Anthony Turgis Takes Victory on Stage 9 of the 2024 Tour de France after a Day Navigating the Gravel Sectors

 

Weather conditions were favorable for the riders, with pockets of clouds splattered across blue skys. The day featured a 199 km route, going in a loop with 14 distinct sectors of gravel road covering a total of 32 km and including 2,000 meters of elevation gain, which would start and finish in the city of Troyes, located in France's northern Aube department.

50 km into the stage, the riders reached the first gravel sector on the day. At this point, there was a breakaway group at the front made up of 10 riders who included Maxim van Gils (Lotto-Dstny), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan), Oier Lazkano (Movistar),  Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) the Stage 1 winner at this year's Tour,  Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Elmar Reinders (Jayco-AlUla), Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck),  Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies).

With 132 km to go, the breakaway group was 14-men strong. Once the peloton arrived at sector 13 of the gravel, it showed just how tight these paths can get, especially for the peloton.

Anthony Turgis took the intermediate sprint on the day off the front, capturing 20 points in the sprint classification for the Green Jersey, followed by Javier Romo to capture 17 points, Oier Lazkano to get 15 points, Gianni Vermeersch receiving 13 points, and Tom Pidcock across the line in fifth for 11 points.

By the category 4 Côte de Val Frion summit with 91 km to go to the finish, Alexey Lutsenko reached the summit first, also receiving 1 point in the King of the Mountains classification.

With 22 km to go, 8 riders remained out front in the breakaway. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) put in an attack on the gravel in the Yellow Jersey group, which was 1:30 behind the breakaway and 40 seconds behind the Green Jersey group. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma–Lease a Bike) was able to ensure, however, that his teammate Jonas Vingegaard (Visma–Lease a Bike) and the rest of the Yellow Jersey group retained contact with Pogačar, and the group came back together.

With 15 km to go, it appeared that the leaders would be able to hold off the front, retaining a 35 second lead over the Green Jersey group and 1:05 over the Yellow Jersey group.

The final gravel sector under with under 10 km to go to the final 

The breakaway group split in two, with Jasper Stuvyen distancing himself from the the rest of the breakaway at the front and 7 riders in chase 10 seconds behind. The break was able to successfully hold of the Green Jersey group, who lost time in the final kilometers, and the Yellow Jersey group. 

With 3 km to go, Stuvyen maintained an 8 second gap on the breakaway group, gritting his teeth as he pushed to cross the line in Troyes for the victory on the stage. In the final 1.5 km, the break in chase of Stuvyen came within sight, and 1,000 meters from the line it looked difficult for Stuvyen to hold off the group forming behind his wheel. Then, with 800 meters to go, Stuvyen was final overtaken.

As the breakaway group came together for the finish, the pace briefly paused in preparation for a tactical race to the line. Anthony Turgis took off first, seeing if he had enough in the legs to hold off the rest of the break. In a battle, Turgis was able to hold off the rest of the pack and push to a convincing finish to capture Stage 9 of the 2024 Tour de France, marking the third stage of the 2024 edition which featured a French stage winner. Tom Pidcock was able finish off a good day and take second, while Derek Gee was third across the line.

Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) finished at the front of the Green Jersey group to take 9th on the day 1:17 behind Turgis. Tadej Pogačar maintained the Maillot Jaune after Stage 9, while Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) was also able to keep hold of the polka dot jersey as King of the Mountains following the stage and going in to the first rest day. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step) stays in second place in the general classification, 33 seconds back from Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard remains in third, 1:15 back.

Stage 10 of the 2024 Tour de France will feature a route from Orléans to Saint-Amand-Montrond covering 187.3 kilometers on a virtually flat profile throughout, which should set up for a bunch sprint finish.