The Luxembourger Bob Jungels won the 9th stage of the Tour alone, Sunday July 10, in Châtel, for the return to France after the incursion into Switzerland. The Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, still yellow jersey, was not worried before the rest day scheduled for Monday.
The second mountain stage of this Tour de France 2022 enabled Bob Jungels (AG2R Citroën) to shine with panache. Alone in the lead in the last 60 kilometers of the 192.9 kilometer long alpine stage, he resisted the return of Frenchman Thibaut Pinot, launched after him on the last ascent and returned to around twenty seconds.
On the line, the Luxembourger preceded Spaniards Jonathan Castroviejo and Carlos Verona by 22 and 26 seconds. Pinot, one of the favorite riders of the French public, fell back in the final to take fourth place.
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates), he sprinted in the last hectometres to cross the line 49 seconds behind Jungels, ahead of his rivals in the general classification. The Slovenian yellow jersey, like the whole peloton which has been affected by several cases of Covid-19, will be tested in the evening, while on Sunday morning Guillaume Martin was the third rider to have to leave the Tour because of the virus. .
Jungels rekindles the flame of AG2R Citroën and Luxembourg, eleven years after Andy Schleck
In this 9th stage, a breakaway of around twenty riders, including nine Tour stage winners (Rigoberto Uran, Thibaut Pinot, Luis Leon Sanchez, Warren Barguil, Patrick Konrad, Wout van Aert, Ion Izagirre, Simon Geschke and Nils Politt), formed at the end of the first hour. His lead capped at more than three minutes, due to Tadej Pogacar’s men chasing not to leave Colombian Rigoberto Uran, second in the 2017 Tour, too big a lead.
Up front, Bob Jungels took the lead in the Col de la Croix, 64 kilometers from the finish, to arrive at the foot of the Pas de Morgins (15.4 km at 6.1%) with an advantage of two minutes on his former companions and almost three and a half minutes on the pack of favorites. Thibaut Pinot broke away from the intercalated group less than 9 kilometers from the summit. The Frenchman started a chase behind Jungels to erase the delay approaching two minutes, without managing to catch the Luxembourger.
Bob Jungels, 29, won the Tour for the first time. It also has a “monument”, Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2018, on its list which now includes 25 victories. Recruited for 2021 by the team of Vincent Lavenu, the Luxembourger had to be operated on last year for the iliac artery. He only recovered his level late, during the Tour de Suisse (6th). Apart from the national titles in Luxembourg, his last international success dates back to March 2019 (Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne).
The winner of the day brought balm to the heart of the French team whose leader, the Australian Ben O’Connor, has been suffering for several days. Luxembourg had not won in the Tour de France since Andy Schleck in 2011.
In the general classification, Tadej Pogacar is still the leader with 39 seconds ahead of Danos Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and 1 minute 17 seconds ahead of Briton Geraint Thomas (Ineos). On Monday, the runners will be at rest. They will resume with the 10th stage on Tuesday July 12 in Morzine, in Haute-Savoie.
(With AFP)