Tour de France stage 9 – Live coverage

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 9 of the Tour de France, the second of two mountain stages in the Pyrenees.

We're around 45 minutes from the stage start in Pau. After yesterday's first foray into the Pyrenees, the riders will today tackle another four classifed climbs, including two first category tests.

It's another short-ish stage, though not a micro-stage as we've come to see in recent Tours. Today's 153km from Pau to Laruns is scheduled to finish earlier than usual too, with some travelling up the west coast of France for the teams ahead of the first rest day of the race tomorrow.

Yesterday's stage saw more GC action than the previous mountain days at the Tour, with a number of attacks on the Col de Peyresourde and several contenders losing a chunk of time in Loudenvielle.

Click here for our report on stage 8

You can read up on how the main GC men fared too, with our guide to which GC contenders lost time on stage 8 in the Pyrenees.

One of the men who struggled on the road to Loudenvielle was Julian Alaphiliippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep), who finished fifth last year.

The Frenchman put in an attack on the Peyresourde before immediately falling back and dropping. He finished over 11 minutes down on the GC group. At today's start he said that stage victories remain the goal. Today, anyone?

Laruns hosts a Tour de France stage finish for the second time today. Primož Roglič was the stage winner back in 2018 after a solo attack over the top of the Col d'Aubisque – will he repeat the feat today?

Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) was one of the 'winners' yesterday. His late attack stole back two seconds on GC to move up to fourth overall, while his teammate Nans Peters took the win from the breakaway. Will his upwards trajectory continue today?

Just over ten minutes to go until the peloton rolls out in Pau now.

As ever, we have a guide on how to watch live coverage of the Tour. If you can't stream or get to a TV though, we've got you covered here.

Compared to Laruns, today's start town of Pau is a Tour de France veteran. Today's stage is the 71st time it features on the race, behind only Paris (107) and Bordeaux (75).

The peloton has rolled out at the start in Pau. Racing proper will get underway in 20 minutes after a 9km ride out of the town.

We have plenty of news from yesterday's stage if you want to catch up.

Here's the latest from Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic), Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo), Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), and Jumbo-Visma.

5.5km of riding behind the race director's car until racing gets undeway.

This depart is dedicated to former Ineos DS Nicolas Portal, who died in March.

Four men withdrew yesterday. Diego Rosa (Arkéa-Samsic) broke his collarbone, Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) stopped with a knee injury), William Bonnet (Groupama-FDJ) suffered injuries from a crash on stage 1, and Lilian Calmejane (Total Direct Energie) hadn't recovered from crashes at pre-Tour races.

151km to go

Meanwhile, racing has just gotten underway here as the riders leave Pau. It's a high pace at the front as riders attempt to get away.

Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) was among the men on the attack, but nothing has gone yet.

147km to go

De Gendt tries again to no avail. KOM leader Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R La Mondiale) is also up front.

The riders have hit the firstt climb of the day, the fourth-category Côte d'Artiguelouve. De Gendt tries again.

De Gendt has Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb), Cosnefroy and Krists Neilands behind him but there are no gaps being created.

143km to go

Cosnefroy gets over the line first for another KOM point. De Gendt has dropped back now as Hirschi pushes on down the descent.

Hirschi almost lost it on a corner there but he continues on alone.

Hirschi is caught on the flat. It's all together again now. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) are among the faces up front.

Van Aert covered a move by Andrey Amador (Ineos Grenadiers) and now his Jumbo-Visma teammate Tony Martin has covered a move at the front, too.

Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) is a few seconds off the front.

135km to go

Still nothing is sticking. Roche is caught now, and more men have a go at the front.

Now Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) makes a move, though he is also struggling to get away.

Groupama-FDJ have several riders on the front. They close down Alaphilippe and now the peloton is lined out under the high pace.

Stefan Küng and David Gaudu are up front for Groupama-FDJ. Sagan, Alaphilippe, Schachmann, Van Aert are all up there too.

