The Tour de France is over a week old, and despite Durango’s Sepp Kuss’ best efforts as Visma-Lease a Bike leader Jonas Vingegaard’s domestique, Tadej Pogačar still has a commanding lead in the general classification standings after Stage 9 on Sunday.
Pogačar pulled away from Vingegaard in the brutal and mountainous Stage 6 on Thursday. Since then, there have been two flat stages for sprinters and a hilly stage on Sunday. None of these stages gave Vingegaard the opportunity to gain time on Pogačar in the GC, nor did they give Kuss the opportunity to use his climbing skills in a breakaway. Kuss remains in a good position to help Vingegaard make up ground against Pogačar on the mountainous Stage 10 on Tuesday.
On Friday, the cyclists rode 175.1 kilometers from Hagetmau, France, to Bordeaux, France. There was only one categorized climb with only 2,800 feet of elevation gain. Kuss made headlines at the start of Stage 7 when he arrived at the start line with a chipped front tooth. Kuss never crashed in Stage 6, but a crown came loose when he was drinking from a water bottle.
Two riders formed a breakaway group that stretched its lead out to over a minute in the stage as the GC contenders, along with Kuss and Durango’s Quinn Simmons, stayed in the peloton. The breakaway group was reeled in with about 18 km left, and the peloton stayed together with the front picking up the pace with about 1 km left.
The sprint finish was won by Soudal Quick-Step rider Tim Merlier, finishing in three hours, 44 minutes and 20 seconds. Pogačar finished in 56th, Vingegaard in 59th and Kuss in 82nd all with the same time as Merlier. Simmons finished in 140th, 2:18 behind.
“After a number of demanding stages, it was nice that the guys were able to conserve their energy today,” Visma Sports Director Marc Reef said. “There wasn’t much appetite to race aggressively throughout the peloton. You could tell the past few days had taken their toll on everyone. The most important thing was that everyone made it to the finish safely today, and that’s exactly what we did.”
Saturday’s Stage 8 was another flat conquest, with the racing beginning in Périgueux, France, and ending in Bergerac, France after 180.4 km. There were two categorized climbs with 3,773 feet of elevation gain.
A group of three riders formed the breakaway group that had a 2+ minute gap on the peloton. Liam Slock was the one rider in the breakaway who held on as long as he could, but he was caught with less than 2 km left in the stage by the front of the peloton.
Once again, Merlier timed the sprint perfectly to win his second consecutive stage, this time in 3:52:50. Pogačar finished 49th, Vingegaard finished 51st and Kuss finished 65th, all with the same time as Merlier. Simmons finished 112th, 1:11 behind.
Friday’s 154.6 km stage from Malemore, France, to Ussel, France, was hilly, with four categorized climbs. Five riders formed the first breakaway with about 110 km left, but that group was swallowed up by the peloton.
After sitting back in the previous two stages, Simmons sprang into action in the middle of Stage 9, going into a two-man breakaway with 88 km left. That only lasted for about 10 km before they were caught and the breakaway turned into eight riders, with the GC contenders over a minute back.
Simmons and the top eight riders stuck together until about 25 km left, when the group split and the GC peloton group was catching up. Simmons dropped back into the peloton with about 15 km left, leading his Lidl-Trek teammate, Mads Peterson, at the front.
A four-man front group kept the peloton just far enough away to have a four-way sprint, with Mathieu van der Poel winning in 3:27:51. Pogačar finished 11th, Vingegaard 19th and Kuss 25th, all six seconds behind van der Poel. Simmons finished 47th, four minutes behind.
Monday is the first rest day of the Tour. Pogačar has a 2:42 lead in the GC over Vingegaard. Kuss is 20th, 13:33 behind, and Simmons is 41st, 47:38 behind.
Tuesday’s Stage 10 will be a good opportunity for Vingegaard to get some time back on Pogačar with the help from Kuss. The cyclists will be riding a mountainous 166.6 km from Aurillac, France, to Le Lioran, France.
“Although we have had a tough first week with the weather conditions, we can look back on this first block positively,” Reef said. “After the rest day, we will continue with confidence.”