2021 Tour de France Stage 9 Results & Recap
Stage 9 of the 2021 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
O'Connor wins in Tignes
Ben O'Connor (Ag2r Citroen Team) won his first ever stage of the Tour de France today after successfully shaking Sergio Higuita (EF Education - Nippo) and Nairo Quintana (Team Arkea - Samsic) on the final climb to Tignes.
"Just to be taking part on the Tour de France in the first place is a dream. Then, to achieve a victory like this one is excellent, a great reward to everyone who has supported me over the years: my girlfriend, my parents, my best friend in Australia, and all my friends in Girona, It’s been a wild ride. This is so fulfilling - so much joy. When I crossed the line, I couldn’t hold my tears. I’m thankful to Ag2r-Citröen. They have put so much faith in me this year," O'Connor said. "I wasn’t meant to be on the break. But I saw there was a big group going up the road and I crossed to join it. I didn’t know what to do, if it was better to play it cool… but then I reckoned it was not only a chance to gain time and move up some places on the GC, but also for the win. I love these gruelling days. Maybe I suffered a bit on the descents, but it went well in the end. I knew that, if I stayed on a steady pace and didn’t get cramps, I would win the stage. Not panicking was also key, because if you think you are about to win a stage in the Tour de France… A lot of things are going to cross your mind."
The Australian climbed into second on GC behind a dominant Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), who attacked out of the remaining GC group that started the final climb nine minutes behind the solo leader.
"The weather today was really bad - even worse than yesterday," Pogacar said. "It was super cold, raining all day… I’m sure a lot of guys suffered today. I’m happy to be over it and that there is a rest day tomorrow. I am more worried about the warm stages that are coming than about the cold ones today and yesterday as I suffer more on hot days. [Ben] O’Connor was super strong today - congrats to him! Towards the end of the stage I was scared towards that I might lose the yellow jersey just the day before the rest day... I’m happy to keep it."
Get our full coverage of the Tour de France and every race we cover with our mobile app! The apps have over 100 additional exclusive features, including our award-winning Time Machine feature that lets you pause/rewind/replay the entire app to sync with delayed race video, integrated Fantasy Cycling, push notifications, an integrated news feed, live GPS tracking, world-class commentary, and our animated interactive maps and profiles.
