Le Tour 100 – Stage 9

Saint-Girons to Bagnères-de-Bigorre

Distance: 168.5 kilometers.

More of the Pyrenees with a category 2 followed by four category 1s: Col de Portet d’Aspet (1069 meters, 5.4 km at 6.9%,category 2); Col de Menté (1349 meters, 7 km at 7.7%, category 1); the sprint in an actually mostly flat area of the stage; Col de Peyresourde (1569 meters, 13.2 km at 7%, category 1); Col de Val Louron-Azet (1580 meters,7.4 km at 8.3%, category 1); La Hourquette d’Ancizan (1564 meters, 9.9 km at 7.5%, category 1); and 30 km downhill to the finish which makes it less than a certainty that a climber will take the stage.

It was all about team support today. Froome is still in Yellow, but he was stripped of support on the first climb as he was under attack by other teams all day. His principal problem was Nairo Quintana who was working on behalf of Alejandro Valverde and the Movistar team. He was careful to pick the important challenges and emerged still in first, while Valverde moved into second and Quintana moved up to seventh. Richie Porte’s legs just weren’t there today, and he is back at 31.

Tomorrow is a rest day, and people need it.

Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 ) [Yellow] 36h 59′ 18″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 011 ) [Green] 234 points
Pierre Rolland ( Fra – EUC – 051 ) [Polka Dot] 49 points
Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) 7 [White]

Team: Movistar ( MOV – 121-129 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Daniel Martin ( Irl – GRS – 175 )
Combative: Romain Bardet ( Fra – ALM – 082 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 )
2 Alejandro Valverde ( Esp – MOV – 121 ) + 01′ 25″
3 Bauke Mollema ( Ned – BEL – 164 ) + 01′ 44″
4 Laurens Ten Dam ( Ned – BEL – 167 ) + 01′ 50″
5 Roman Kreuziger ( Cze – TST – 094 ) + 01′ 51″
6 Alberto Contador ( Esp – TST – 091 ) + 01′ 51″
7 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) + 02′ 02″
8 Daniel Martin ( Irl – GRS – 175 ) + 02′ 28″
9 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver ( Esp – KAT – 101 ) + 02′ 31″
10 Rui Alberto Costa ( Por – MOV – 124 ) + 02′ 45″

The Rest of the Top 30:

11 Mikel Nieve Iturralde ( Esp – EUS – 116 ) + 02′ 55″
12 Jakob Fuglsang ( Den – EUC – 063 ) + 03′ 07″
13 Michal Kwiatkowski ( Pol – OPQ – 153 ) + 03′ 25″
14 Jean-Christophe Péraud ( Fra – ALM – 081 ) + 03′ 29″
15 Andy Schleck ( Lux – RLT – 041 ) + 04′ 00″
16 Cadel Evans ( Aus – BMC – 031 ) + 04′ 36″
17 Daniel Moreno Fernandez ( Esp – KAT – 106 ) + 04′ 36″
18 Michael Rogers ( Aus – TST – 098 ) + 06′ 14″
19 Igor Anton ( Esp – EUS – 111 ) + 06′ 40″
20 Romain Bardet ( Fra – ALM – 082 ) + 07′ 09″
21 Maxime Monfort ( Bel – RLT – 047 ) + 07′ 55″
22 Andrew Talansky ( USA – GRS – 178 ) + 09′ 35″
23 Wouter Poels ( Ned – VCD – 201 ) + 09′ 45″
24 José Serpa ( Col – LAM – 149 ) + 09′ 54″
25 Daniel Navarro ( Esp – COF – 139 ) + 10′ 30″
26 Pierre Rolland ( Fra – EUC – 051 ) + 12′ 34″
27 Davide Malacarne ( Ita – EUC – 056 ) + 14′ 27″
28 Sylvain Chavanel ( Fra – OPQ – 152 ) + 14′ 35″
29 Jan Bakelants ( Bel – RLT – 042 ) + 15′ 52″
30 John Gadret ( Fra – ALM – 086 ) + 16′ 27″

Did not start:

Michael Schär ( Sui – BMC – 038 )
Rohan Dennis ( Aus – GRS – 174 )

Did not finish:

Benjamin Noval Gonzalez ( Esp – TST – 095 )
José Ivan Gutierrez ( Esp – MOV – 126 )

Outside Time Limit:

Vasili Kiryienka ( Blr – SKY – 004 )

Note: Wikipedia has a simple article on the Mountain classification used on the Tour. The basic fact is that climbs fall into five types, with the four numbered types decreasing in difficulty as the numbers get larger, and then there is the Hors Catégorie, literally “without category”, which generally makes you look for an elevator or Sherpas.

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