Tour de France: Impey wins stage 9 in Brioude

Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) claimed victory on stage 9 of the Tour de France after a cool, calm and collected performance that culminated in a two-man sprint against Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal). The two broke away from a large escape group that had built up a lead over the peloton, with Jan Tratnik (Bahrain Merida), also from the breakaway, coming in third a few seconds later.

Impey made several important moves in the stage finale, the first of which came when he accelerated away from a chase group in order to bridge up to Benoot and Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) on the final climb. When Benoot then attacked in the closing stages on a small rise, the South African was immediately on the Lotto-Soudal rider's wheel, as Roche began to falter.

The two leaders built up a 15 second lead as they raced towards the finish, with Impey doing the majority of the work. Clearly the faster of the two, the Mitchelton-Scott rider was intent on making sure that several sprinters remained out of contention, and he even moved to the front inside the final kilometre. There was a token effort from Benoot in the sprint but he quickly faded when the two-time Tour Down Under winner kicked for the line. The win marked South Africa's first stage win in 12 years.

"It's pretty much for me, from the Tour de France perspective, it's something that I was really missing. It's the seventh time I'm riding the Tour de France and have been in a number of breakaways, to finally nail it today – it's a dream come true. I really don't have any words," Impey said at the finish.

"It was a stage I'd kind of marked for a breakaway. Yesterday, also obviously, but unfortunately the break went away straightaway. Today we were pretty active – Luke and them were active in the start. I just kind of found the lucky move. I didn't have to do too much to get in there. We all worked really well together. I just believed in myself. Played it quite smart there in the end, I think. I knew I had to get to Tiesj and them on the final climb.

"I've been imagining that emotion on the finish line for a long time, so it's fantastic to win at this level. The last Tour de France stage victory for South Africa I think was Robbie Hunter in 2007. It's been a long time between drinks - to win on Bastille Day, that's fantastic. That's a magic memory.

"This is a dream come true. Something I've really wanted to do. It's so difficult at this level. When the stars all line up, I can't be any prouder. It's fantastic. I know South Africa will be cheering and my family, too, they've supported me all the way through this."

The early 15-man breakaway formed early in the race and held a 10-minute lead much of the day. The gap ballooned up to 14 minutes near the end. Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) put in a strong effort to get away on the approach to the final climb, but was caught by Benoot and Roche on the lower slopes. When Impey made contact with the leaders it was clear that the win would be come from those riders.

Back in the main field there was an attack by home-favourite Romain Bardet on Bastille Day but the Frenchman was marked by Team Ineos. Overnight leader Julian Alaphillipe retained his yellow jersey for another day.

How it unfolded

Stage 9 of the Tour de France started with a bang as fireworks saw off the peloton and Frenchman in yellow on Bastille Day.

Yoan Offredo (Wanty-Gobert), who is ill and straggled in nearly half an hour down yesterday, continued his bad luck by crashing into some road furniture in the neutral section. He gamely got back on his bike, hoping to survive until Tuesday's rest day.

Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) was the first to make a serious break attempt, but was pulled back.

Another crash had a more serious outcome. Alessandro De Marchi (CCC), who featured in the stage 8 break group, crashed early on, and was taken to hospital with facial injuries.

After yellow jersey Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep) made a brief break attempt, Edvald Boasson Hagen made a more successful move. A large group formed and took off down the road.

The group consisted of Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale), Ivan Garcia Cortina and Jan Tratnik (Bahrain-Merida), Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma), Simon Clarke (EF Education First), Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Nicolas Roche (Sunweb), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), Tiejs Benoot (Lotto Soudal), Romain Sicard (Total Direct Energie), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and Anthony Delaplace (Arkéa-Samsic).

Marc Soler (Movistar) made the late decision to join the group, as did Rui Costa (UAE Emirates). Roughly 35km into the the stage, Soler caught the group. Rui Costa made it to within 25 seconds but then started losing ground before giving up his effort and starting the long wait for the peloton – at that point already over nine minutes back.

The highest GC ranked rider in the group was Roche, at 23 minutes down, allowing Deceuninck-Quickstep the luxury of taking it easy on the day as the gap moved out to 10:30.

The cat 3 Cote des Guillaumanches fater 108km saw the first cracks form in the large break group. It all came back together, but the trend continued. With 41km to go, Pöstlberger attacked, and slowly built up a lead over his former companions, while the peloton was now 11 minutes back.

The 14 riders in the now-chase group seemed reluctant to chase, but finally put on an organised effort when the gap hit 30 seconds, with some 33km to go.

It was to no avail, though, as Pöstlberger moved away. Behind them all – way behind – the peloton hit the 13-minute-down mark.

With about 23km to go, the chase group split roughly in half in its effort to finally reel in the Austrian. Roche, Soler, Stuyven, Impey, Benoot, Tratnik and Naesen were able to make good time with a smaller group and moved up on Pöstlberger. The gap to the peloton was by now over 14 minutes.

The final hurdle of the day was the cat. 3 Cote de Saint-Just, which topped out only 13 km from the finish line. The seven chasers' work paid off and they caught Pöstlberger with 15.2km to go. Roche, who had done much of the lead work, again moved to the front, while Pöstlberger dropped off the back, as did Soler.

Roche and Benoot took off together, with Tratnik in pursuit, nearly catching them just before the top, but failing to hook up. Impey was more successful, after a strong pull to move up, and the trio went over the top together.

Benoot made a move with 8.2km to go, with Impey going with him and Roche was unable to answer. Benoot was left floundering for an answer a few kilometers later when Impey opened his sprint.

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