At around 11 PM Beijing time on July 7, the curtain fell on Tour de France 2024 S9 (the Troyes Circuit Race), with 14 sections of gravel roads of varying lengths presenting opportunities for riders adept at the “Roubaix” style to break away. Ultimately, Turpin clinched victory by a bike length. Let’s review this thrilling race.
Race Previews
Anders COOP Team (Norway). Norwegian rider Anders suffered an unfortunate fatal accident during the Tour of Austria S4 stage on July 5. Upon hearing the news, Uno-X Team (Norway) and the Tour de France organizers agreed to observe a moment of silence before S9 in his honor.
Bourgade. Today’s start was in Bourgade’s hometown, where the locals were naturally there to cheer him on!
You’re My Big Brother. On the course, the team serves the leader Pogačar to ensure he wins the overall title. But off the track, who the real “big brother” is becomes clear.
Race Route. This stage covered 199 kilometers, starting in Troyes in eastern France and heading east. It included four climbs and one sprint point. The main challenge was 14 sections of gravel roads totaling 35 kilometers, designed to give “Roubaix” type riders a chance to contend for the win and add an element of uncertainty for the GC teams. It was expected that multiple small groups would form along the way, culminating in a sprint finish among the small groups.
With the cheers of the Troyes spectators, the race began. Early on, a breakaway group of five riders, including Dekker (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Boris (EF Education-EasyPost), tried to escape. The peloton behind them wasn’t willing to let them go, maintaining a gap of less than 30 seconds for most of the time.
Despite several splits within the peloton during the gravel sections, three groups formed ahead of the yellow jersey wearer’s main group. Boris and 11 others led as the breakaway group, followed by Pidcock and two others as a chasing trio 17 seconds back. Behind Pidcock, Delaunay and six others formed another chase group 1 minute and 13 seconds behind. Further back, Pogačar led the main group approximately 2 minutes behind.
As the chasing riders entered the narrow gravel sections, they had no choice but to dismount and push their bikes, providing an opportunity for the breakaway riders to increase their lead. With the yellow jersey wearer Pogačar occasionally accelerating the main group’s pace, it was tough for his rivals. Vingegaard’s bike had mechanical issues, forcing him to use teammate Tratnik’s bike as a substitute; Roglič and Evenepoel were intermittently dropped without immediate team support, having to expend more energy to catch up.
When Evenepoel regained his composure, he immediately launched a solo attack, drawing Pogačar and Vingegaard to follow. With Gilme leading other riders in pursuit, a strong chasing group was formed, which at one point reduced the gap to the breakaway group to under 1 minute and 40 seconds.
However, this chasing group started too late. At this point, the breakaway group split again. Stauffen (Trek-Segafredo) attempted a solo move, but he underestimated the strength of the other breakaway riders. He was spent by the time he reached the final kilometer and was overtaken by the group led by Cuylen, watching helplessly as they sped away.
In the ensuing sprint, Pidcock and Dekker took the lead, but they underestimated Turpin’s strength. He crossed the line first with a bike length advantage.
After the race, Turpin said in an interview, “It’s incredible. I’ve never won a race in the WorldTour before, and now I’ve done it here!”
After the race, Pogačar retained the yellow jersey, Gilme the green jersey, Abrahamson the polka dot jersey, and Evenepoel the white jersey. Stage 10 of the Tour de France (Orléans – Saint-Amand-Montrond) will take place on July 9. Stay tuned.
Race Photo Gallery
(Image Source: Tour de France Organizing Committee)
