Tour de France Stage Report: Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) won a very hard gravel stage 9 around Troyes. He out-sprinted a successful break ahead of Tom Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers) and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech). There was a big battle between the GC favourites, but in the end they all finished together. Rest day tomorrow.
The final kilometre
The gravel stage of the 2024 Tour de France was won by Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies). In the 199 kilometre stage around Troyes, Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard raced hard, but the GC favourites didn’t give an inch. Pogačar is still in the yellow jersey as the Tour hits the first rest day..
A big dusty win for Anthony Turgis
Christian Prudhomme, Tour de France general director: “The Tour’s first week concludes with a new feature: white roads, which are already an emblematic feature of Strade Bianche and Paris-Tours. The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift made the first passage across Champagne’s gravel roads close to Troyes in 2022. There will be 14 sectors, including six in the final part of the stage, extending to 32km in total, each sector pitching the riders onto the gravel and into the dust.”
Stage 9 profile
The day before the first rest day, the Tour hits the gravel. The fourteen chemins blancs (white roads) are on stage 9, starting and finishing in Troyes, with around 2,000 meters of climbing. Thirty-two kilometres are on dusty, gravel roads, half of them are in the last 50 flat kilometres. After 47 kilometres, the riders hit the first gravel section. From Bligny to Bergères is the first chemin blanc, which is followed by the Côte de Bergères (1.7km at 5.2%). The second gravel section is also on a climb, the Côte de Baroville (2.8km at 4.8%). Four gravel sections and three climbs are tackled within 35 kilometres. This deadly section opens with the Côte de Loches-sur-Ource (1.5km at 5.2%), which takes the riders to lane number one. The next two chemins blancs are uphill: the Côte de Val Frion (2.2km at 5%) and the Côte de Chacenay (3km at 4.3%). A final false flat gravel road rounds off this sector. The riders still have 70 flat kilometres with seven more sections of gravel. The chemins blancs from Thieffrain to Magnant and from Briel-sur-Barse take the riders into the last 30 kilometres. There are six lanes in 25 kilometres. The last 10 kilometres to Troyes are on flat asphalt roads.
Fat tyres today for the gravel
After a moment of silence in memory of the deceased Norwegian cyclist André Drege, the stage got off to a fast start Many teams wanted to be in the break of the day and there was a lot of nervousness, especially because of the gravel sections, but due to the wind. Several rider tried to escape, including a very dangerous move with Derek Gee, Paul Lapeira and Neilson Powless, but they couldn’t make it stick.
KOM, Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) wearing a black band in memory of André Drege who died in the Tour of Austria on Saturday
World champion, Mathieu van der Poel joined in when 20 riders broke away. He shot across to the leading group, but that didn’t work. At first the GC teams seemed to take control before the first gravel section, but 10 riders still managed to get away. The group with Powless, Gee, Gianni Vermeersch, Elmar Reinders, Jasper Stuyven, Maxim Van Gils, Oier Lazkano, Javier Romo, Alexey Lutsenko and Anthony Turgis hit the first section with a 30 second lead.
Gravel stage 9 should suit the yellow jersey – Tadej Pogačar
In the peloton, the GC teams kept the pace high, so riders with ambitions for stage victory had to the attack. Several groups escaped, including Tom Pidcock, Ben Healy, Arnaud De Lie, Magnus Cort, Stefan Küng, Romain Bardet, Michael Matthews and Matej Mohorič. They tried to cross to the leading group, where Axel Zingle and Alex Aranburu had already joined them.
Remco Evenepoel was nervous before the start
Pidcock and Healy struggled to get to the front, just before the second section, while the De Lie group remained stuck at 1:20 behind the leaders. In the peloton; UAE Team Emirates set a hard pace, 2 minutes behind. Visma | Lease a Bike then sped up for the second section. Primoz Roglič and Juan Ayuso, and others, missed the move, as Visma, INEOS Grenadiers and Soudal Quick-Step continued to drive the group.
The fans were out in the dust
These teams kept the chasing Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe team behind them, but after 20 kilometres, the Roglič group was able to catch up. The counter-attack by the Bardet and Küng groups was also pulled back. Simon Yates and Richard Carapaz were well distanced. There was then a rapid succession of gravel sections, where Jonas Vingegaard and Jasper Philipsen had bad luck. The Tour favourite swapped bikes with Jan Tratnik and was able to rejoin, despite UAE Team Emirates continuing the pressure. The leading group’s gap quickly decreased.
Tadej Pogačar was keeping close to the front
At 88 kilometres from the finish, Tadej Pogačar attacked, which was countered by Remco Evenepoel and Matteo Jorgenson, but INEOS Grenadiers neutralised the attempt. Then Van Aert accelerated on the longest and toughest stretch, which included the Côte Chacenay. Evenepoel attacked on the steepest part, forcing Pogačar and Vingegaard to respond. They quickly got on his wheel and caught the early break, with 75 kilometres to go.
The ‘break of the day’
Vingegaard refused to work, so the three allowed the escapees to ride away. Pidcock, Stuyven, Healy, Gee and Lutsenko took advantage by pulling away, but Aranburu, Romo and Turgis got back to them. Behind; the peloton was about 30 men, but split on every gravel section. Evenepoel had a problem on a bend on the long section of Thieffrain, but was okay to rejoin.
