Tour de France: Uran wins stage 9 in photo finish

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Rigoberto Urán (Cannondale-Drapac) claimed stage 9 of the Tour de France in a photo finish ahead of Team Sunweb's Warren Barguil on a day that saw Richie Porte (BMC Racing) and Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) crash out of the race.

Urán led a select group of climbers across the line after Barguil, the last survivor of the early breakaway, was swept up on the run-in to the line. Race leader Chris Froome (Team Sky) finished third on the stage to retain his yellow jersey.

Barguil was still holding on out front as the riders came over the top of the Mont du Chat, the final climb of the day. Froome, Urán, Porte, AG2R's Romain Bardet, Quick-Step Floors' Dan Martin and Astana's Fabio Aru and Jakob Fuglsang comprised the small group of overall contenders in pursuit, as both Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) lost touch on the hors-categorie gradients. On the way up the Mont du Chat, Froome suffered a mechanical, almost immediately spurring Aru on the attack. However, a number of riders in the select group of overall favourites appeared to disagree with Aru's decision to put pressure on the yellow jersey while he was dealing with mechanical trouble. That led to a calming of hostilities as Froome's teammates dragged him back to the group shortly thereafter.

On the ensuing descent, Porte lost control rounding a corner at high speed, crashing hard and bringing Martin down with him. Martin remounted, but an injured Porte was unable to continue, although according to reports on the race broadcast, he was conscious and alert following the incident. The 32-year-old Australian was taken away from the race in an ambulance.

As the chase of Barguil continued, Bardet jumped off the front to bridge the gap. He closed down Barguil as the road flattened out and then sped past to push on solo as Barguil drifted back to the yellow jersey group. Bardet couldn't quite fend off his pursuing rivals in the closing kilometres, however, setting up a sprint.

Fuglsang led the group into the sprint, but Urán came around on his right with 200 metres to go. Bardet attempted to match the Colombian but didn't have the speed, but then Barguil surged into the picture, pulling almost even with Urán just as the riders hit the line to make for the second photo finish in three days at the Tour. Urán proved the winner by a tyre length.

Quintana finished in a group with Martin and Orica-Scott's Simon Yates 1:15 later. Contador's time losses were greater. The Spaniard arrived at the Chambéry finish line 4:19 back.

The first half of the stage was not without incident. Shortly after the large breakaway initial breakaway jumped clear, a crash brought down Manuele Mori (UAE Team Emirates) and Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo), with both ultimately pulling out of the Tour.

With around 100 kilometres to go, on slippery roads coming down from the summit of the Col de la Biche, another crash brought down Thomas and Bora-Hansgrohe's Rafal Majka. Thomas ultimately abandoned the race.

Heading into Monday's rest day, Froome continues to lead the Tour de France, with Aru now slotting into second overall, 18 seconds back. Bardet, third and 51 seconds down, and Urán, fourth and 55 down, are the only other riders within a minute of three-time winner.

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How it unfolded

The heat and sun seemed to be a thing of the past on the Tour's Queen Stage, with highs of mid-20s and rain predicted. It was not raining at the start, but the roads appeared to be wet.

Things started up immediately with a climb, the first of seven on the day. Only 3.5km from the start came the summit of the cat. 2 Cote es Neyrolles (3.2 km, 7.2 per cent), followed almost immediately by the cat. 3 Col de Berentin (4.1 km, 6.1 per cent).

As expected, the attacks started from the moment the flag dropped, with Lotto-Soudal's Tim Wellens to the first to go. Eventually Thibaut Pinot (FdJ) caught him, moving to the front to take the first mountain points.

Arnaud Demare, winner of stage 4, who suffered in the previous stage due to illness, was dropped by the field shortly after the start.

Pinot and Wellens were soon back in the field. With 177km to go, several riders crashed, with Manuele Mori (UAE Emirates) screaming in pain as he lay on the road. Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Angelo Tulik (Direct Energie) were also involved. Both Mori and Gesink abandoned the race.

