2014 Tour de France Stage 9 Live Coverage
Welcome to our live coverage of Stage 9 of the 2014 Tour de France! Our live profile and commentary are below, followed by a preview of the technical aspects of the route.
Course Preview
After finishing in Ge?rardmer the day before, the riders get to stay in town for the night and depart from there this morning. We are likely to see the general classification battle begin\nto take shape here, as they take on six classified climbs, including the first category one climb of the race.
The route leaves no time to get in some road miles as the road heads upwards almost as soon as the riders roll off the start line. The sprinters are in for a tough day and\nthe grupetto will be forming pretty early.
There will already have been some tough days, especially the cobbles on stage 5, so gaps will already be appearing in the general classification. With so many climbs on this stage, anyone who makes it into the break is in with a shot of wearing the polka-dot jersey by the end. This stage suits a rider such as Christophe Riblon, who won’t be put off by the tough parcours.
From the top of the final climb there is a long descent towards Cernay. Talented descenders such as Vincenzo Nibali can use this as a chance to put some time into rivals like Chris Froome and Alberto Contador. However, he may find it difficult to keep them at bay over the 20 kilometres of flat roads to the finish in Mulhouse.
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