Stage 9 Brings the First Summit Finish of This Year’s Tour de France
Stage 9 - Cluse to Tignes - 144.9km - Sunday, July 4
The second of only two days in the Alps, Stage 9 brings the Tour’s first summit finish, a Category 1 climb to the ski resort in Tignes. Tignes was supposed to host the finish of Stage 19 of the 2019 Tour de France, but the riders never got there; a storm caused mudslides on the course, and the stage was stopped following the Col d’Iseran, on which Colombia’s Egan Bernal (INEOS-Grenadiers) had escaped to take the yellow jersey.
The day begins in Cluses with a false flat to the base of the day’s first ascent, the Category 2 Côte de Domancy (2.5km at 9.4 percent), the first of the stage’s five categorized climbs. It’s here that a breakaway should form, filled with stage hunters and riders looking to score lots of points in the Tour’s King of the Mountains competition (Bahrain’s Wout Poels should be there to try and defend his polka-dot jersey).
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The intermediate sprint in Praz-sur-Arly comes soon after, followed by the Category 1 Col de Saisies (9.4km at 6.2%). A long descent takes the riders to the valley below and the base of the day’s toughest climb, the Hors Categorie Col du Pré (12.6km at 7.7 percent), which—when combined with the Cat. 2 Cormet de Roseland (5.7km at 6.5 percent) 6km later—is essentially two climbs for the price of one. But riders dropped from the break or the peloton on the Pré-Roseland combo should have a chance to rejoin their groups on the long descent to the valley below.
The final Category 1 climb to Tignes (21km at 5.6 percent) isn’t particularly hard, but it’s long and steady, and it takes the riders above 2,000 meters (where the riders start to feel the altitude’s thin air) for the first time in this year’s Tour.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) went deep to take the Tour’s yellow jersey on Stage 8, but he should have no trouble defending his lead on the final climb. The competition spent a lot of energy trying to limit their losses, and they seem to have no answers when it comes to responding to the Slovenian’s attacks. At this point, they might try and lick their wounds before the first rest day.
And the weather will encourage them to play it safe: rain showers are expected throughout the day, which is the last thing the organizers want to hear given the mudslides that canceled the end of this stage in 2019.
Riders to Watch
Look for more of what we’ve seen over the past two days, with breakaway specialists and out-of-contention GC contenders going on the attack to try and win the stage. In particular, we’ve got our eyes on two riders: Ireland’s Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) and France’s Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic). Both riders are talented climbers with mountain stage wins on their resumes. And most importantly, they both sit way down the Tour’s General Classification and should have plenty of freedom to try and win the stage.
How to Watch
The real fireworks should come on the final climb which, despite the finish line coming 2km after the official summit, counts as one of only three “summit” finishes in this year’s Tour de France. The riders should start their ascent around 11:00 a.m. Eastern. Tune-in then to watch the final battle to win the stage—and to see if anyone has the legs to challenge Pogačar.
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