Michael Valgren (NTT Pro Cycling) gives it a go. Still, nobody is getting a gap. The majority of the peloton is lined out in single file at this point.

Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) is off the back. It looks like he's off the pace rather than suffering from a mechanical problem.

There's still a long way to go until the first big climb of the day, the Col de la Hourcère. We're 33km away from the base of the first-category climb.

125km to go

There's still no breakaway group here. Riders keep trying to get away but it has ben a fruitless endeavour so far. 

Matteo Trentin (CCC Team) gets off the front briefly as the riders pass the 30km mark. He's quickly chased down, though.

Aru is a kilometre off the back of the peloton now. His Tour could be over today.

World champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) on the front now, but his acceleration comes to nothing, just like everyone else's so far.

Meanwhile, Fabio Aru yells and the camera moto and waves them away. He's not having much fun today.

Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) is back among the cars, having rode off-road. He's fine, though.

Up front the pace is super high at 60kph. Aru is doing around 50kph, is 1.6km down and being stalked by the broom wagon.

113km to go

Tim Declercq (Deceuninick-QuickStep), Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team), Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) join the revolving list of names on the front. Still nothing sticks.

48kph average speed so far. Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) and Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) are the latest to move up front.

Aru is still fighting on alone, 2.2km behind the peloton. The difference is almost three minutes.

13km to go until the base of the Col de la Hourcère. Mads Pedersen tries again and again to get away.

Now Van Avermaet pushes on for an extended period. There are no gaps in the peloton behind him though. This is brutal.

Now four minutes down, Aru eats a snack. He's still being stalked by the voiture balai.

102km to go

Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep) has got himself a small gap, just a few seconds.

More riders are clipping off in groups of twos and threes. Thiis could be it? Cavagna has eight seconds.

Luke Rowe (Ineos Grenadiers), Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and an EF rider make a move at the front of the peloton. No dice.

Six riders have joined Cavagna now, including three from Team Sunweb. It doesn't look very hopeful for them, though, as the peloton closes in again...

98km to go

Yep, it's over for that small group. They're brought back already.

Aru takes on an energy gel. He's six minutes back now.

The peloton hit the base of the Col de la Hourcère. The climb is 11.1km long at an average gradient of 8.8 per cent.

Sunweb try again at the front. Thiibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) is up there after yesterday's disaster.

Pinot is among a group of around seven men who have jumped away. We'll see if they actually get away from the peloton here.

Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie) has hit the deck but looks OK.

Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) is being shepherded to the front of the peloton. There's a small gap between hiis group and the group of race leader Adam Yates (Mitchlton-Scott).

Sprinters are heading out the back already. Van Aert has made it into a small group up front.

94km to go

There's no real separation up front as Jumbo-Visma control the peloton.

The peloton is in pieces already. Maybe 30-40 men in there at the moment...

Eight men up front now. They have a decent gap. This might be it, finally...

Swiss champion Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) is up there with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).

Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe), Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates), David Gaudu and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb), Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling), Carlos Verona (Movistar), Mickäel Chérel (AG2R La Mondiale), Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) are also up front.

Reichenbach, Pinot and Barguil have pushed on further.

90km to go

Now it's Hirschi and Kämna up front.

Reichenbach, Barguil and Formolo chase.

Kämna drops back to the chasing trio so now we have Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe), Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates), Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) chasing Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb).

Pinot, Chérel and the rest have dropped back.

89km to go

Around 30 riders remain in the peloton.

David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Daniel Martínez (EF Pro Cycling) have bridged across to the chase group behind Hirschi.

50 seconds from Hirschi to the peloton.

Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers) has also made it across.

So now the chase group is: Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe), Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates), Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Daniel Martínez (EF Pro Cycling), Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers)

Five Jumbo-Visma riders control the peloton alongside Primož Roglič.

Martínez has jumped away from the chase group. They're 30 seconds down on Hirschi and 30 up on the peloton.

3km from the top of the mountain and Martínez is back with the chasers. Meanwhile, another rider jumps from the peloton.

86km to go

A minute between Hirschi and the chasers. They lie just 20 seconds up on the peloton.

