Uran pips Barguil for victory, Porte and Thomas abandon after crashes
Rigoberto Urán pips Warren Barguil on stage 9 of the Tour de France. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Stage 9 of the Tour de France on Sunday lived up to its billing, shaking up the race in major ways with the crashes and abandonments of GC contender Richie Porte (BMC Racing) and key Team Sky lieutenant Geraint Thomas.
After the final climb up Mont du Chat, a select group of six climbers flew down the descent to the finish in Chambery, where Urán unleashed his sprint to nip Barguil in another photo finish. Froome maintained his overall race lead, but Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors) was caught up in the crash with Porte and slipped from sixth to ninth.
Froome now leads Fabio Aru (Astana) in the overall by 18 seconds, with Romain Bardet (AG2R) third, 51 seconds back. Urán moved to fourth overall at 55 seconds, with Aru's teammate Jakob Fuglsang rounding out the top five at 1:37 back. Trek-Segafredo's Alberto Contador finished 20th on the stage, losing 4:19 to the leaders and watching his hopes for final victory evaporate. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) lost 1:15 to the leaders and is now eighth overall, 2:13 back.
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