2019 Tour de France Stage 9 Results & Recap
Stage 9 of the 2019 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
Impey wins stage 9\nBy Clara Beard
Daryl Impey (Mitchelton Scott) won stage nine of the Tour de France after spending most of the day in the 15 rider breakaway. The South African champion outsprinted Tiesj Benoot in the town of Brioude, who instigated a late attack on the final climb to shake off the rest of the break.
“Pretty much, for me, from a Tour de France perspective, a stage win was something really missing. I made quite a few breakaways in the past few years and finally, today, I got the win on Bastille Day. It’s fantastic! It’s a dream come true. It’s so difficult to win at this level. I kind of marked this stage. I was kind of lucky to find the right move. We worked all well together. I’m glad the legs were there at the end to beat Tiesj Benoot. I haven’t been emotional like that for a long time. I think the last South African to win a Tour de France stage was Robert Hunter in 2007… it’s a magic victory.”
Julian Alaphilippe retains the yellow jersey by 23 seconds ahead of best young rider Giulio Ciccone.
“It’s a pretty quiet day for us. It was all good because we had Jasper Stuyven at the front,” Ciccone said. “It’s been a bit of a mess in the last climb but Richie [Porte] showed he has a great condition, so it keeps our confidence high. [I’ve lost the yellow but] the white jersey is also a dream for all young riders and I’m wearing it now. I’m super happy with what I’ve done so far. I’ll fight as long as I can for my position, then I’ll put myself at the service of the team.”\nAfter a 25 minute neutral zone out of Saint-Etienne, 14 riders eventually made it off the front: Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Oliver Naesen (AG2R-La Mondiale), Ivan Garcia Cortina and Jan Tratnik (Bahrain-Merida), Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma), Simon Clarke (EF Education First), Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Nicolas Roche (Sunweb), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal), Romain Sicard (Total Direct Energie), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and Anthony Delaplace (Arkéa-Samsic). They made the break around 15 kilometres into the stage.
Movistar, noticing they were one of the few teams that weren’t represented in the break, had Marc Soler bridge across to leaders. Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) also tried to jump across, but after about 30 minutes of a solo effort, he gave up the ghost and waited for the pack, at this point about eight minutes back.
“We knew this was the good breakaway because we were 15 men, we were strong and none of us was well-placed on the GC,” said Benoot, who took second. “It was a race within the race between us. It was a good situation for me. I just had to keep myself on the first group and play my chances in the climbs. Unfortunately, I didn’t drop the fastest guy, Daryl Impey. He was just too good for me. I feel both happiness, for having been up there, and disappointment, for having missed the chance of victory. Happy to find my good legs back after a few difficult days for me. Disappointed of having been so close. But I’m in good shape and the Tour is still long, so I hope to have more chances in the coming days.”
In the finale, Postlberger attacked with 40 kilometres left in the stage and spent some time alone before being joined by Roche and Benoot. The Austrian couldn’t keep pace with the duo and fell back. Meanwhile, Impey had enough left in the tank to get across to the two leaders with 13km to go.
Roche succumbed to effort it took to try and drop Impey before the finish, and into town, it was just Benoot and Impey to fight it out for the honors. Benoot started his wind up first, but it wasn’t fast enough for the South African champion, who easily sprinted by the Belgian. \n
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