2017 Tour de France Stage 9 Results & Recap
Stage 9 of the 2017 Tour de France is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Uran wins chaotic Stage 9 that sees Porte, Thomas, Gesink crash out of Tour de France
by Neal Rogers
With a malfunctioning rear derailleur stuck in the 11-tooth sprocket, Colombian Rigoberto Uran of Cannondale-Drapac won a chaotic Stage 9 of the Tour de France from a select group of GC contenders.
Uranâs stage win from a six-man sprint, in a photo finish against Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb) was but one of many storylines on a day that saw several marquee riders on the ground, including Richie Porte, Dan Martin, Alberto Contador, Geraint Thomas, Robert Gesink, and Rafal Majka â with Porte, Thomas and Gesink all out of the race due to injuries.
âI wasnât sure if I had won or not,â Uran said. âWhen I was told I did, I felt a lot of happiness. It was a big occasion for me after so many things happened today like the crash of Richie Porte. Then my derailleur was out of order. I managed to save myself and contest the stage victory. Itâs a surprise. Iâm very happy to have won this complicated stage. Itâs also positive for the general classification. Itâs a great day for my team.â
The most severe injury belonged to Porte (BMC Racing), who came to this Tour as a heavy GC favorite and started the stage sitting fifth overall. On the descent of Mont du Chat with 23km remaining, Porte misread a corner and lost control, sliding across the road at high speed and into a rock wall. Porteâs crash put Martin (Quick-Step Floors) on the deck, though the Irishman was able to continue.
Richie Porte (BMC Racing) crashed out of the 2017 Tour de France on the descent of Mont du Chat on Stage 9 from Nantua to ChambĂŠry.
Porte was tended to by medical staff and taken from the course by ambulance to a hospital. Initial reports from race staff suggest that Porte, who was seen moving his arms and legs though he never stood up, did not lose consciousness.
Race leader Chris Froome (Team Sky) withstood a mechanical issue, several attacks, spending the final 30km isolated without teammates, and the hectic descent of Mont du Chat to finish third on the stage and defend his yellow jersey.
âI have mixed feelings,â Froome said. âI am happy to be in jersey. That was a crazy stage. Iâve just seen images of Richie Porteâs crash, and it gives me a horrible feeling. I really hope he is alright, and has a speedy recovery. Also Geraint Thomas is out of the race with a broken collarbone, so yes I have mixed feelings about today. The rest of my team was fantastic, the guys did a massive job, to control that kind of race today was no easy task.â
Adding to the drama of the day, eight riders missed the time cut, including stage winner and green jersey contender Arnaud DĂŠmare and three of his FDJ teammates, as well as Matteo Trentin, one of the key men in Marcel Kittelâs Quick-Step Floors leadout train.
A day set for carnage
Stage 9 of the Tour de France, a 181km route from Nantua to ChambĂŠry, looked, on paper, to be the hardest of this yearâs race, delivering seven categorized climbs, including three HC climbs, and the technical descent of Mont du Chat. The last time there were three HC climbs in the same stage was during the 2011 Tour.
Seven categorized climbs, including three Hors Category climbs, were on the course:\n ⢠Km 3.5: Côte des Neyrolles (cat. 2), 3.2km at 7.2%\n ⢠Km 11: Col de BÊrentin (cat. 3), 4.1km at 6.1%\n ⢠Km 38: Côte de Franclens (cat. 3), 2.4km at 6%\n ⢠Km 67.5: Col de la Biche (HC): 10.5km at 9%\n ⢠Km 91: Grand Colombier (HC): 8.5km at 9.9%\n ⢠Km 134: Côte de Jongieu (cat. 4): 3.9km at 4.2%\n ⢠Km 155.5: Mont du Chat (HC): 8.7km at 10.3%
Ten minutes into the stage, during the hectic struggle to get into the dayâs breakaway, a crash saw Manuele Mori (UAE), Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Angelo Tulik (Direct Energie) tangle up, with both Mori and Gesink forced to abandon.
Finally, a 38-rider group rode away, with two riders from that group also crashing â Eduardo Sepulveda (Fortuneo) and Stake Laengen (UAE).
A few riders came across and others were dropped, until the breakaway totaled 39 riders on the approach to the Col de la Biche, the first Hors Category climb of the 2017 Tour. After 46km of racing, the 39 riders were 3:30 ahead of the peloton, with Betancur the best-placed rider on GC, 3:17 behind Froome, making him the virtual yellow jersey.
