Updates on the 217.5km flat stage from Saint-Flour to AlbiImpey sprints to Bastille Day victory in Tour de FranceAny comments? Email Barry | tweet @bglendenning 11.54am BST 196km to go: The gap from the six-man breakaway to the bunch is out to 2min 33sec. The riders are tackling the first classified climb of the day, the category 4 Cote De Mallet, which is 2.2km in length with a gradient of 5.2% and is 907m above sea level. 11.48am BST @michaelschaer has joined the breakaway, as the peloton takes it slow: there'll be 6 up front today! Michael Schär rejoint l'échappée, alors que le peloton s'est relevé : ils seront 6 à l'avant aujourd'hui !#TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/7rxwXbMmif 11.40am BST Your breakaway: Michael Schar (CCC), Natnael Berhane (Cofidis), Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie), Odd Christian Eiking (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin) and Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale). The gap is 2min 17sec. 11.39am BST 206km to go: Sagan and Matthews, first and second in the green jersey standings, return to the bunch. Team CCC rider Michael Schar has bridged the gap to the breakaway, which is now six strong and 1min 48sec clear. 11.36am BST 207km to go: The breakaway riders are still being held on a piece of elastic and are not away safely from the bunch yet. Today’s stage has yet to settle. 11.33am BST 208km to go: Natnael Berhane (Cofidis), Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie), Odd Christian Eiking (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin) and Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale) have escaped from the peloton and opened a gap of 19 seconds. Michael Matthews and Peter Sagan are trying to bridge the gap. 11.25am BST They’re racing on stage 10: Today’s roll-out is complete and a strung out peloton, led by Marcus Burghardt, is chasing down an early attempt at a breakaway. 11.13am BST Another withdrawal: Team CCC rider Alessandro De Marchi’s had a nasty crash yesterday and was taken to hospital in an ambulance. A key man in Saturday’s breakaway, the Italian suffered a broken collar bone, fractured ribs and a punctured lung after coming a cropper around 50 kilometres into yesterdays stage. De Marchi is the fifth rider to be forced out of this year’s Tour, leaving a field of 171. 11.02am BST Mitchelton Scott’s stage nine diary: The Aussie team won the stage on Bastille Day, courtesy of Daryl Impey. Here’s how they chronicled events for posterity. 10.55am BST Mitchelton Scott’s South African rider Daryl Impey won his first ever stage of the Tour de France on the back of a breakaway. Jeremy Whittle was in Brioude to see him do it. Related: Daryl Impey sprints to Bastille Day victory in Tour de France 10.55am BST 10.55am BST 10.46am BST From William Fotheringham’s stage-by-stage report: Long and hot, a scenic beginning before a 30km descent off the Cantal plateau for the 10th day of racing in a row, with the first rest day 24 hours later than usual. The script of early breakaway, late catch, scary sprint should be followed, but most of the riders will be just making sure they drink enough. All eyes will be on whichever sprinter has hit form early on, as Marcel Kittel did in 2017 and Mark Cavendish did the year before. The hilly route of this year’s first half of the Tour favours a lighter rider such as Elia Viviani. Continue readingread full article
