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- Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) narrowly missed victory on the ninth stage of the Tour de France, like a week ago.
- The Bernese broke up early and did much of the solo on the stage.
- Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Abu Dhabi) wins the stage in the sprint.
- Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) takes over the “Maillot jaune” from Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott).
After nearly 2.5 hours of solo getaway, tour favorites around Primoz Roglic and Egan Bernal (Ineos) caught up with Bern’s Marc Hirschi 1.6 kilometers from the finish. Despite his long flight, Hirschi still had enough strength for the day’s victory sprint. The 22-year-old newcomer to the tour took to the wind too early and had to admit defeat to Slovenians Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic.
Even before the stage, Hirschi had announced that he wanted to be part of an escape group. She followed these words with deeds on stage from Pau to Laruns. At times, the under-23 world champion had more than 4 minutes ahead of the field when he escaped. As in the second stage, Hirschi was again close to stage victory.
Pogacar confirms its strong form
In addition to Hirschi, another driver from the younger generation shaped the race with winner Pogacar. The 21-year-old – also participating for the first time in the Tour de France – attacked again and again on the last of the 5 climbs of the day, but was unable to break with Roglic, Bernal and the other favorites.
In the sprint, he had the best legs and the best tactics: Pogacar drove in the wake for a long time, divided the sprint better and was thus able to secure his first stage victory on the ‘Grande Boucle’.
Roglic ensures yellow
There was a change of leader in the general classification: Adam Yates could not keep up with the difficult climb to Col de Marie Blanque. This benefited Roglic, who secured a few extra seconds as second on the stage and is now 21 seconds ahead of last year’s winner Bernal.
So it goes
Drivers can relax on Monday and have to take the first crown test since the tour began. The 10th stage from Le Château-d’Oléron to Saint-Martin-de-Ré will follow on Tuesday (live on SRF Zwei and on the SRF Sport app starting at 3:00 pm). There are no big climbs during the 168.5 kilometers. The stage could be something for sprint specialists.