The 39-man group: Jan Bakelants, Axel Domont and Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Jesus Herrada and Carlos Betancur (Movistar), Bauke Mollema and Jarlinson Pantano (Trek-Segafredo), Alessandro De Marchi and AmaĂŤl Moinard (BMC), Bakhtiar Kozhatayev and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Kristjian Durasek and Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Michael Albasini (Orica-Scott), Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors), Pawel Poljanski (Bora-Hansgrohe), Robert Kiserlovski and Tiago Machado (Katusha-Alpecin), Tiejs Benoot, Thomas De Gendt, Tony Gallopin and Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Michael Matthews, Nikias Arndt, Warren Barguil, Simon Geschke and Laurens ten Dam (Sunweb), Nicolas Edet and Dani Navarro (Cofidis), Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo), Thomas Voeckler and Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), Pierre Rolland and Dylan Van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac), Tsgabu Grmay and Javier Moreno (Bahrain-Merida), Brice Feillu and Pierre-Luc PĂŠrichon (Fortuneo-Oscaro).
The dayâs fourth climb, the HC Col de la Biche, began with 125km to go. Roglic, Vuillermoz, Barguil, Pinot, and Mollema were the first five riders over the top.
Eighty kilometers into the stage, several riders crashed descending Col de la Biche. Geraint Thomas (Sky) was out with a broken collarbone. Rafal Majka (Bora) also crashed, but was able to carry on.
âI got back on the bike and carried on down the descent,â Thomas said. âBut when I got on the flat, I knew something was wrong.
At km 83, on the section of road between the Col de la Biche and Grand Colombier, seven riders were in the lead: Bakelants, Domont and Vuillermoz (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Pantano (Trek-Segafredo), Poljanski (Bora-Hansgrohe), Benoot (Lotto-Soudal) and Barguil (Sunweb).
Ag2r rode at the front of the breakaway up the Grand Colombier, with a one-minute advantage over Betancur, Mollema, Matthews, Geschke, Navarro, and Roglic. The rest of the French team â Ben Gastauer and Pierre Latour, followed by Romain Bardet â led the GC group, in front of Team Sky.
On the slopes of the Colombier, Bakelants, Poljanski and Domont were dropped from the front group, leaving Barguil, Vuillermoz, Benoot, and Pantano.
Pantano was next to peel off, unable to match the pace of Barguil, Benoot and Vuillermoz.
Back in the yellow jersey group, which was down to about 25 riders, Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) crashed for the second time of the day as the gap to the breakaway sat at six minutes.
Vuillermoz was unable to hold the pace of Barguil and Benoot, however five riders came together on the descent of the Colombier: Vuillermoz, Mollema, Benoot, Barguil and Roglic, with a gap of five minutes ahead of the peloton.
Shortly after, seven riders bridged up to the leaders â Pantano, Matthews, Betancur, Bakelants, Geschke, Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal) and Navarro â forming a 12-rider group.
Five categorized climbs and 110km had been raced, with two climbs and 71km to go. A long valley road led to the dayâs intermediate sprint
The gap came down considerably in the valley between the Colombier and the Cat.4 CĂ´te de Jongieu; at the intermediate sprint point, won by Matthews, it was down to 3:30 with 54km to go.
After the intermediate sprint, Bakelants and Gallopin went clear. Sky drove the chase group, with Michal Kwiatkowski, Sergio Henao, Mikel Landa and Mikel Nieve in front of Froome. At 36km to go, Kwiatkowski swung off after a major stint at the front.
Chaos on Mont du Chat
Tensions were heightened as the leaders reached the base of the Mont du Chat, an 8.7km climb averaging 10.3% â but the real danger would be found on the other side of the mountain.
At 33km to go, Gallopin attacked Bakelants, nursing a 2:15 lead over the Froome group.
At the foot of the climb Froome had mechanical. Immediately after Froomeâs arm went up, Aru attacked, drawing out Quintana, Porte, and Martin, with Porte and Martin telling the Italian to wait for the maillot jaune.
âI had a bit of a problem, the gears stopped working and I had to change bikes,â Froome said. âRichie was instrumental in slowing that group down, I think this is not the moment to attack the leader of the race, so I want to say thanks to Richie,
Another moment of controversy occurred shortly after Froome was back on to the GC group, as he swerved right, into Aru, pushing the Astana rider against the fans lining the road.
