• Australian AG2R Citroën Team, Ben O'Connor, won the 9th stage of the Tour de France on Sunday.

  • This marks the return of the Tignes resort as the arrival city of the Grande Boucle, two years after having experienced a “Dantesque” day.

  • If the sides of the road were not crowded on Sunday, the Tour supporters set a great atmosphere, despite the difficult weather conditions.

From our special correspondent in Tignes,

The famous Savoyard white wine diots can therefore totally be a seasonal dish for a 4th of July. Good, especially when the temperatures do not exceed 10 ° C during the day between Cluses and Tignes. The food stand installed very close to the finish line, at the top of the station at 2,107 m, could even have been a hit by preparing trays of tartiflette, in view of the “Dantesque weather” on Sunday. It would almost be a habit here. On July 26, 2019, after 11 days of yellow jersey on the back for Julian Alaphilippe and a magical success for Thibaut Pinot at the Tourmalet, Tignes was wisely waiting to see the leaders of the Tour de France do battle at the pedal.

President of Savoie wines and present at the Brévières in Tignes, both during the summer of 2019 and on Sunday, Laurent Cavaillé has not forgotten anything about this incredible episode: “It was a bit of a frustration and even a trauma, since the race had been stopped and Tignes could not discover the runners.

We tell ourselves that the city is still fishy when we see all the rain that falls.

But when you see the great enthusiasm of people on Sunday, even in the rain, it proves that it was important for the Tour to come back there.

Still, it's so pretty when it's sunny.

"

The threat of snow hovered over this 9th stage on Sunday

The what ? The conditions were even more horrible between Cluses and Tignes than the day before, between Oyonnax and Le Grand-Bornand, and that is already a small feat. This did not prevent Anthony from coming with his family from Val d'Isère to watch the peloton pass through Savoie. And the least we can say is that he keeps an offbeat look at the mudslide that cut short the stage of July 26, 2019, a first in the history of the Grande Boucle.

“We were in Val d'Isère, we were waiting for the runners to descend from the Col de l'Iseran,” he recalls.

But with this big storm, we had… the chance to be able to see the riders stopped, and not in the process of tracing on their bikes, in the heart of Val d'Isère.

There was real euphoria.

»Superstitious, Anthony had planned for several days the rain outfits for Sunday, also keeping in mind another shortened stage of the Tour because of the snow which fell in the Iseran pass on the 1996 edition. Yes, yes, of snow in the middle of July, and we hardly believed we were living a remake of Savoyard flakes in view of the freezing temperatures that hit the race throughout the day.

Michael Rasmussen, the other bad memory of this stage in the Alps

“Between Tignes and the Tour de France, there is definitely a little love story that begins,” smiles Sébastien, who lives all year round in Tignes les Brévières. Already come to the heart of the formidable climb of Tignes (21 km at 5.6%) “for a memorable day” in 2019, in the middle of “Alaph'mania”, a group of around twenty unleashed (and disguised) Stéphanois put it back on Sunday.

Guillaume, who came with his friends from Vienne (Isère) to celebrate a rainy (and therefore happy) bachelor party, or dozens of Slovenian supporters proudly waving the flag of the announced winner Tadej Pogacar, also targeted this second stage in the Alps, with its five passes.

They were able, near their tents arranged in the laces of the rise of Tignes, to appreciate Sunday the number of soloist of Ben O'Connor.

Even the previous winner at the top of the Savoyard resort, in July 2007, brought back bad memories to cycling enthusiasts.

It was the Danish from Rabobank, Michael Rasmussen…

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