An Astana rider has jumped across to the chase group. It's Omar Fraile.

Hirschi crosses the top of the climb.

Here's the descent of the Hourcère. Zakarin's dream.

Wout van Aert leads the peloton over the top. It wouldn't be a surprise to see the chase group caught soon. They're just hanging 20 seconds off the front.

Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) has abandoned the race. At last check, he was over ten minutes down.

79km to go

Hirschi starts the next climb, the third-category Col de Soudet. Two minutes back to the peloton.

1:40 between Hirschi and the chase group. 2:25 to the peloton. Things are calm at the moment.

It looks like there's just one Mitchelton-Scott rider in the peloton with race leader Adam Yates. Hard to tell though, at the moment.

Roglič has Wout van Aert, Tom Dumoulin, George Bennett, Robert Gesink and Sepp Kuss with him.

Not sure who's with Egan Bernal.

76km to go

Gaudu with a bit of a mishap there. He took a bottle from a Groupama-FDJ soigneur and then rode onto the grass into a spectator.

Gaudu is back up and running, and back with the group. Take a look at the incident here.

Not ideal conditions on the descent of the Soudet...

70km to go

Two points for Hirschi at the top of the Soudet. Gaudu was second over for one point.

The first climb of the day saw Hirschi take ten points. Fraile took 8, Gaudu 6, Barguil 4, Castroviejo 2 and Martínez 1.

The fog has cleared up for Hirschi towards the bottom of the descent. The roads are still damp, though.

Reichenbach is off the back of the chase group on this descent. He's not enjoying it.

57km to go

No letting up from Hirschi here. He's 3:15 up on the chasers and 4:20 up on the peloton as he motors along the valley.

Tour de France and Ineos remember Nicolas Portal in Pau

Family of directeur sportif unveil special totem in Tour de France museum 

The riders roll through the intermediate sprint. No contest, of course.

Trentin and Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) nip out of the peloton to grab some points, and Van Aert leads the peloton across in 11th place to take 5 points. He's 27 points down on Peter Sagan now.

49km to go

7km to go until Hirschi hits the next climb of the day, the third-category Col d'Ichère. He's four minutes up on the chase group.

Hirschi starts the climb. No change in situation at the moment.

A lot of riders have come back to the peloton in the valley. We'll see if they up the speed over this climb in the run-up to the first-category Col de Marie Blanque.

The chase group has been brough back, too. Just Hirschi out front now.

The gap is holding steady on the climb. It's 4.2km at a 7 per cent average.

Hirschi takes a bottle from the team car, holds on for around five seconds and magically starts spinning out. That bottle looked a bit too sticky...

Hirschi crests the top of the climb. He's 4:15 up on the peloton, which is still being led by Jumbo-Visma.

35km to go

9km to go until Hirschi reaches the bottom of the Col de Marie Blanque.

3:55 for Hirschi now. He could hang on here but it all depends on how the peloton race the Marie Blanque.

Hirschi starts the final climb of the day, 3:25 up on the peloton. Here's a look at it.

Roglič has five men with him. Yates has three. Bernal has four.

Van Aert makes the pace at the front as Gesink pulls off and drops back.

25km to go

Riders are falling off the back now as the pace is upped. Three minutes to Hirschi.

The top of the climb comes with 18.4km to go to the finish line. Is that too far for a big GC move? We'll find out soon.

23km to go

Van Aert pulls off. Kuss takes over. Michał Kwiatkowski is dropped. 5km to the top.

Yates is sitting right behind Roglič in the paceline. Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) drops from the peloton.

2:30 to Hirschi now. He's 3.5km from the top. Kuss, Bennett and Dumoulin left for Roglič – we'll see how long they last.

21km to go

2.8km to the top for Hirschi and the gap is now 2:15. All the big GC names are still in the peloton. No big surprises so far – Guillaume Martin is towards the back though.

21km to go

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) pushes on at the front of the peloton. George Bennett, Sepp Kuss and Sergio Higuita (EF) are dropped.

