the Côte de Baroville, the Visma – Lease a Bike team lined up at the front and increased the pace drastically. Many riders who were positioned further back even had to get off their bikes and push them up the hill. The peloton then broke up into many small groups. jonas vingegaard (Visma – Lease a Bike), Tadej pogacar (UAE) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal – Quick-Step) were aware of Primois Roglic (Bora – hansgrohe) distanced themselves. Since Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) was among the front-runners, his team joined forces with Visma – Lease a Bike to prevent the Slovenian from getting any closer. However, they did not ride with the utmost determination, so Bora – hansgrohe was able to close the gap again.
Pogacar attacks early
About 100 kilometers from the finish jonas vingegaard (Visma – Lease a Bike) had to survive a moment of shock. The Dane suffered a puncture and had to share the bike with his teammate Jan Tratnik (Visma – Lease a Bike). Twelve more kilometers later, Tadej pogacar (UAE) caught the attention of his opponents by attempting to surprise them with a sudden attack. But Visma – Lease a Bike remained alert and reacted promptly. This constant high pace in the peloton was of course not good for the breakaway group. The lead, which was already almost three minutes, was reduced to under a minute.
Evenepoel also tries early
Probably inspired by the attack of Tadej pogacar (UAE) also launched Remco Evenepoel (Soudal – Quick-Step) tries to put his opponents under pressure with an attack. After a short hesitation, Pogacar and jonas vingegaard (Visma – Lease a Bike). When the trio came together and even managed to catch up with the leading group, they could not agree. So the breakaway group was replaced by Derek Gee (Israel – Premier-Tech). The Canadian was able to tom pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), Jasper stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Ben Healy (EF Education – EasyPost), Alex Aranburu (movistar), Javier Romo (movistar), alexey lutsenko (Astana) and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) again. The GC trio fell back into the decimated main field.
Pogacar attacks again
Because the pace in the main field had slowed down so much, a seven-man chasing group formed behind the leaders. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin – Deceuninck) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché – Wanty). But despite their combined efforts, they were unable to catch up with the leading group. On the contrary: When, 22 kilometers before the finish, Tadej pogacar (UAE) attacked again, the lead over the favorites collapsed. jonas vingegaard (Visma – Lease a Bike) initially struggled to follow, but thanks to the help of his teammate Matteo Jorgenson (Visma – Lease a Bike) but caught up with the Slovenian again. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal – Quick-Step) allowed a fairly large gap to open up. But this situation was also neutralised again, as the riders could not reach an agreement, as they had done before.
Turgis and Co. intercept Stuyven
Twelve kilometers from the finish, the leading group also began to disagree. Several attacks failed before Jasper stuyven (Lidl – Trek) finally managed to break away with a courageous attack. The lead over his former companions was only about ten seconds, and although the Belgian was always within sight, they simply could not close the gap. Only in the final 1.000 The merger was finally achieved after a few meters. In the sprint, Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) as the fastest man tom pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Derek Gee (Israel – Premier-Tech). The last-mentioned Canadian can be pleased with third place and a time gain of almost two minutes. This means he can once again keep an eye on the top 10 in the GC.
WHAT. A. STAGE.
Frenchman Anthony Turgis takes a pulsating Stage 9 sprint!#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/XQCbOxzGWo
- Eurosport (@eurosport) July 7, 2024