Place Name: Boulevard Du 1er Régiment D'artillerie De Montagne
Address: 9 Boulevard Du 1er Régiment D'artillerie De Montagne, 10000 Troyes, France
Details: July 7, 2024
Troyes set the scene for the start and finish of one of the more anticipated stages of this year's Tour. 14 segments of gravel totaling 32.2KM's awaited the riders on the 200KM stage.
Derek Gee of Israel-Premier Tech, Neilson Powless of EF-Education EasyPost, Paul Lapeira of Decathlon AG2R, Jarrad Drizners of Lotto-Dstny, and Romain Grégoire of Groupama-FDJ got away after 10KM but the peloton did not shut down. The race came back together with 160KM to go. The GC teams took control as they approached the first gravel sector but attacks came once again. Twelve riders came together at the front at 145KM to go but more groups were forming behind. Three more got to the front to make fifteen with 132KM to go, 2 minutes 20 seconds ahead of the peloton. The second sector was a short, steep uphill that caused riders down the bunch to get off and push their bikes. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe got caught out of position as Visma-Lease a Bike put on the pressure.
Over the top, the front GC group was reduced to around 30 riders as Primož Roglič was 30 seconds behind. The Roglič group got back on with 114KM to go, 15KM before the next gravel sector. UAE took 1 minute 20 seconds off of the break's lead in about 10KM, leaving them with just 40 seconds with 91KM to go. Remco Evenepoel of Soudal Quickstep attacked on a steep climb through the vineyards and everyone just watched him go. Over the top, Tadej Pogačar of UAE attacked with Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike on his wheel. Pogačar pulled Evenepoel back with no help from Vingegaard but the trio bridged up to the breakaway at 74KM to go with the rest of the peloton 25 seconds back. Vingegaard continued to skip pulls and the three called a truce, letting the rest of the break continue as they drifted back to the peloton.
Eight riders including Tom Pidcock of Ineos, Alexey Lutsenko of Astana, Anthony Turgis of TotalEnergies, Jasper Stuyven of Lidl-Trek, Javier Romo and Alex Aranburu of Movistar, Ben Healy of EF-Education EasyPost, as well as Gee once again, were still in the front at 43KM to go but attacks were starting from the bunch. At 22KM from the finish, Pogačar put in a few attacks and initially got separation but could not sustain his gap. At the front, the breakaway was starting to realize they would fight for the stage win and there were a few attacks starting with 17KM to go. Stuyven counter attacked one of the moves with 12KM to go as the rest of the breakaway riders looked around. They got organized and held Stuyven at around 7 seconds.
Lutsenko made a big effort and brought Stuyven back just under the 1KM banner. Healy tried to get away but the others were on him. Healy stayed on the front and started the sprint with 300M to go. Gee took the barriers on his left and got a jump but Turgis was able to come off the wheel and hold his speed to the line to take the win. Pidcock came across second with Gee taking third place. The GC group came in almost 2 later after having given blow after blow but coming in a draw. The win for Turgis and TotalEnergies is another in this year's Tour for smaller French teams and riders and the first Tour win for the team since Station des Rousses in 2017.
Tags: Tour de France, 2024, July, Stage 9, Tour de France 2024, Troyes, Derek Gee, Neilson Powless, Paul Lapeira, Jarrad Drizners, Romain Grégoire, Primož Roglič, Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard, Tom Pidcock, Alexey Lutsenko, Anthony Turgis, Jasper Stuyven, Javier Romo, Alex Aranburu, Ben Healy