photo credits @ Le Tour
Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) claimed a specular solo victory atop the Andorra Arcalis today, after riding clear of the day’s breakaway group during the final 12 kilometers to claim the stage honors.
Meanwhile, Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) and Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) brought the rest of the group home more than half a minute later to finalize the podium.
There was no change in the order of the general classification however, as Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) led a select group of riders containing race leader Chris Froome (Sky), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Richie Porte (BMC) and Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) across the finish.
Race Highlights
The beginning of the stage was marked by several early attacks, before a 21-rider breakaway group finally managed to ride clear. One of those present, was Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) who caused the Sky-led peloton to chase in earnest, before deciding to sit up and return back to the group.
From there, the breakaway group proceeded to stretch out their lead to over 10 minutes.
Throughout the stage, Majka had been engaged in a battle with Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) for the King of the Mountains points, with the French rider ultimately prevailing to takeover the polka dot jersey.
Also on a mission to collect points, was Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) who easily took the maximum points in the intermediate sprints, putting him closer to Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) in the overall points classification.
Directly after the intermediate sprint, Jérôme Coppel (IAM) and Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre-Merida) attacked the lead group on the second category climb of the Côte de la Comella.
However, the duo was caught before the top, as De Gendt attacked to claim the KOM points, while forging ahead alone before being caught himself on the climb of Col de Beixalis.
With 30 kilometers to go, Team Sky was still leading the peloton, as the break had whittled down to just 10 riders.
Dumoulin then struck out with 12 kilometers to go, heading into the final climb of the Arcalis.
From there, the Dutch rider slipped into time trial mode and continued unchallenged to take the stage victory as torrential rain fell.
Behind Dumoulin, the GC contenders launched a series of attacks against each other in the closing kilometers of the stage, with Yates launching the last move, marked by Froome.
Nairo Quintana (Movistar) was in close attendance as well, as the trio managed to distance Richie Porte (BMC) and Daniel Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) by two seconds on the line.
One of the most notable riders to have dropped off the pace of the GC group was Italian Fabio Aru (Astana), who finished a minute down on Froome.
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) was the day’s highest-profile casualty, as the GC hopeful abandoned the stage with 100 kilometers to go.
The Spanish rider had been suffering from a fever overnight on top of his existing injuries after crashing on two separate occasions.
Additionally, Cavendish’s key lead-out man Mark Renshaw was forced to abandon due to illness as well, with FDJ riders Cedric Pineau and Mathieu Ladagnous also withdrawing to leave the French team with just seven riders.
Stage 9 Results NED 1 DUMOULIN, Tom (GIANT – ALPECIN) 5:16:24 POR 2 FARIA DA COSTA, Rui Alberto (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 38 POL 3 MAJKA, Rafal (TINKOFF) ESP 4 NAVARRO GARCIA, Daniel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 1:39 COL 5 ANACONA GOMEZ, Winner (MOVISTAR) + 1:57 FRA 6 PINOT, Thibaut (FDJ) + 2:30 NZL 7 BENNETT, George (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) + 2:48 ITA 8 ROSA, Diego (ASTANA) + 2:52 SUI 9 FRANK, Mathias (IAM CYCLING) + 3:44 GBR 10 YATES, Adam (ORICA-BikeExchange) + 6:35 GBR 11 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) COL 12 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) AUS 13 PORTE, Richie (BMC RACING) + 6:37 IRL 14 MARTIN, Daniel (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) ESP 15 HERRADA LOPEZ, Jesus (MOVISTAR) COL 16 HENAO MONTOYA, Sergio Luis (SKY) + 6:56 FRA 17 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) NED 18 MOLLEMA, Bauke (TREK – SEGAFREDO) RSA 19 MEINTJES, Louis (LAMPRE – MERIDA) ESP 20 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) USA 21 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 7:13 CZE 22 KREUZIGER, Roman (TINKOFF) + 7:17 ESP 23 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) FRA 24 VUILLERMOZ, Alexis (AG2R LA MONDIALE) GBR 25 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) + 7:24 ITA 26 NIBALI, Vincenzo (ASTANA) + 7:35 ITA 27 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) FRA 28 BARGUIL, Warren (GIANT – ALPECIN) ERI 29 BERHANE, Natnael (DIMENSION DATA) + 8:27 LUX 30 SCHLECK, Frank (TREK – SEGAFREDO) + 8:41 SUI 31 REICHENBACH, Sébastien (FDJ) FRA 32 ROLLAND, Pierre (CANNONDALE-DRAPAC) BEL 33 DE GENDT, Thomas (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 8:50 ESP 34 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY) + 9:30 ITA 35 CARUSO, Damiano (BMC RACING) + 9:41 NED 36 CLEMENT, Stef (IAM CYCLING) + 9:44
General Classification after Stage 9 GBR 1 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) 44:36:03 GBR 2 YATES, Adam (ORICA-BikeExchange) + 16 IRL 3 MARTIN, Daniel (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 19 COL 4 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) + 23 ESP 5 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) + 37 FRA 6 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 44 NED 7 MOLLEMA, Bauke (TREK – SEGAFREDO) COL 8 HENAO MONTOYA, Sergio Luis (SKY) RSA 9 MEINTJES, Louis (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 55 ESP 10 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 1:01
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