Pau (AFP)
Second round in the Pyrenees for the favorites of the Tour de France.
The peloton set off from Pau on Sunday for Laruns for the 9th stage, still high mountain and still with Adam Yates in yellow.
At 12:33 p.m., 168 runners, including Thibaut Pinot, despite his disappointment the day before, set off on the Pyrenean roads where two first-class climbs, among others, await them in 153 kilometers: the Hourcère pass then that of Marie -Blanque and its last four kilometers (out of 7.7) brutal (about 12% on average).
"It's a good stage to try. Even if it is already a successful Tour for me, I will try again", posted Julian Alaphilippe who offered himself freedom by releasing nearly 12 minutes on the favorites the day before .
"It was the right time to get up," said the French puncher.
I wanted to show that I had not come for the general classification ".
Like the day before, the finish of the stage is not located at the top but 18 km from the top of Marie-Blanque.
"I have good memories of this arrival," recalls at the start the man who remains the man to beat, Primoz Roglic, stage winner at Laruns ahead of Geraint Thomas during the 2018 Tour.
"We showed that we were strong and we can be confident," says the Slovenian, despite the forty seconds given to his compatriot Tadej Pogacar the day before.
The arrival, judged at Laruns, around 4:27 pm (average calculated at 40 km / h), after the technical descent of Marie-Blanque then 8 km in the valley of Ossau, will perhaps prove him right.
© 2020 AFP