2 hours ago
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Key events
King of the Mountains standings
Polka dot tabulations:
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 28
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) 19
3. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) 16
4. Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) 13
5. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) 12
6. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) 10
7. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 10
8. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) 10
9. Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) 9
10. Raúl García (Movistar Team) 7
Points standings
This is probably the real quiz today:
1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 228
2. Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) 213
3. Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team) 203
4. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) 175
5. Max Kanter (XDS Astana Team) 172
6. Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) 110
7. Søren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) 89
8. Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) 79
9. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 75
10. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) 61
General classification standings
Here is the top ten, ahead of stage nine:
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 28hrs 49mins 07secs
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike): +2mins 42secs
3. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): +3mins 27secs
4. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe): +3mins 30secs
5. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek): +3mins 34secs
6. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team): +3mins 55secs
7. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe): +4mins 00secs
8. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious): +4mins 21secs
9. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek): +4mins 57secs
10. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek): +7mins 10secs
More on the decision to shorten the ninth stage from Jeremy Whittle in Bergerac:
Undoubtedly the graphics team at ASO were a little gutted to have to fire up the file named ‘stage_9_route_V4_final’ and have to chop out 30km but here we are. This is what the riders will be working with today:
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Preamble
When Tadej Pogacar has an unassailable lead it is days like today that mean that the Tour de France never remains less than compelling.
Shortened by 30km because of the red heatwave alert in Corrèze département of central France, this lumpy 155.5km run from Malemort to Ussel comes on the eve of the first rest day, offering interest to the peloton’s lurkers, breakaway specialists and the bold.
The Suc au May is steep enough to entice a climber to have a dart but we are probably looking at a Mads Pedersen-type winner, if the Lidl-Trek rider does not fancy it himself. Maybe without the pains of saddle sores, Tom Pidcock would be a contender to add to his sole stage win at the Tour. Quinn Simmons and Mathias Vacek will also be eyeing this one up for sure.
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