Tour de France 2015 Stage 9

photo credits @ BMC & Twitter

BMC Racing Team claimed today’s 28 kilometer team time trial from Vannes to Plumelec, besting both Team Sky and Movistar by mere seconds.  

Orica-GreenEdge was the first team to hit the ramp, with only a six-rider team, after Simon Gerrans, Daryl Impey and Michael Albasini were forced to abandon the race earlier due to crashes. The Australian team’s only objective today, was to stay above the time cut as they brought home the slowest time of the day. 

With eight teams completed, IAM Cycling finally set a respectable benchmark, clocking in an average speed of 51.08km/h, to assume first place on the leader board.

However, not long afterwards, Astana eclipsed the Swiss team by three seconds, despite GC hopeful, Vincenzo Nibali, falling off his team’s pace on several occasions.

Astana would soon lose their spot to Movistar, who put in an impressive turn of the pedals with an average speed of 51.98km/h – thus giving  Nairo Quintana a sight boost in the overall classification to eke passed Nibali, and also secure the white jersey for himself.

From there, BMC Racing was the first team to clock in an average speed of more than 52km/h. And, that benchmark would later prove to be  even too much for the TT skills of Team Sky to surpass, as the British team missed the mark by a mere second.

After today’s stage, Chris Froome continues to lead the overall classification by 12 seconds over Van Garderen, while Alberto Contador is at 1.03 back.

Meanwhile, Quintana and Nibali trail at 1.59 and 2.22 respectively. 

Stage 9 Team Time Trial 

1 BMC Racing 0:32:15
2 Team Sky 0:00:01
3 Movistar Team 0:00:04
4 Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:28
5 Astana Pro Team 0:00:35
6 IAM Cycling 0:00:38
7 Etixx-QuickStep 0:00:45
8 Lampre-Merida 0:00:48
9 Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:14
10 AG2R LA Mondiale 0:01:24
11 Trek Factory Racing 0:01:25
12 Team Cannondale-Gramin 0:01:29
13 Bora-Argon 18 0:01:31
14 FDJ 0:01:33
15 Lotto Soudal 0:01:36
16 Team Giant-Alpecin 0:01:37
17 Team Europcar 0:01:42
18 Bretagne-Seche Environnement 0:01:46
19 Team Katusha 0:01:53
20 MTN-Qhubeka 0:01:56
21 Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:32
22 Orica-GreenEdge 0:04:58

General Classification after Stage 9

GBR 1 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) 31:34:12
USA 2 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 12
BEL 3 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING) + 27
SVK 4 SAGAN, Peter (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 38
ESP 5 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 1:03
COL 6 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 1:18
ESP 7 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 1:50
GBR 8 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) + 1:52
COL 9 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) + 1:59
CZE 10 STYBAR, Zdenek (ETIXX – QUICK STEP)
FRA 11 GALLOPIN, Tony (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 2:01
CZE 12 KREUZIGER, Roman (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 2:18
ITA 13 NIBALI, Vincenzo (ASTANA) + 2:22
FRA 14 BARGUIL, Warren (GIANT – ALPECIN) + 2:43
NED 15 GESINK, Robert (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) + 2:52
NED 16 MOLLEMA, Bauke (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 2:56
FRA 17 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 3:30
ESP 18 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) + 3:52
USA 19 TALANSKY, Andrew (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 4:17
SUI 20 FRANK, Mathias (IAM CYCLING) + 4:32
FRA 21 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 4:38
BEL 22 BAKELANTS, Jan (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 5:08
POR 23 FARIA DA COSTA, Rui Alberto (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 5:20
DEN 24 FUGLSANG, Jakob (ASTANA) + 5:22
ESP 25 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel (BMC RACING) + 6:17
GER 26 NERZ, Dominik (BORA-ARGON 18) + 6:28
ESP 27 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Gorka (MOVISTAR) + 6:40
FRA 28 VUILLERMOZ, Alexis (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 6:49
FRA 29 PINOT, Thibaut (FDJ) + 8:05
SLO 30 KOREN, Kristijan (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 8:35
IRL 31 MARTIN, Daniel (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 9:21
FRA 32 CHAVANEL, Sylvain (IAM CYCLING)
NOR 33 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald (MTN – QHUBEKA) + 10:14
ESP 34 LOSADA ALGUACIL, Alberto (KATUSHA) + 10:37
COL 35 PANTANO, Jarlinson (IAM CYCLING) + 11:20
FRA 36 ROLLAND, Pierre (EUROPCAR) + 11:43
GER 37 VOSS, Paul (BORA-ARGON 18) + 11:47
ARG 38 SEPULVEDA, Eduardo (BRETAGNE-SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT) + 12:25
POL 39 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 15:18
AUS 40 ROGERS, Michael (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 15:57