Chris Froome retains the yellow jersey by finishing third in the “Queen Stage” marred by crashes that sent out his teammate Geraint Thomas and friend and rival Richie Porte. Froome sprinted to the finish that was won by Rigoberto Uran followed by Warren Barguil.
In what was an excruciating sad stage for the Tour when Richie Porte suffered one of the most painful crashes in the descent from the last climb when he missed a downhill bend, rolling accross the road and hitting another rider, Dan Martin, before banging on the grassy wall. Porte abandoned the race because of the sustained injuries. Prior to Porte’s crash, Geraint Thomas left the race also after crashing in the descent at the half of the race. Thus, it paves the way for an intense changes in the general classification.
In the final climb, Alberto Contador couldn’t keep up in the Froome’s group as he lost a lot of time. Contador lost his chance of the tour as he is now behind more than five minutes to Froome. Nairo Quintana also was left by the group and trails 2’13”.
Fabio Aru seized the moment when he saw Froome raising his hand. Aru attacked immediately and Froome was left behind because of technical problems with 5km to the last summit. With his teammates, Froome caught up.
Here’s the overall standings GC of Tour de France after stage 9.
Overall GC standings
RANK | RIDER | RIDER NO. | TEAM | TIMES | GAP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | FROOME CHRISTOPHER | 1 | TEAM SKY | 38H 26′ 28” | |
2 | ARU FABIO | 51 | ASTANA PRO TEAM | 38H 26′ 46” | + 00′ 18” |
3 | BARDET ROMAIN | 11 | AG2R LA MONDIALE | 38H 27′ 19” | + 00′ 51” |
4 | URAN RIGOBERTO | 188 | CANNONDALE DRAPAC PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM | 38H 27′ 23” | + 00′ 55” |
5 | FUGLSANG JAKOB | 53 | ASTANA PRO TEAM | 38H 28′ 05” | + 01′ 37” |
6 | MARTIN DANIEL | 105 | QUICK – STEP FLOORS | 38H 28′ 12” | + 01′ 44” |
7 | YATES SIMON | 89 | ORICA – SCOTT | 38H 28′ 30” | + 02′ 02” |
8 | QUINTANA NAIRO | 21 | MOVISTAR TEAM | 38H 28′ 41” | + 02′ 13” |
9 | LANDA MIKEL | 6 | TEAM SKY | 38H 29′ 34” | + 03′ 06” |
10 | BENNETT GEORGE | 162 | TEAM LOTTO NL – JUMBO | 38H 30′ 21” | + 03′ 53” |