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A fiercely contested battle between Sky Pro Cycling and BMC Racing eventually saw the American team emerge victorious in the team time trial on Stage 9 of the 2015 Tour de France.
Although they dominated all the intermediate time checks out on course by mere hundredths of a second by the finishing line Team Sky would narrowly miss out on the stage victory to BMC Racing. Split by just a second on the leaderboards, the true time difference around six-hundredths of a second, the tiredness of Irishman Nicolas Roche up the slopes of the Côte de Cadoudal proved to be the deciding factor in the extremely close contest between the two.
As expected the 28 kilometre-long team time trial from Vannes to Plumelec caused some serious changes in the general classification standings, with Sky Pro Cycling’s Christopher Froome successfully defending the Maillot Jaune. However, the surprise winner of the day was arguably Movistar and Nairo Quintana, ceding only three seconds to Chris Froome.
Elsewhere, Tinkoff – Saxo managed to keep Alberto Contador’s time lose to a respectable 27 seconds. However, ahead of mountain stages in both the Pyrenees and the Alps, Nairo Quintana now sits 24 seconds closer after Tinkoff – Saxo failed to best Movistar’s time.
Out of the four pre-race favourites for the overall victory it is Astana Pro Team’s Vincenzo Nibali who walks away the most wounded after losing time to all of his main rivals. Losing a further 34 seconds to Chris Froome, the Italian’s chances of defending his 2014 title are looking increasingly slim.
Despite lacking the horsepower of Tony Martin Etixx – Quick-Step managed a respectable seventh on the stage to limit Rigoberto Uran’s overall losses to 44 seconds. Depending on the Colombian’s form in the mountains a possible podium finish in Paris is looking increasingly on the cards for Uran despite a disappointing 14th place finish at the 2015 Giro d’Italia.
With a stage victory in their back pocket and their team leader Tejay Van Garderen gaining time on all of his major rivals for a podium finish BMC Racing would be pleased with today’s performance. Although they couldn’t gain enough time over Team Sky to steal the Mallot Jaune from Chris Froome’s shoulders, Van Garderen now has an advantage of 51 seconds over closest rival Alberto Contador.
The race now travels to Pau for the first rest day before resuming on Tuesday, the 14th of July (Bastille Day) for the first of the Pyrenean mountain stages.
2015 Tour de France – Stage 9 Results:
01. BMC Racing in 32:15″
02. Sky Pro Cycling in 32:16″, +0:01″
03. Team Movistar in 32:19″, +0:04″
04. Tinkoff – Saxo in 32:43″, +0:28″
05. Astana Pro Team in 32:50″, +0:35″
06. IAM Cycling in 32:53″, +0:38″
07. Etixx – Quick-Step in 33:00″, +0:45
08. Lampre – Merida in 33:03″, +0:48″
09. LottoNL – Jumbo in 33:29″, +1:14″
10. AG2R La Mondiale in 33:39″, +1:24″
2015 Tour de France – General Classification after Stage 9:
01. Christopher Froome (Team Sky)… 31:42:12″
02. Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing)… +0:12″
03. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing)… +0:27″
04. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff Saxo)… +0:38″
05. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo)… +1:03″
06. Rigoberto Uran (Etixx Quick-Step)… +1:18″
07. Alejandro Valverde (Team Movistar)… +1:50″
08. Geraint Thomas (Team Sky)… +1:52″
09. Nairo Quintana (Team Movistar)… +1:59″
10. Zdenek Stybar (Etixx Quick-Step)… +1’59”
After eights days of hard and hectic racing it is time for the crucial 28 kilometre-long team time trial. Join The Roar for live coverage of Stage 9 of the 2015 Tour de France from 10:30pm (AEST).
Beginning in the city of Vannes and finishing in the town of Plumelec, today’s stage is a real curve ball for the teams. Often raced over short distances on relatively flat terrain, Stage 9 of the 2015 Tour de France breaks with recent team time trial trends and includes some challenging hills.
The initial nine kilometres of the route will be relatively flat and allow the rouleurs of the teams to contribute before the road begins to undulate. After passing through Saint-Avé the riders begin climbing, with gradients of around three to four per cent, towards the first intermediate time check.
After three to four kilometres of climbing the road begins to flatten out again en route to Monterblanc, located roughly midway through the stage. Shortly afterwards the riders will begin a short descent to the second unofficial climb of the day and intermediate time check.
The riders begin climbing again around the 19 kilometre mark to pass the second intermediate time check and reach La Croix Peinte. During this modest ascent the gradient is expected to be around four to five per cent, slightly more taxing than the first unofficial climb of the stage.
Not long after La Croix Peinte the riders will begin a quick descent to reach Cadoudal, just two kilometres from the finish, and prepare for the final climb of the day, the Côte de Cadoudal. While just 1700 metres in length the climb features a challenging average gradient of 6.2 per cent. Fortunately for the riders the final couple hundred metres of the stage flatten out to a modest two per cent.
On paper, the battle for the stage victory and the Maillot Jaune will be between BMC Racing and Sky Pro Cycling. The American team currently lead the way as favourites for the stage and have in their favour a strong cohesive squad, World Team Time Trial Champions status and victory in a similar team time trial at the Criterium du Dauphine.
A poor team time trial at the Criterium du Dauphine counts against Sky Pro Cycling but coming in to peak form and packing their best riders the British team will be difficult to best. Whether they claim the stage victory or not, Chris Froome is expected to gain time on the majority of his rivals ahead of the first mountain stages in the Pyrenees.
While you can never discount an upset the other teams are expected to be in damage limitation mode today. The team time trial could be especially unpleasant for Orica GreenEDGE due to the injury enforced retirements of Michael Albasini, Daryl Impey and Simon Gerrans.
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