9th stage of the Tour de France over 182 km from Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat to Puy de Dôme, and at the end a breakaway thriller: Michael Woods caught Matteo Jorgenson on the last few meters on Sunday (July 9th, 2023). In the battle for the yellow jersey, Tadej Pogacar gained a few seconds on current leader Jonas Vingegaard.
The American Jorgenson broke away from a breakaway group with almost 50 km to go and tackled the difficult climb to the Puy de Dôme alone with a lead of about a minute over a three-man chasing group. In this group: the leader in the mountains classification, Jorgenson’s compatriot Neilson Powless, the aggressive Matej Mohorič and Michael Woods of Canada.
Jorgenson’s unrewarded solo ride up the Puy de Dôme
At the time the Movistar driver attacked, another group of seven was about 1:45 minutes behind the soloist at the front, the main field with the classification drivers was 16 minutes behind and had no chance of winning the day.
13.3 km climb, averaging a 7.7 percent gradient. Jorgenson, the good climber, seemed to be catching up on the climb and was adding second by second to his lead over his pursuers. In the last five kilometers, the Slovenian Mohorič (TotalEnergies) and then Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) pushed up to within 30 seconds of Jorgensen, who was undeterred in turning his cranks. But his strength was dwindling.
First Woods overtook Mohoric, then the Canadian passed Jorgenson with a lot of excess speed. The peloton was about 13 minutes behind at this point. Jorgenson was also passed by Pierre-Roger Latour and Matej Mohorič to finish fourth at the top of the hill. Powless, the mountain jersey wearer, was sixth.
Pogacar shortened to Vingegaard – but only minimally
Yellow jersey wearer Jonas Vingegaard and his big challenger Tadej Pogačar watched each other in the peloton. The Slovenian started with a kilometer and a half to go, Vingegaard was only able to follow the attack for a short time. At that point, the gap between the two contenders in the overall standings was 25 seconds, and Pogačar nibbled off eight seconds of that at the finish. “It was a good day. I’m very happy that I was able to get some time and put Jonas under pressure.”said the Slovenian. “We’re both at a very high level. He was incredibly strong today and deserved the seconds. I’m glad I still have the yellow jersey and I think the stages that suit me are still to come.”said Vingegaard.
Jai Hindley (Bora-hansgrohe) lost a bit of time compared to the top favorites on the 9th stage, but increased his lead over the pursuers and is secured in third place in the overall standings.
On Monday (07/10/23) the drivers rest, on Tuesday the 10th stage follows from the Vulcania theme park below the Puy de Dôme over 167 km to Issoire. With five medium-difficult mountain classifications, there is constant ups and downs in the Massif Central, which could accommodate a breakaway group.