Would the gravel catch one of the big riders out?
Aleksandr Vlasov crashed into a ditch, but was also able to came back. The front riders had more space when they started the last 50 kilometres. With six gravel sections to go, the break could see they had a chance of the victory. Van der Poel, Matthews and Girmay escaped in a group that tried to catch Stuyven and Pidcock, but they had a minute to close minute. The peloton was at 2:20.
The break wasn’t allowed to take much of a lead
Van der Poel, Girmay, Matthews, Rui Costa, Jakob Fuglsang, Rasmus Tiller and David Gaudu only had 30 kilometres and five gravel sections to close the gap, which was now 50 seconds, but the World champion’s group had a lot of difficulty. On the Verrières section, Pogačar attacked again with Jorgenson on his wheel. Vingegaard had some problems, but Laporte was able to catch him and later Jorgenson dropped back.
Evenepoel put in a big attack
The American took Vingegaard to Pogačar’s wheel on the next section, with a group with Evenepoel, Almeida, Ayuso and Laporte just behind. Pogačar almost brought the Van der Poel group into view, but the Visma duo didn’t work and allowed the others to return. The difficult, penultimate stretch didn’t help Van der Poel to came closer to the leading group and the favourites also eased off slightly.
Pogačar chased the Belgian down with Vingegaard on his wheel
In the last 15 kilometres there was some disagreement at the front and Stuyven took advantage. Lutsenko and Gee looked at each other, meaning the European gravel champion started the final 3 kilometre section of gravel with a lead. That gap hovered around 10 seconds at the end of the gravel. The favourites followed at 1 minute, where Pogačar and Evenepoel accelerated again, but Vingegaard was attentive.
The three top men caught the break, but then sat up and waited for what was left of the peloton
Wout van Aert was looking more like his old self
For the Van der Poel group it was hopeless, the winner would come from the front. Stuyven started the last five kilometres with an 8 second lead, but the pursuers were not far away. Healy and Gee were almost able to make the jump in the last 2 kilometres, after which Lutsenko closed the gap under the 1K flag and Stuyven was caught.
Matthews and Van der Poel set up a chase after the leaders
The break looked like it would go all the way to the finish
Six men sprinted for the win; Lutsenko tried to surprise, after which Gee sprinted early. Turgis came off his wheel. With a strong sprint the Frenchman managed to keep Pidcock, Gee and Aranburu behind him and give TotalEnergies a big victory. The Van der Poel group was at just over 1 minute, where green jersey Girmay won the sprint for 9th place. The peloton followed at 1:46, containing all the GC favourites. Only Jayco AlUla leader, Simon Yates lost time.
Pogačar attacked again, but was pulled back by Visma’s Jorgensen
Stage winner, Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies): “It’s crazy. I’ve been riding in the Tour de France for years, this is my seventh, with the goal of winning a stage. I had won at all levels of competition but I was missing one in the WorldTour, and now it arrives at the Tour de France, on a legendary stage. We had a very big day of racing. I saw the leading group forming and I didn’t give up against the great champions. I knew Jasper Stuyven was going to attack in the finale. I wanted the others to take me as far as possible. It was a question of who played it the smartest. But it’s super hard to be in the lead in the Tour de France. This victory is great for the team. We came for a stage victory and we got it.”
Overall leader, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “It was pretty fun racing. There was lots of sand and dust all over the place, so it was impossible to get a clear picture of the race and you just had to ride on instinct and power. I had great legs, which is great news as this was one of the hardest stages of this Tour de France. I’m really happy with how this start of the Tour has gone for me. I feel very confident, as I am in great shape and have a very good team around me. So far, I have enjoyed this Tour de France a lot. I don’t know what happened in the race when I stopped for a nature break. I only know that it was quiet and then, somehow, I had to chase very hard along with Tim (Wellens) to regain my position in the peloton. From then on, every gravel sector was full of changes – first Visma led, then us, then Remco (Evenepoel) attacked, then me… At some point, Remco, Jonas (Vingegaard) and I went up the road. I think it was a great opportunity for us to put some time on the rest of the GC favourites and secure the podium, but Jonas refused to cooperate. I think Visma is just focusing on me and underestimating the other GC contenders. They just follow me, without thinking of Primoz [Roglic] or Remco. Afterwards, it was a shame that there were some headwind towards the finish, as that made it impossible for me to break away in the closing kilometres.”
# Tour de France rest day on Monday – Catch up with all the news in EUROTRASH. #
Tour de France Stage 9 Result:
1. Anthony Turgis (Fra) TotalEnergies in 4:19:43
2. Tom Pidcock (GB) INEOS Grenadiers
3. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech
4. Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Movistar
5. Ben Healy (Irl) EF Education-EasyPost
6. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan
7. Javier Romo Oliver (Spa) Movistar at 0:12
8. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Lidl-Trek at 0:18
9. Biniam Girmay Hailu (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty at 1:17
10. Michael Matthews (Aus) Jayco AlUla.
Tour de France Overall After Stage 9:
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates at 35:42:42
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal-Quick Step at 0:33
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike at 1:15
4. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 1:36
5. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Team Emirates at 2:16
6. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates at 2:17
7. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Col) INEOS Grenadiers at 2:31
8. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step at 3:35
9. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech at 4:02
10. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma | Lease a Bike at 4:03
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