The essential
- In the aftermath of the enormous failure of Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), hopes for the general classification now rest on the shoulders of the climber of Cofidis, Guillaume Martin, 3rd in the provisional classification.
- But Julian Alaphilippe (Dedeuninck-Quickstep) who is not targeting the general could still be one of the great animators of the day.
- The Yellow Jersey of Briton Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) hangs by a thread with three seconds ahead of Roglic (Jumbo-Visma).
- The 9th stage between Pau and Laruns (153 km) will once again offer a downhill finish but it will first be necessary to cross the Hourcère pass (1st category) at the 69th and that of Marie-Blanque (135th km, 1st category).
> Follow the events live
2:20 pm Marc Hirshi in the lead at the top of the Hourcère pass. The Swiss Sunweb rider, 2nd of the 2nd stage behind Julian Alaphilippe in Nice, achieved a nice number. He is 1’20 ” ahead of his pursuers with Barguil and Gaudi, and 1’40 ” on the yellow jersey peloton. Thibaut Pinot and Julian Alaphilippe are left behind.
1:50 pm Thibaut Pinot in the lead. The day after his failure, Thibaut Pinot seems to be getting better. Good news … He is in a small group trying to climb the Col de la Hourcère.
2:05 pm Marc Hirschi alone in the lead, Pinot left behind. The Sunweb runner left, alone, the leading group where Pinot disappeared. Hirschi has a 30 ” lead at 3 km from the top of the Col de la Hourcère on Martinez, the winner of the last Dauphiné and a small group including the French David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic) .
1:50 pm Thibaut Pinot in the lead. The day after his failure, Thibaut Pinot seems to be getting better. Good news … He is in a small group trying to climb the Col de la Hourcère.
1:15 p.m. Attacks are on the increase. From the start, many riders tried to get out of the peloton. We have seen Dan Martin, Nicolas Roche or Julian Alaphilippe trying to get ahead. The peloton is stretched out but still grouped after 40 km of the race. Fabio Aru (UAE Emirates), stage winner in the three big tours, is released, all alone at the back.
12:30 pm Welcome to this live. We will be following the 9th stage of the Tour de France together. It will take the runners from Pau to Laruns with the ascent of 2 1st category passes.
12h25. This is what awaits the runners. The first difficulty comes with the ascent of the Col de la Hourcère: 11.1 km with an average of 8.8% followed immediately by the Col de Soudet (3.8 km, 8.5%).