As in the previous stage, a large group got away, this time about 7 km into the stage. They quickly built up a one minute gap. Pinot again went for the mountain points, followed by Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Simon Geschke (Sunweb). The field came over 1:49 down.

There were 38 riders in the group: Jan Bakelants, Axel Domont and Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-La Mondiale), Jesus Herrada and Carlos Betancur (Movistar), Bauke Mollema and Jarlinson Pantano (Trek-Segafredo), Alessandro De Marchi and Amaël Moinard (BMC), Bakhtiar Kozhatayev and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Kristjian Durasek and Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Michael Albasini (Orica-Scott), Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors), Pawel Poljanski (Bora-Hansgrohe), Robert Kiserlovski and Tiago Machado (Katusha-Alpecin), Thomas De Gendt, Tony Gallopin and Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Michael Matthews, Nikias Arndt, Warren Barguil, Simon Geschke and Laurens ten Dam (Sunweb), Nicolas Edet and Dani Navarro (Cofidis), Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo), Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie), Pierre Rolland and Dylan Van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac), Javier Moreno (Bahrain-Merida), and Brice Feillu, Pierre-Luc Périchon and Eduardo Sepulveda (Fortuneo-Oscaro).

Sepulveda and Stake Laengen crashed on the descent, and the lead group shrank as riders were unable to keep up with the high pace being set by De Gendt and ten Dam. Their gap moved up to over three minutes on the third climb, Cote de Franciens (cat. 3), with De Gendt taking the points.

From there, a short descent brought the to the foot of the day's first major challenge, the HC-ranked Col de la Binche (HC, 10,5 Km, 9 per cent). Some of those who had earlier been dropped caught up again on the flat.

Sunweb's ten Dam pulled the lead group up the climb. At 3:30 back, those sprinter still in the peloton were quietly falling back. Demare and his two teammates had already lost 11 minutes.

De Gendt was amongst those who dropped off the back of the lead group, as their gap neared the 4:30 mark.

The lead group ground its way up the climb, increasing their lead all the way. Roglic jumped before the summit and claimed the HC mountain points. The Froome group was nearly seven minutes back.

Crash followed crash on the fast and wet descent. Jesus Herrada (Movistar), Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) and Rafal Maika were amongst those hitting the pavement. Thomas had to leave with a broken collarbone.

The descent splintered both the lead group and the chasing field. Froome ended up in a group of about 20, with only one helper. He soon caught up with another group, with three Sky riders.

With 97 km left, a group of seven had formed at the front: Jan Bakelants, Axel Domont and Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-La Mondiale), Jarlinson Pantano (Trek-Segafredo), Pawel Poljanski (Bora-Hansgrohe), Tiejs Benoot (Lotto-Soudal) and Warren Barguil (Sunweb).

There was no time for anyone to catch their breath, as the next HC climb started almost immediately. The Grand Colombier, with 8.5 km and an average 9.9 per cent gradient, offered long stretches of over 11 per cent gradient, and one ramp of 22 per cent.

The lead group was only four: Barguil, Vuillermoz, Pantano and Benoot. They slowly made their way up the steep portions. Pantano was the next to drop back,with Vuillermoz eventually following suit. Back in the Froome group, Contador also hit the pavement but was immediately back up and going.

The sun came out on the ascent. AG2R continued to pull the Froome group all along, having grown now to about 20 riders. Barguil and Benoot were along at the front. They finally made it to the top, with Barguil sprinting to take the points with a clear advantage. Benoot was second, with Vuillermoz, Roglic, Mollema claiming the next placings. That trio caught up with the two leaders on the descent.

The Froome group came in about six minutes later. Sky had again moved to the front of its group.

More riders moved up to join the leaders as they hit the bottom of the ascent. Barguil was the big winner, as he acquire teammates Geschke and Matthews. The others were Betancur, Bakelants, Navarro, Pantano, and Gallopin. The Froome group was moving up, at 4:16 with 68 km to go, and moving constantly closer. Quintana fought with bike problems before finally taking a new one.

