Tour de France stage 9 preview – The Tour becomes a Classic for a day on gravel roads

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The Tour de France becomes a Classic for a day on Sunday, as the riders face 14 sectors of gravel roads during stage 9 and fight for both a prestigious stage victory and every possible second in the general classification. 

It will be a day of total cycling, when the fight for the yellow jersey combines with a battle for the stage victory amongst the Classics contenders. 

Tadej Pogačar will surely try to gain more time on Jonas Vingegaard, Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel, while Mathieu van der Poel, Wout Van Aert, Alberto Bettiol, Tom Pidcock, Michael Matthews, Matej Mohorič and double stage winner Biniam Grimay fight for the day’s more simpler spoils.  

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The two battles could combine GC and stage ambitions in a clever team tactic or could blow up and destroy a team’s overall hopes in this year’s race. It could be like the day Cadel Evans won in the rain and mud on the Tuscan gravel in the 2010 Giro d’Italia or like Vincenzo Nibali’s attack on the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix in 2014.

A lot is at stake on the chemins blancs. 

Jonas Vingegaard is concerned that an onslaught by UAE Team Emirates and Pogačar could end his Tour de France chances, while Evenepoel appears to have embraced gravel racing in Grand Tours due to his love for the Tour. 

“It’s going to be one of the biggest moments of the year. We’ll have to be focused from kilometre zero until the finish,” Evenepoel predicted. 

The presence of cobbles and gravel in Grand Tour divides opinions more than marmite on toast.

“I'm not sure if it’s the next test of this year’s Tour, or if it’s just a gamble. I would call it the next gamble because I'm not really in favour of that,” Red Bull-Bora-Hansgeohe Head Sport Director Rolf Aldag said, summing up the sentiment of his team leader Primož Roglič, who is arguably the least suited of the big-four Tour contenders on the often aggressive racing on the gravel. 

Evenepoel lost any chance of success in the 2021 Giro d’Italia after losing time on the gravel stage but is far stronger and far better prepared for Sunday’s stage. He sits just 33 down on Pogačar and the yellow jersey.  

“I've done a recon and some sectors are hard, with steep starts but it’s a very beautiful gravel stage,” Evenepoel said ahead of stage 9. 

"It's arguably not a stage that can win you the Tour but if you have bad luck in the wrong moment, it could mean you lose the Tour.

"There won't be big gaps between the GC favourites or maybe not even any gaps but we have to be prepared and ready for a big day of racing,” Evenepoel concluded. 

Pogačar played down his ambitions and possible aggression but this could be a mind game before making a big attack. After all, Pogačar won this year’s Strade Bianche with an 82 km solo attack. 

"I'm looking forward to it. I did a recon, so I know what's waiting for us. I don’t think it’ll be decisive but you need to be even sharper and even more focused,” the Slovenian warned.  

“You need to be careful on each gravel sector, on each entrance and each exit from the gravel. Then perhaps there's wind and rain maybe. There’s going to be a lot of things that can cause a crash or leave you stuck behind. It’s not going to be decisive but you can lose the Tour on Sunday if you crash or puncture at the wrong time.” 

The 199km stage starts and finishes in Troyes and covers a twisting loop to the southeast in the champagne vineyards and so the rolling hills of central France. 

The first of the 14 gravel sectors or ‘les chemins blancs’ as they are known in France, comes after just 47.3km and the last is only 9.6km from the finish. There is a total of 32,2km of gravel roads, with the final six sectors in the final 30km. 

The French vineyard gravel roads are smoother than the strade bianche of Tuscany or the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix but are a real test of rider’s bike skills, their fear threshold and their ambitions. The stage also includes 2,000 metres of climbing through the vineyard and country roads. 

Bike handling skills, courage and positioning and team protection will be vital factors in the race.  

World champion and Paris-Roubaix winner Mathieu van der Poel has all those skills and more. He is expected to excel on the chemins blancs and could blow up the GC battle if anyone tries to go with him.

Van der Poel always rises to great occasions and so will race to win. 

The Dutchman will be well supported by his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates. Søren Kragh Andersen, Axel Laurance and former gravel world champion Gianni Vermeersch, with Jasper Philipsen perhaps having a ‘jolly’ role, while also backing Van der Poel’s bid to win the stage.

Bettiol leads EF Education-EasyPost’s ambitions, alongside Richard Carapaz and a clearly on-form Ben Healy.

“There will be a race within the race, which makes it even harder and more stressful. The racing is more dangerous when you have GC guys and skinny climbers racing against the Classics riders,” Bettiol warned in an exclusive interview with Cyclingnews.   

“We’ll see how hard the GC riders want to race and mix it with us Classics guys. 

“Pogi knows how to ride on the gravel, and far better than Vingagaard and Roglič. So UAE might use that to shake up the GC. It could be a risk for them to wait for the mountains, where they might not be able to blow up the race.”  

Stage 9 Sprints

• Intermediate sprint, km 83.5

Stage 9 Climbs

• Côte de Bergères (1.7km at 5.2%) cat. 4, km 51.7
• Côte de Baroville (2.8km at 4.8%) cat. 4, km 69.6
• Côte de Val Frion (2.2km at 5%) cat. 4, km 107.5
• Côte de Chacenay (3km at 4.3%) cat. 4, km 121.2

Stage 9 Gravel Sectors

• Chemin de Bligny à Bergères (2,000m), km 47.3
• Chemin de Baroville (1,200m), km 67
• Chemin des Hautes Forêts (1,500m), km 96.8
• Chemin de Polisy à Celles-sur-Ource (3,400m), km 105.2
• Chemin de Loches-sur-Ource à Chacenay (4,200m), km 118.6
• Chemin du Plateau de la Côte des Bar (2,200m), km, 131.9
• Chemin de Thieffrain à Magnant (3,900m), km 140.8
• Chemin de Briel-sur-Barse (2,200m), km 151.9
• Chemin du Ru de Paradis (1,200m), km 165.7
• Chemin de Fresnoy-le-Château à Clérey (1,800m), km 169
• Chemin de Verrières (1,500m), km 175
• Chemin de Daudes (1,900m), km 178
• Chemin de Montaulin à Rouilly-Saint-Loup (2,200m), km 182.3
• Chemin de Saint-Parres-aux-Tertres (3,000m), km 189.4