Frenchman Turgis wins stage nine as Pogacar maintains Tour de France lead

Anthony Turgis claimed victory in stage nine of the Tour de France, triumphing after a lengthy breakaway on Sunday’s challenging route through champagne vineyards on white gravel tracks. The French rider celebrated his first Tour stage win in Troyes, with British cyclist Tom Pidcock finishing second and Derek Gee of Canada taking third.

Reflecting on his win, Turgis expressed his joy, saying, “That was wonderful. I’ve been close to winning for a long time, so to finally achieve it here is fantastic.”

Meanwhile, race leader Tadej Pogacar made several aggressive moves during the stage, which featured gravel paths for the first time in this year’s Tour, but was unable to gain time on his main rivals for the yellow jersey. Pogacar finished alongside contenders Remco Evenepoel of Belgium and Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark.

The stage, coinciding with France’s parliamentary election and a holiday weekend, drew hundreds of thousands of cycling enthusiasts to the roadside. The route’s challenging terrain was expected to shake up the overall standings, although Pogacar maintains his lead with a 33-second advantage over Evenepoel, while Vingegaard remains in third place, 1 minute and 15 seconds behind.