A great number: the Luxembourger Bob Jungels (AG2R Citroën) won the 9th stage of the Tour alone, Sunday, in Châtel, for the return to France after the incursion into Switzerland.
Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE), leading the group of favorites, kept the yellow jersey on the eve of the rest day.
Jungels, alone in the lead in the last 60 kilometers of this first alpine stage, resisted the return of Pinot, launched after him on the last ascent and returned to around twenty seconds.
On the line, the Luxembourger preceded Spaniards Jonathan Castroviejo and Carlos Verona by 22 and 26 seconds. Pinot, one of the favorite riders of the French public, fell back in the final to take fourth place.
Pogacar sprinted in the last hectometres to cross the line 49 seconds behind Jungels, ahead of his rivals in the general classification.
The yellow jersey, like the whole peloton which has been affected by several cases of coronavirus, will undergo a covid-19 detection test in the evening. Guillaume Martin was the third rider to have to leave the Tour on Sunday morning because of the virus.
– Pinot’s chase –
In this 192.9 kilometer stage, a breakaway of around twenty riders, including nine Tour stage winners (Uran, Pinot, L. L. Sanchez, Barguil, Konrad, van Aert, I. Izagirre, Geschke, Politt), formed at the end of the first hour.
His lead capped at more than three minutes, due to Pogacar’s men chasing not to leave Colombian Rigoberto Uran, second in the 2017 Tour, too big a lead.
At the front, Jungels took the lead in the Col de la Croix, 64 kilometers from the finish, to present himself at the foot of the Pas de Morgins (15.4 km at 6.1%) with an advantage of two minutes on his former companions and almost three and a half minutes on the pack of favorites.
Pinot broke away from the intercalated group less than 9 kilometers from the summit. The Frenchman started a chase behind Jungels to erase the delay approaching two minutes, without managing to catch the Luxembourger.
Jungels, who is 29, won the Tour for the first time. But he has a “monument”, Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2018, on his list which now includes 25 victories.
Recruited for 2021 by the team of Vincent Lavenu, the Luxembourger had to be operated on last year for the iliac artery. He only recovered his level late, during the Tour de Suisse (6th).
Apart from the national titles in Luxembourg, his last international success dates back to March 2019 (Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne).
He brought some comfort to the French team whose leader, the Australian Ben O’Connor, has been suffering for several days.
Luxembourg had not won in the Tour de France since Andy Schleck in 2011.
