Roglic grabs yellow as Pogacar wins stage 9: Daily Tour Digest
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Tadej Pogacar’s aggressive style paid off with a stage win into Laruns, as he outsprinted a small group of GC favorites and an incredible Marc Hirschi for the stage win.
?The Tour’s second and final Pyreneen stage saw major GC shakeups. Primoz Roglic took the yellow jersey off Adam Yates and finished in a small group containing Egan Bernal, Pogacar, and Mikel Landa that took time on all other rivals.
Pogacar moved himself into 7th overall and Bernal slotted into 2nd. Two Frenchman, Guillaume Martin and Romain Bardet, sit in 3rd and 4th.
How it unfolded
The peloton couldn’t settle on a breakaway group for the first two hours of the stage, despite attempts from Thomas de Gent, world champion Mads Pedersen, Greg van Avermaet and more. Every move was covered, pulled back, and another would go. It was brutal.
Finally, the revelation of stage 2, Sunweb’s Marc Hirschi, found some distance. His lead extended out to a few minutes, with a 20-rider chase group behind. He continued on as the chase group was pulled back. He wouldn’t see another rider for 80 kilometers.
The GC race remained relatively calm until the final climb, the Col de la Marie Blanque. The lead-in to the category 1, with bonus seconds available at the top, was controlled by Jumbo-Visma, first by Robert Gesink, then Wout van Aert, then George Bennett and Sepp Kuss, who appeared mostly recovered from his bad day on stage 8.
The steepest section of the Marie Blanque lies in the last 3 kilometers, and GC riders eyed each other as it approached. Would Tadej Pogacar try again? He took 38 seconds on his rivals a day before.
Hirschi, slamming down gels and taking a few slightly sticky bottles, had his lead cut to two minutes halfway up the climb. It would be touch-and-go to the top.
Pogacar answered the question with 20.5km to go, pushing off the front and into a few bike lengths of space. Tom Dumoulin took up pacing duties for Roglic behind. The acceleration sent the yellow jersey of Adam Yates off the back. It was Dumoulin’s last major effort, too.
Roglic pulled Pogacar back. The front group was then four – Roglic, Pogacar, Bernal, and Landa.
Bernal was the next to push on, pushing through the 12% grades like he was attacking through treacle. In the slowdown after Bernal’s move, Porte was able to come across to the front group, making it five.
Pogacar tried again, but nobody could find a gap. Behind, Quintana led a group with Bardet, Uràn, and Guillaume Martin.
A slowdown up front allowed Bardet to come across, briefly, until the acceleration came at 150m to the summit for the remaining 5- and 2-second time bonuses. Roglic and Pogacar sprinted, and nearly tangled, taking the seconds in that order.
The situation into the descent to the finish: Hirshi, off the front, followed 11 seconds later by a group of four containing Roglic, Pogacar, Bernal, and Landa. Guillaume Martin, Bardet, Uràn, Quintana, and Porte, and Mollema were within spitting distance.
The yellow jersey chased, caught up by the likes of Dumoulin and Miguel Angel Lopez. The gap stretched. His yellow passed to Roglic on the road.
Hirschi pulled a few seconds out on the furious descent, taking all sorts of chances. The group of four behind chased hard, eyeing bonus seconds and the stage win. With 3km to go, they could see the Sunweb rider ahead.
With 2km to go, with his gap down to 100 meters, Hirschi sat up, taking a bet on his sprinting legs over the four GC men.
Roglic led into the finish, Hirschi opened the sprint, but there were no gifts for the man who’d been out front all day. It was Pogacar with the best legs and the stage win.
The second group crossed 11 seconds back, and the Yates group crossed at 54 seconds.
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| Coming up at the Tour
Monday is the first rest day at the Tour. Racing resumes on Tuesday.
In case you missed it
| TDF Power Analysis: Pogacar’s Peyresourde attacks and new climbing record
Giancarlo Bianchi takes a look at Tadej Pogacar’s numbers on the Peyresourde, revealing just how impressive the youngster’s day was.
Today’s featured image of Tadej Pogacar winning stage 9 of the Tour de France comes from Cor Vos.
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