Adam Yates is dropped!

The gap to Hirschi is down to 1:25 now. Roglič has no teammates now. He's up with Mikel Landa, Egan Bernal and Pogačar.

Bernal pushes on. This is a strong lead group. Can they work together and bury Yates?

20km to go

Yates is 40 seconds down on the GC leaders. This is a brutal climb.

Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) has made it up to the lead quartet!

Roglič, Landa, Bernal, Pogačar and Porte lead, with Hirschi 1:30 up the mountain.

Martin, Quintana, Bardet and Urán are the next group on the road.

19km to go

Pogačar puts in a few more digs, Porte works his way back to the group. Yates is 35 seconds down.

800 metres to the top for Hirschi.

Yates has Alejandro Valverde and Damiano Caruso for company. He's doing all the work, of course.

12 seconds between the lead group and the Quintana-Bardet-Martin-Urán group.

The chase group is coming back to the Roglič group. Bardet has made it across. Urán, Martin, Quintana and Mollema are nearly there.

18km to go

Bernal jumps as they reach the summit. Roglič takes over and crosses the line second, but Pogačar almost takes his back wheel out as the go over the top! He was looking behind.

Five-second bonus for Roglič there. Pogačar takes two.

Hirschi only has 15-20 seconds to the GC men now.

Roglič, Pogačar, Landa, Bernal chase.

Porte, Urán, Martin, Quintana, Mollema are further back.

Adam Yates is at 1:05.

Here's a look at the incident at the top of the climb.

15km to go

Hirschi passes the 15km banner alone.

Roglič group at 12 seconds. Chasers at 30 seconds. Yates at 1:05 still.

Pogačar, Roglič, Landa and Bernal aren't making much headway here. The gap to Hirschi is holding at around 15 seconds.

The chase group of Urán, Bardet, Mollema, Porte, Martin and Quintana aren't taking any time either. They're 35 seconds down.

And neither is Yates, who is now 1:10 back.

Hirschi is descending very well, but will he be able to hold off the four chasers on the flat? There's a big incentive for them to grab a ten-second bonus at the finish while Hirschi is fighting for the stage win and nothing else.

10km to go

The front groups have passed the 10km mark. The Quintana chase group looks to be closing in on the Roglič group.

Dumoulin, Carapaz, Valverde, López and Mas are with Yates.

7km to go

Almost 30 seconds for Hirschi now. The chase group is 15 seconds down on the quartet behind Hirschi. Yates and co are 1:30 back.

As things stand, Roglič is virtual race leader. Bernal will be at 15 seconds, Martin at 24, Bardet at 26 and Urán at 28.

5km to go

It looks like Hirschi could have this in hand. The Roglič group isn't making any headway.

And just as I say that, the gap comes down. They pass the 4km banner and it's down to 15 seconds!

30 seconds back to Quintana's group. 1:20 back to Yates.

3km to go

Just 12 seconds for Hirschi now. It looks like it'll be a brutal ending for him after his massive solo effort.

1.5km to go

Hirschi is caught, finally. Chapeau to him. Now, who will win this sprint?

1km to go

Hirschi tightens his shoe straps, heh. He's not giving up without a fight here.

Roglič leads from the front. Landa, Pogačar, Bernal and Hirschi behind....

Roglič the favourite with his finishing speed.

Hirschi comes through into the lead!

It's three wide at the line between Hirschi and the two Slovenians!

And it's Pogačar who takes it! What a sprint. It was so close. Roglič in second ahead of Hirschi.

Yates crosses the line 54 seconds down. He's out of yellow and Roglič will take yellow.

Check above for the stage and GC results.

The sprint to the line. It really looked like Hirschi was going to win that. Heartbreaking for the Sunweb rider.

Here's what Pogačar had to say after the finish.

