The ninth stage of the Tour de France was won by South African Daryl Impey (Mitchelton) Sunday at Brioude (Haute-Loire). The latter won in front of his last breakaway companion, the Belgian Tiesj Benoot, while the peloton, composed among others of the favorites and the yellow jersey, the Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck), was pointed at about 13 minutes to about ten kilometers from the finish.
In this sunny stage of 170.5 kilometers, the race took shape from the first quarter of an hour with the breakaway of 14 riders then joined by Spaniard Marc Soler.
Yellow jersey two days in 2013
Behind the breakaway, Julian Alaphilippe's team was content to manage the gap when he reached ten minutes. In the front, Austria's Lukasz Pöstlberger took the risk of leaving alone 45 kilometers from the finish.
First pink jersey of the Giro 2017, it was joined in the last difficulty, the Côte de Saint-Just, 15 kilometers from the line. Daryl Impey then made the effort on the top to join Benoot and Irishman Nicholas Roche who had taken the lead.
Offensive, Tiesj Benoot attacked again and kept with him only Impey as he approached the last 8 kilometers.
The 34-year-old South African rider won his first Tour victory on Sunday, but he had the honor of already wearing the yellow jersey in 2013 for two days.
On the day of the French National Day, he raised the colors of his country, becoming the second South African to win a stage of the Tour de France, after Rob Hunter in 2007.
With AFP