âI wasnât aware that Fabio Aru attacked,â Froome said. âI got to know it once the journalists told me at the finish. At the time, I was too busy looking for my team car for a bike change. From what I understand, it looks like Richie told my rivals âitâs not the moment to attackâ. I thank Richie for having said that and the whole group to not have taken advantage of this. When I touched Aruâs arm later on, it wasnât retaliation. It wasnât on purpose.â
Once Froome was back in the group Fuglsang attacked, opening a 25-second gap. While Froome had Nieve and Landa left, Contador was isolated and quickly under pressure.
Aru attacked again, with Porte chasing and countering, and Quintana tucked on Froomeâs wheel. Martin was next to attack, with Porte again counter-attacking.
Up ahead, Barguil had gone it alone, with a slight lead over Gallopin.
Froome attacked next, with Porte following. Both Aru and Quintana struggled to match the pace, while Uran and Bardet followed closely.
Barguil went over the top of Mont du Chat with a 22-second advantage; 25km remained, mostly downhill. Behind, seven men chased â Fuglsang, followed by Froome, Bardet, Aru, Martin, Porte, and Uran.
On the technical descent of the Mont du Chat â a descent used a month earlier at the Criterium du Dauphine that has since been repaved â Porte misread a corner, went into the dirt on the left side of the road, lost control and crashed, sliding across to the right side of the road and into a wall. Martin was unable to avoid Porte and also crashed, at high speed.
While Martin was able to remount, Porte stayed on the ground and was quickly attended to by medics, who put him into a neck brace. His Tour was over.
The remainder of the GC group â Froome, Aru, Bardet, and Uran and â caught and passed Fuglsang, winner on this stage at the Dauphine last month.
Bardet used his advanced descending skills to ride clear of the rest, and with 15km to go, Barguil nursed a slight 12-second lead over Bardet.
Behind, Skyâs Nieve crashed, while Martin crashed almost immediately after remounting his bike.
At 12km to go, Bardet caught Barguil; the French pair held a 25-second lead over Froome, Uran, Aru, and Fuglsang. Bardet quickly passed Barguil, in attempt at a solo victory, hoping for both GC time and time bonus on the line.
Meanwhile Uran drifted back to the Mavic neutral service car; his rear derailleur hanger was bent, and he could not shift. The mechanic could not fix it, and moved the chain to the 11-tooth sprocket, the hardest gear to push, in anticipation of the impending sprint.
The group caught Bardet at 2km to go, and a bunch sprint was inevitable. Fuglsang launched early, at about 400 metres to the line, and though he opened a gap, Uran closed it down. Barguil jumped and looked to have won the stage â the Sunweb rider even celebrated across the line â but upon closer examination, the race jury awarded the Cannondale-Drapac rider with the victory.
Barguil, who was in tears, could only take consolation in the fact that he had earned the KOM jersey for his efforts.
âFour years ago, it was me beating Rigoberto [Uran in stage 16 of the Vuelta a EspaĂąa] but today I passed him after the line,â Barguil said. âAfter the efforts I made in the breakaway today, I had heavy legs at the end. Itâs kind of an exploit I managed to sprint for the win and finish second. Iâm disappointed but Iâm also proud of the work of the team all day. Iâm proud of myself because not many riders could have taken the breakaway after the efforts I produced yesterday. I was in pain in the first climb. But I felt better later on.
âIt was a marathon stage, something that suited me very well. At the difference of yesterday, I think I rode at perfection today. I didnât sprint atop the third category climbs to keep my energy for the Hors Category climbs. The other riders might have thought in the third category climbs that I wasnât interested in the polka-dot jersey but that was my goal today. Iâll go on the offensive again. There are two more weeks to race and I like that.â
Martin finished the stage 1:15 down, alongside Landa, Quintana and Simon Yates (Orica-Scott).
âI was lucky when Geraint crashed, because his bike touched my handlebars, but my luck ran out at the end and I couldnât avoid Richie,â Martin said. âIt was slippery under the trees, he lost his back wheel on that corner, went on the grass and crashed hard. There was nowhere to go for me. It was a bummer to go down again because I couldnât break after getting a front wheel from the neutral service. On the plus side, I immediately joined a group and was soon flying over the descent. I gave everything there, rode with the other guys like it was a team time trial and tried to salvage as much as I could.â
Froome now leads the race by 18 seconds ahead of Aru, with Bardet in third, 51 seconds back. Uran sits fourth, 55 seconds back, with Fuglsang in fifth at 1:37 and Martin in sixth at 1:44.
