Tour de France 2024: Breakaway rider Turgis wins gravel spectacle on stage 9

It was the stage that provided the most talking points for this Tour de France in the run-up to the race: 14 sectors and a total of 32.4 kilometres over gravel were on the agenda over the 199 kilometres around Troyes. A day on which the Tour could not be won, but could very well be lost. It was the spectacle the Tour organisers had hoped for: many attacks, a lot of chaos and attacks by the top riders.

In the end, a breakaway group decided the day's victory among themselves. Eleven kilometres before the finish, Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) initially launched a promising attack, but his former companions caught up with him again at the Flamme Rouge. Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) then won the stage in the sprint of a group of six after 199 kilometres, ahead of Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech).

Pogacar attacks, Vingegaard rides the stage on the "wrong" bike

A chasing group around Biniam Girmay (Intermarché - Wanty) and world champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin - Deceuninck) reached the finish 1:17 minutes behind. The larger group with the favourites crossed the finish line 1:46 minutes behind the day's winner - led by a strong Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech).

During the stage, there were numerous attacks on the gravel sections, including from among the classification riders. Pogacar in particular went on the offensive several times, opening up small gaps, but was ultimately never able to break away decisively. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) came through the stage unscathed, mainly thanks to the help of his team-mates - after a defect, the Dane rode most of the stage on Jan Tratnik's bike, among others. As a result, there were no changes to the top places in the overall standings.

Tour de France 2024 - Results: the top 10 of stage 9

1. Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies), 4:19.43 hours
2. Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), +s.t.
3. Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), +s.t.
4. Alex Aranburu (Movistar), +s.t.
5. Ben Healy (EF Education EasyPost), +s.t.
6. Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), +s.t.
7. Javier Romo (Movistar), +0:12
8. Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), +0:18
9. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché - Wanty), +1:17
10. Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla), +1:17

The current standings in the overall standings

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 35:42.42 hours
2. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:33
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) +1:15
4. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +1:36
5. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +2:16
6. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +2:17
7. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +2:31
8. Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +3:35
9. Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), +4:02
10. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) +4:03

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How the 9th stage of the Tour de France 2024 went

The section offered a good chance of a breakaway victory, and the early stages of the stage were correspondingly competitive and chaotic. Time and again, riders attacked and groups formed, but were unable to break away decisively. It was only after 30 kilometres that a ten-man breakaway group formed around Oier Lazkano and Javier Romo (Movistar), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies), Alexei Lutsenko (Astana), Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) and Maxim van Gils (Lotto Dstny), Neilson Powless (EF Education EasyPost), Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) and Elmar Reinders (Jayco-AlUla), shortly followed by Alex Aranburu (Movistar) and Axel Zingle (Cofidis).

Primoz Roglic loses the connection in the meantime

The group pulled out a lead of around two minutes, but the peloton did not calm down - more and more attacks followed, including from Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Ben Healy (EF Education EasyPost). Later, a chasing group also formed around Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) and Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL). However, while Pidcock and Healy managed to catch up with the leading group, the group around De Lie and Bardet always remained around a minute behind.

After 50 kilometres, the first gravel sector awaited, followed by the first mountain classification of the day, the Cote de Bergeres (4th category), which Vermeersch won. The second gravel sector Baroville led steeply uphill after 70 kilometres - and to a split in the peloton. While Pogacar, Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) were part of the first group, Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) fell behind. At times, the two groups were separated by around 30 seconds and it took 17 kilometres before the group around Roglic caught up again with the help of his team-mates.

Attacks by Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel

The increase in pace in the peloton meant that the group around De Lie and Bardet was caught again 110 kilometres before the finish. At this point, the gap to the leading group was only around one minute. 100 kilometres before the finish, Vingegaard then suffered a defect and had to switch to team-mate Jan Tratnik's bike, but quickly fought his way back to the front of the decimated group. Nevertheless, he finished the stage on Tratnik's bike.

Meanwhile at the front, UAE Team Emirates pushed the pace, among others through Nils Politt, and thus initiated the first attack by Pogacar 89 kilometres before the finish, directly after the fourth gravel passage Polisy a Celles-sur-Ource. Only Evenepoel and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) jumped on his rear wheel, but the group didn't get far.

With 77 kilometres to go, the next attack came from Evenepoel in a gravel section, who was soon joined by Pogacar and Vingegaard - Roglic stayed behind in the chasing group. The trio quickly closed the gap of 40 seconds to the escapees, but then dropped back again as there was no harmony among the riders. Instead, the leading group split after a counter attack: 70 kilometres before the finish, Healy, Pidcock, Gee, Luzenko and Stuyven formed the front group. Later, Turgis, Romo and Aranburu caught up again. At this point, the gap to the 40-strong group of favourites was hovering around one minute.

Girmay and van der Poel in the pursuit

With 43 kilometres to go, a prominent seven-man chasing group formed, consisting of Biniam Girmay (Intermarché - Wanty), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin - Deceuninck), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech), Rui Costa (EF Education EasyPost), Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X Mobility) and Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla). However, the group always remained 40 to 50 seconds behind the eight front-runners.

There were still six gravel sectors to go in the final 30 kilometres, and Pogacar used these sections to attack again 22 kilometres before the finish. With a lot of effort, Jorgenson finally drove his captain Vingegaard back onto Pogacar's rear wheel, the other favourites were initially unable to follow the attack. However, as the two Visma riders did not take part in the lead, a group of around 20 riders around Evenepoel and Roglic came back. Nine kilometres before the finish, a long attack by Pogacar fizzled out. Remarkable: Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) was also part of this group.

At the front, the first attacks for the stage win began 15 kilometres before the finish - first Turgis, then Lutsenko and Gee went on the offensive. But this took a lot of the rhythm out of the group. Eleven kilometres before the finish, Stuyven attacked and initially caused disagreement among his former companions. The group only caught up with him again at the Flamme Rouge. The decision was then made in the sprint of a small group - with Turgis as the winner.