Tour de France: Bob Jungels wins stage 9 after long solo break

Bob Jungels (AG2R-Citroën) won stage 9 of the Tour de France after leaving his breakaway companions on the Col de la Croix, setting off on a 65km solo attack.

He held off a late charge from Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) to win his first stage at the Tour and marked a triumphant return to form following his difficulties with arterial endofibrosis, a rare condition that reduces blood flow to the legs, over the last two years.

Behind the Luxembourger, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) retained his grip on the yellow jersey, and his 39 second advantage over second-place Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma).

“I’m just overwhelmed to be honest,” Jungels said after the race. “This is huge, this is what I came here for. I know this means a lot for the team. After a couple of years struggling with surgeries and everything. Also to take the victory this way, it’s my style of racing, it’s my style of taking the victories.

“I’m super happy, I saw that my shape was getting better day by day but do something like this. I knew I had to try it from far because on the last climb it wasn’t possible to ride away from the favorites so I gave it a try and it worked.

“It reminded me a lot of my victory from Liège. I knew that if I was going to make it over the top [of the climb]  I could make up some time on the flat and the downhill. I just kept my rhythm. I knew at what rhythm I wouldn’t explode so I just kept it there.”

“These last days I felt better and better, yesterday I was in the mix but winning and being in the mix, it’s a big step,” he said. “I took all the risks I could and it happened so I’m just very grateful. I just want to say thank you to my team and everyone who believed in me these years.”

How it happened

The Tour de France set out from Aigle on stage 9 for a Swiss Alpine loop that skirted the shores of Lac Léman and tackled four categorized climbs before crossing over the border to finish in France.

It was a parcours perfectly designed for a successful breakaway and — amid the drought of successful breakaways at this edition of the Tour — a furious start ensued.

Crashes disrupted the early rhythm of the peloton and felled Michael Woods (Israel-PremierTech), Neilson Powless (EF Education-Easypost) and Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma), among others.

As the race lumbered up the category 4 Côte de Bellevue, successive riders launched themselves off the front, each seeking to form a breakaway. Such was the relentless pace that climbers, as well as sprinters, were ejected from the peloton, including UAE Team Emirates’ Marc Hirschi and Marc Soler with still 150km to race.

In the end, a strong group of 15 riders forced its way off the front. Despite a short chase from the reduced UAE Team Emirates, the exhausted peloton eventually called a truce, and allowed the breakaway to escape.

Still the race did not settle, and a smaller group containing Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) disappeared up the road, prompting a chase behind as UAE attempted to control the unruly race.

Shorn of Hirschi, Soler, and Vegard Stake Laengen, who abandoned the race yesterday with COVID-19, UAE did not have the firepower to respond and the Van Aert group bridged across to the head of the race, making it 21 riders out front.

Alongside Van Aert, the breakaway consisted of Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-Easypost), Joe Dombrowski (Astana-Qazaqstan), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Luis León Sánchez (Bahrain-Victorious), Carlos Verona (Movistar), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers), Patrick Konrad, Nils Politt (both Bora-Hansgrohe), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Kobe Gossens (Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Guy Niv (Israel-PremierTech), Hugo Houle (Israel-PremierTech), Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels – KTM), Benoît Cosnefroy and Bob Jungels (both Ag2r Citroën).

 

🇫🇷 @LeTour @BenoitCosnefroy & @BobJungels sont à l’avant 👍👍@BenoitCosnefroy & @BobJungels are at the front 👍👍#AG2RCITROËNTEAM #RoulonsAutrement #RideDifferently – © ASO pic.twitter.com/vzrpAbiver

— AG2R CITROËN TEAM (@AG2RCITROENTEAM) July 10, 2022

Van Aert secured maximum points at the intermediate sprint to extend his already considerable lead in the green jersey competition, while the gap stabilized between the two groups on the road.

But with Urán present in the breakaway, who began the stage just 3:24 down on the yellow jersey, UAE was forced to chase with its ranks boosted by the return of Soler and Hirschi who led the peloton over the category two Col des Mosses.

There was little respite before the next climb at the category 1 Col de la Croix, where the breakaway’s advantage began to tumble in the death throes of Mikkel Bjerg’s effort for UAE.

Frustrated by the pace, Latour attacked and his acceleration split the breakaway. Jungels proved to be the strongest and rode away from the rest of the group in his race-winning move.

Geschke briefly joined the Luxembourger, took maximum points at the summit, and secured the mountains jersey but was unceremoniously distanced by Jungels on the descent.

 

S I M 🔴 N G E S C H K E ⚪️ 😝#TDF2022 📸 @MathildeLAzou pic.twitter.com/BFJhOHZvnF

— Team Cofidis (@TeamCOFIDIS) July 10, 2022

Back in the peloton, meanwhile, UAE’s relentless pace ensured that the larger breakaway group took just a 1:30 advantage onto the final climb, with Jungels another 90 seconds ahead.

Dani Martinez (Ineos-Grenadiers) was the first of the GC riders to be dropped at 11.7 km from the summit, while Alexandr Vlasov’s (Bora-Hansgrohe) travails in this year’s race continued as he was also dropped.

Out front in the battle for the stage win, Pinot rode away from the remnants of the breakaway and set off in pursuit of Jungels. At first, he gained time, riding to within touching distance of the head of the race but he could not catch Jungels before the summit and began to lose time again on the flat run-in to the finish.

As Jungels celebrated his stage win, the action exploded in the GC group too. Pogačar launched a long sprint from the GC group, and only Vingegaard could remain on his wheel. Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates (both Ineos-Grenadiers) were the next to finish, losing three seconds to the leading pair.