In pouring rain, Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant-Alpecin) won stage nine, finishing 38 seconds ahead of Rui Costa and Rafal Majka in Andorra.
Advertisement
Peter Sagan finished second to take the green points jersey from Britain’s Mark Cavendish with and Edvald Boasson Hagen third.
Briton Chris Froome retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey after controlling his closest rivals in the ascent to Arcalis, a 10km effort.
Only Colombian climber Nairo Quintana, Australian former team-mate of Froome’s, Richie Porte, and Ireland’s Dan Martin managed to stay with the race leader in the final few kilometres of the stage, after Froome accelerated.
The spectator was supporting Froome’s main rival, two-time Tour runner-up Nairo Quintana of Colombia.
It was the second time in the last three editions of the Tour that Contador has been forced to quit due to injuries suffered in a crash.
That was the climb where Froome’s Sky team started to crank up the pressure in the peloton, which dly thinned steadily.
Having sweated through Spain, the riders were met by an autumnal downpour in Andorra.
During a weekend of great British sporting success, Chris Froome, Mark Cavendish and Adam Yates played their part at cycling’s premier event. State 10 takes place on Tuesday and is a 122-mile mountain course from Escaldes-Engordany to Revel.
Quintana’s team mate Alejandro Valverde suggested Quintana, like Froome, was at peak form and warned the Briton not to underestimate the Colombian.
Chris Froome’s bike handling has often been questioned and mocked by his critics but on Stage 8 of the 2016 Tour de France, Froome put his critics to rest by attacking on the descent of the Col de Peyresourde. “All the way up to the last kilometre and into the last kilometre, I thought, “He hasn’t attacked yet, maybe he’s saving it for one big move” but that never came”. “I know he came in and was talking about stage wins, but it’s obvious he’s a terrific talent, that he’s a general classification contender”.
“There were a lot of attacks in that final climb, I was hoping to gain more time as well”.
Then Quintana beat Froome on that penultimate stage by 1:20, but he still finished 1:12 down to Froome overall after losing 1: 28 on stage two and then another 1:40 on stage 10. It’s special. I’ve showed that I’m not only a time trial specialist, I can do more. “It also looks like it will be a hot day, but this doesn’t bother me”. “There’s still a long way to go on this Tour – you must attack when it’s your real time”. I have to go day by day and see a possibility of attack.
“It’s definitely not a fluke”, Froome said on Monday as the peloton enjoyed its first rest day, following nine stages which saw Froome’s Team Sky stamping its authority on the race. We controlled the race even when one of the big teams (BMC) was in the (yellow) jersey.
He admits 31-year-old Froome is a motivating force in the Team Sky camp.
Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium, who was in a breakaway with Cummings, held on to the yellow jersey he claimed two days earlier. By no means did I expect it to be easy and I was just going to ride away from everyone.
“I think yesterday showed I’m climbing with the best”, he said.
Advertisement
“We re concentrating on effectiveness, there s no prize for the one who attacks the most”, he said.
