The Tour de France's gravel stage to Troyes on day nine of the race may have ended in a stalemate at the top of the general classification, but it wasn't for lack of trying by several yellow jersey contenders.
Race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) attempted several major attacks on the gravel sectors at the Côte de Chacenay and Saint-Parres-aux-Tertres, though both were brought back, as would the move initiated by Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep) at 77km from the finish.
The Belgian, going clear on the Côte de Chacenay, was quickly joined by Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard. However, the attack failed after the Danish double Tour champion, racing on teammate Jan Tratnik's bike after he suffered a puncture, refused to collaborate.
Pogačar's attempt on sector four at Verrières saw Vingegaard and Visma-Lease A Bike teammate Matteo Jorgenson get on Pogačar's wheel after the Dane initially struggled to stay in touch. Evenepoel was left behind, but that move would also fail with the Visma rider unwilling to help it along.
Evenepoel had some cutting words for the Dutch team after the stage, suggesting that Vingegaard was racing too defensively on the stage. He did note, however, that he understood why the team had employed those tactics.
"I think Tadej and I were not happy with it because maybe the whole Tour could have been decided today," Evenepoel said after the podium ceremony following another day spent in the white jersey of best young rider.
"We have to accept race tactics and race situations, but sometimes you also need the balls to race, and unfortunately maybe Jonas didn't have them today. But it's no problem – the race is still very long, and I totally accept the reasons why he didn't pull, why he didn't race.
"Of course, Tadej and I both like to attack pretty far away from the finish, so we wanted to continue. Jonas is sometimes a bit more defensive, but we have to accept it. He will have all the good reasons to have raced like this, so I also completely understand why."
Evenepoel noted that Visma-Lease A Bike had earlier put on a fast pace, leading him to make the first major acceleration among the race's top contenders. He went clear on the uphill gravel run of the Chacenay before Pogačar and Vingegaard came across the gap.
The trio, gained half a minute on the peloton before the move fell apart. Evenepoel accepted the situation, even if it led to an ultimately frustrating outcome.
"I knew that it was one of the last hard sections on the gravel and I just wanted to go for it," Evenepoel said. "It was like a cross-tailwind so a very fast sector. In the end, if you see the gap that we had, we had straight away 30-40 seconds after that sector.
"So, like I said, if we came to the front group and we would take turns all together, I think the race could have been decided there. But like they also said, it's race situations and race tactics, and we have to accept that."
Aside from the lack of help offered by Visma-Lease A Bike, the other major incidents in Evenepoel's day on the bike saw him caught behind the attacks on two occasions.
The first came on sector 8 at Mangnant, where Evenepoel said he was caught behind a handful of riders who missed a corner and needed to pull a foot out of the pedals before battling back to position.
The second came at Verrières, where he was caught out of position as Pogačar took the Visma men with him up front. On that occasion, Evenepoel was fortunate that the Dutch squad employed relatively timid tactics.
"Actually, I told my teammates to bring me to the first five positions, but they didn't so I wasn't really happy with that," Evenepoel said. "Then I had to close the gap myself because actually I wanted to go myself on this sector and that's something that we have to know.
"Sometimes we have to be more aggressive and especially in a race like today, you just need to put the elbows out and fight. Luckily, I had the legs to close the gap.
"OK, the Visma guys didn't pull Tadej, but I have to admit that the motos were riding really close in front it was a headwind, so they really pulled them away. Sometimes maybe the race organisation has to look at that.
"But I have no regrets – I think that, in the end, it has been a good race for us. It's the rest day and we're in second spot in GC, half a minute behind, with a stage win. A perfect first week for us."
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