âI said yesterday the GC would be blown away today and it did,â Froome said. âThere are no longer ten guys in one minute on GC. Itâs been brutal. For us, losing Geraint Thomas is a massive disappointment. Losing Richie Porte is a big blow to the race. No one wants to see a protagonist quitting like this. His crash was terrifying.â
Link: https://cyclingtips.com/2017/07/uran-wins-chaotic-stage-9-sees-porte-thomas-gesink-crash-tour-de-france/\n__________________________
Richie Porte crashes out of the Tour de France
by Matt de Neef
CHAMBĂRY, France (CT) â Richie Porte (BMC) is out of the 2017 Tour de France after a frightening, high-speed crash on the final descent of stage 9.
Porte was in an elite group of seven riders that was chasing lone leader Warren Barguil (Sunweb) on the descent off the Mont du Chat. With roughly 20km remaining in the stage Porte missed a tight left-hand corner, crashing heavily before sliding across the road into a wall.
Porte remained on the road for several minutes while medical staff applied a neck brace and stretchered the Tasmanian to a waiting ambulance. Porte was taken to hospital for X-rays.
Race doctor, Dr Florence Pommerie, told CyclingTips after the stage that Porte was conscious when she attended to him immediately after the incident.
âThe first examination, the first check on the road, was almost good,â Pommerie said. âHe was very well conscious, oriented [ed. not disoriented] ⌠[the injuries] were less impressive than we imagined.
âI just asked some questions to know he was not disoriented. His age, his name, what happened. He was speaking very well, normally. He asked something about his glasses â very expensive â but I didnât find the glasses anyway.
âHe was afraid, I think, to move anything. But he was speaking. He just wanted to know if there was something ⌠a fracture or something. He didnât want to move because he was afraid. But ⌠he said, âIâm okay. I think I am okay.ââ
Dr Pommerie was encouraged by the early signs, but said further examinations would be necessary to rule out significant injury.
âThis is a first check. They are young, sometimes you discover some fractures. As they are young and very sportive [ed. sporty], they can [seem fine]. So we have to wait for all the examinations, all the complementary examinations ⌠the body scan and everything to be sure there is nothing.â
The Tourâs stage 9 âCommunique Medicalâ later reported that Porte had âCranial trauma (without neurological disorders) and pelvic traumaâ and that he was âevacuated to the ChambĂŠry hospital for radiological assessment.â
BMC Racing Team sports director Fabio Baldato addressed the media after the stage and explained that the mood in the BMC camp was, understandably, sombre.
âWe are all sad. We did a lot of work,â said Baldato. âRichie did a lot of work for this Tour de France, from the beginning of the year. We did a lot of training, recon, training camp [âŚ] we did everything that was possible to put him on the podium. From the first day all the team was around him. We are sad.â
When asked whether he thought the Mont du Chat descent was too dangerous, Baldato replied:
âWe know before [what it was like],â he said. âWe did [it] four times before the race. We did training, we did a race â we know it was [a] dangerous one. I can not say anything else.â
Dan Martin (QuickStep Floors) also crashed in the incident, the Irishman unable to avoid Porte when Porte hit the ground.
âRichie just lost it on one corner. It is so slippery,â Martin said after the stage. âI guess the organisers got what they wanted.
âI donât think anybody wants to take risks down there. But it was so slippery under the trees. Richie just locked up his back wheel, went straight onto the grass, wiped out and then his bike just collected me. I had nowhere to go. I was very, very lucky to come away as lightly as I did, I think.â
Unlike Porte, Martin was able to continue on and finish the stage, despite crashing again on the descent. When asked what he had injured, Martin replied: âI donât know ⌠I think adrenaline has covered it up so far.â
In all, five riders abandoned the Tour on stage 9: Porte; Skyâs Geraint Thomas, who had been second overall and broke his collarbone; Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo), who suffered a fracture to his L1 vertebrae; Jos Van Emden (LottoNL-Jumbo); and Manuele Mori (Team Emirates). Meanwhile, eight riders missed the time cut, not least stage 4 winner Arnaud Demare (FDJ).
Richie Porte had started the stage in fifth overall, 39 seconds behind overall leader Chris Froome (Sky). Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) went on to win stage 9, while Froome was third and extended his lead in the general classification.
Link: https://cyclingtips.com/2017/07/richie-porte-crashes-tour-de-france/
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