Geschke led Matthews out for the intermediate sprint, and the Australian easily claimed the maximum points. He was followed by Bakelants and Gallopin, who continued on in the lead as Matthews eased up.

The two took their lead up the next climb, a mere bump on the road compared to the other climbs. The Côte de Jongieux, cat 4, offered only 3,9 km and 4,2 per cent. The one point went to Bakelants. The rest of the previous lead group came over about a minute later, with the Froome group about three and a half minutes down.

There was only a very short descent before the day's final challenge. The third HC climb of the day, the Mont du Chat was 8.7km long, with a 10.3 per cent average gradient. The real breath-catcher, however, would be the steep and dangerous descent, to be followed by 13 rolling kilometers to an equally dangerous twisting and turning finale.

Matthews paid for his efforts, grinding nearly to a stop as he faded away, but he had already achieved his goal. Betancur was the next to slide back. The Froome group, never large, was also constantly shedding riders whose only goal was to reach the finish within the time limit.

Mollema was the first to jump from the chase group, as up front Bakelants had to be tribute to his efforts. Gallopin continued on up alone. Barguil soon joined the Dutch rider.

Barguil in fact moved up enough to pass Gallopin, as did Bakelants and Mollema.

In the back, Aru attacked as simultaneously Froome suffered mechanical problems. Quintana and porte went with him – and it was unclear whether the timing was coincidental.Froome signaled furiously for help and was soon being pushed along after repairs or a new bike. All three Sky teammates dropped back to help bring the yellow jersey back up.

Quintana and Porte kept the pace down in their group, as Aru looked around to see why they didn't share the lead work. Fuglsang was the next to jump from the favourites' group, as Froome was back in.

With 31km left, and the top of the Chat not yet achieved, Barguil had 45 seconds over his chasers and about two minutes to the Froome group.

Fuglsang moved up to the Mollema group. Contador was dropped by the Froome group, and moments later Porte tried an attack. They were only 1:30 behind Barguil at this point, with only Froome, Aru, Quintana, Uran, Bardet and Dan Martin left in the group.

Attack followed attack, with Froome constantly countering. Porte tried again, only to spark an attack by Froome. Quintana dropped off the back, as Froome, Porte, Uran, Martin and Bardet moved up to Fuglsang. Bardet soon trailed off, a few meters back with Aru. They caught up again,

Froome led the little group up towards Barguil, who had 35 seconds in hand with 1 km to the summit. The Sunweb rider held on to his lead to claim the maximum points and cement his led in the KOM ranking. Martin led the Froome group over only 11 seconds later.

The dangerous descent unfortunately lived up to its reputation. Porte hit the grass on the left side, flew across the road and headfirst into the mountain on the right side, smashing into Martin's bike. He was removed by ambulance.

That left Froome, Fuglsang, Aru, Uran and Bardet in the chase group, 24 seconds behind Barguil with 17 km to go. Bardet took off, while Fuglsang was a few meters back at the rear of things, seemingly affected by the crash. He caught up again, though.

Bardet soon had Barguil in his sights, and at 11.7 km caught him, with the Sunweb rider looking to be happy to have company. Bardet soon moved ahead of the exhausted Barguil.

Uran had to fall back for some bike adjustments. He was soon back with the others but apparently stuck in a big gear. Barguil had waited for them, bringing the group back up to five. Bardet hung on to his lead but the Froome group moved closer and closer.

It was a brave effort by Bardet, but he was caught with only 2.1 km left. Froome led the way into the final km, and the rest followed him through the twists and turns to the finish. Fuglsang went with 350 m left. First Bardet, then Uran passed him, but Barguil pulled up at the last second for a photo finish. It looked as if the Frenchman had won, but the jury awarded it to Uran, with Froome third.

Dan Martin and Quintana came in about a minute down, with Martin recovering well enough from the Porte crash to finish ninth.

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