"It's really crazy - after that hard day to win the stage. It's really incredible. Thanks to my teammates, they did a really good job all day. I'm really happy to pull that victory. Actually I wanted to gain as much time as I could in GC, but in the last 800m I knew the stage win was 10 seconds. I was focussing for the sprint - I just went full gas sprint

"Primož is really good - he's won before he'll win more. I hope we can do together great things. I'm really happy overall so far - sure, one stage there was a little mistake but actually we take two stages so it's really good so far."

Here's now-former yellow jersey Adam Yates on today's events.

"I knew coming into the race I wasn't 100 per cent. I gave everything I could to hang on. I think we can be proud of what we did. I'll freshen up now, have a rest day and then go after some stages."

Our short report on today's stage is up now! Check out brief results and a photo gallery from stage 9 too.

Here's Roglič with his first cuddly lion of the 2020 Tour.

Here's our first news item from today's stage, on Adam Yates falling out of the race lead after dropping on the Col de Marie Blanque.

Adam Yates' time in yellow jersey ends on hectic day at Tour de France

Briton drops to eighth overall on second day in the Pyrenees

The other jerseys remain on the same shoulders heading into Monday's rest day. Egan Bernal is in white, Peter Sagan is in green, and Benoît Cosnefroy is in polka dots.

However, Movistar have taken the lead of the team ranking! They won the competition in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019, so it's business as usual for the Spaniards.

The racing may be over, but there's a brutally long transfer to come for the riders, staff, organisation and journalists.

They'll be driving half the length of France's west coast this evening, from Laruns, close to the Spanish border, to the Charente-Maritime department just north of Bordeaux.

That's a transfer of around 400 kilometres and four hours...

A few quick quotes from the other jersey holders after today's stage...

Peter Sagan, green jersey holder: "I'm satisfied with the jersey and with the team's work, but I'm missing a stage win."

Benoît Cosnefroy, KOM leader: "To get out of the Pyrenées with this jersey, I wouldn't have believed it. I'm very happy and proud. I can't lie, I've been looking forward to the rest day! I'll do my best to defend the jersey!"

21-year-old Tadej Pogačar celebrates his first Tour de France stage victory.

Egan Bernal, who lies in second overall and in the white jersey, said that he's happy with his race so far and was happy with today's stage even if he lost time to Roglič.

"I think it was a good day again because it's not just about the time to gain or lost. I think in this part of the race ethe feeling you have on the bike is also important. The feeling I had today was better than yesterday."

Check out our full stage 9 report with results and a big photo gallery.

Pogacar steps up Tour de France challenge with impressive Pyrenean stage win

Slovenian moves up to seventh overall on GC after aggressive ride

A bit of salt in the wound for today's star Marc Hirschi.

The Sunweb rider got a 20-second GC penalty and 200CHF fine today for taking a resupply in the final 20km. That's the same penalty that saw Julian Alaphilippe lose yellow earlier in the week, though Hirschi is already over an hour down.

He also got a 200CHF fine for littering outside of the designated areas.

Tour de France: Egan Bernal on the rise despite ceding precious seconds to main rival Roglič

'The feeling I had today was better than yesterday' says Colombian

Our daily analysis piece from Procycling magazine is in, too.

Tour de France stage 9 analysis: Adam Yates lost yellow but joined elite club

Briton proved his worth as a GC rider to 2021 Team Ineos.

Roglič completes Grand Tour collection with Tour de France maillot jaune

But will Slovenian try to keep the leader's jersey for two weeks?

Landa regains momentum in Tour de France mountains after echelon setback

Bahrain McLaren leader eyes possible podium finish after strong showing on stage 9

Tour de France solo breakaway ends in heartbreak for Hirschi

'It's all ended up being for nothing' Swiss rider says after 90km escape

Aru has 'no answers' after Tour de France abandon

Italian leaves the race on stage 9 after riding alone for 40km

It could be a worrying rest day for teams and riders tomorrow as everyone in the Tour bubble gets tested for COVID-19. Two positives on a team and they get sent home, remember (barring false positives).

Tour de France bubble to be COVID-19 tested over next two days

Results will be announced Tuesday morning after re-tests to rule out false positives