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Slovenian success in the Tour de France continues. On Sunday, Tadej Pogacar (21) claimed the stage victory against his compatriot Primoz Roglic (30), who also won the yellow leader jersey.
– I wanted to spend as much time as possible in the summary, but in the last kilometer I concentrated on the sprint. I don’t know what happened, I just gave it my all, says Pogacar in an interview shown on Eurosport.
It is UAE Team Emirates’ second stage win in this year’s Tour de France, after Alexander Kristoff won the opening stage last Saturday.
The victory is also Slovenia’s second consecutive victory at Laruns, after Roglic won Stage 19 of the Tour de France in 2018 with a finish in the same city. It is also the second time so far in this year’s Tour de France that he has become a double Slovenian winner, after Roglic won ahead of Pogacar on stage four.
On Sunday, the roles were reversed, but it seemed for a long time that Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) would take the victory.
Hirschi joined the attacks from the start of the ninth stage of this year’s Tour de France and, with 91 kilometers to go, attacked on the climb to Col de la Hourcère. Lennard Kennan (Bora-Hansgrohe) approached him briefly, but had to leave quickly.
AWESOME FIGHT: Marc Hirschi almost stayed away after a nine-mile-long solo hiatus. Photo: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP
Hirschi thus made an impressive solo break and also topped the last climb, Col de Marie Blanque, 15-20 seconds ahead of the main favorites.
With a fearless downhill run, he increased his lead and had 28 seconds to the group with the biggest favorites in the final five miles on flat terrain.
It was still not enough and with a kilometer and a half to go was brought by Mikel Landa (Bahrain McLaren), Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers). Hirschi opened the sprint early and appeared to take the victory, but in the last 50 meters both Pogacar and Roglic passed.
Overall leader Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) had to descend to the top of Col de Marie Blanque and finished 54 seconds behind in goal. Roglic took a bonus five seconds at the top of the hill and a bonus six seconds on goal, meaning he now leads 21 seconds ahead of last year’s winner Egan Bernal.
On Monday, the long-awaited respite for runners on the tracks will be the first rest day of the race.
WON: The victory is Tadej Pogacar’s first in the Tour de France. Photo: BENOIT TESSIER / X07241
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It has been high speed since the start of the ninth stage. The first five or six miles were a perpetual pothole and a break that started on the road to Col de la Hourcère (11.1 kilometers at 8.8 percent).
Marc Hirschi was by far the fastest there. The 22-year-old made it to the top alone, 1.20 ahead of a group of eight drivers, including Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers) and Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates).
The field, led by Jumbo-Visma, was just 20 seconds behind group two and brought them back to the valley.
Hirschi drove impressively ahead and on the last climb, Col de Marie Blanque (7.7 kilometers at 8.6 percent), led by just over three minutes.
