Key events
192km to go: There’s plenty of points on offer for the KOM competition today so Jonas Abrahamsen looks as if he fancies being in the breakaway again today.
Stefan Bissegger of EF Education attacked but has been reeled back in.
The racing has begun!
198km to go: Racing is under way on stage nine. As soon as the flag is dropped, there’s an attack with polka-dot clad Jonas Abrahamsen involved.
Here’s a classic pre-rollout selfie from earlier.
There’s a few hundred metres left now until the neutralised sector is over and the flag drops for the race proper.
On the ITV4 coverage ex-pro Peter Kennaugh has been sharing his thoughts. He says it’s going to be one of the “most exciting days” as there are “so many unknowns”.
He explains that for the riders, it is key to get into position before hitting the white road sectors. Kennaugh says that once the riders are on the gravel, they can relax, but you don’t want to be jostling for position too late.
From my experience following the tricky terrain of Paris Roubaix in team cars, I often heard it said that the safest place is up the front away from any trouble.
As mentioned earlier, there are 14 gravel, or white road, sectors in stage nine.
Here they are listed according to their order of appearance in the stage, with the stars at the end of each line indicating the sector’s difficulty (** being harder), courtesy of the official Tour de France website:
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Chemin de Bligny à Bergères (2km), km 47.3 *
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Chemin de Baroville (1.2km), km 67 *
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Chemin des Hautes Forêts (1.5km), km 96.8 **
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Chemin de Polisy à Celles-sur-Ource (3.4km), km 105.2 *
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Chemin de Loches-sur-Ource à Chacenay (4.2km), km 118.6 *
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Chemin du Plateau de la Côte des Bar (2.2km), km, 131.9 *
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Chemin de Thieffrain à Magnant (3.9km), km 140.8 *
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Chemin de Briel-sur-Barse (2.2km), km 151.9 *
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Chemin du Ru de Paradis (1.2km), km 165.7 *
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Chemin de Fresnoy-le-Château à Clérey (1.8km), km 169 *
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Chemin de Verrières (1.5km), km 175 *
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Chemin de Daudes (1.9km), km 178 *
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Chemin de Montaulin à Rouilly-Saint-Loup (2.2km), km 182.3 **
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Chemin de Saint-Parres-aux-Tertres (3km), km 189.4 **
Today’s roll-out has begun
They’re off! The peloton will have an 8km neutralised sector before the official start of today’s race.
Prior to the rollout, there was a one minute silence for the 25-year-old Norwegian André Drege, who died during stage four of the Tour of Austria.
The rollout is expected in just a few minutes. Here’s some of the pre-start action via the official Tour de France X account:
Who’s wearing what jersey
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Yellow: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 31hr 21min 13sec
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Green: Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) 216pts
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Polka-dot: Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) 33pts
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White: Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step)
Stage seven report: Biniam Girmay’s second stage win in the 2024 Tour de France in Charles de Gaulle’s home village of Colombey-les-Deux-Églises was overshadowed by the death of the 25-year-old Norwegian André Drege during stage four of the Tour of Austria. Jeremy Whittle reports from Colombey-les-Deux-Églises …
The top 10 on General Classification
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Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 31hr 21min 13sec
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Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step) +33sec
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Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1min 15sec
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Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +1min 36sec
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Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +2min 16sec
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João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +2min 17sec
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Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +2min 31sec
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Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick-Step) +3min 35sec
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Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +4min 3sec
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Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +4min 36sec
Stage nine: Troyes to Troyes, 199km
William Fotheringham on stage nine: As France goes to the polls in the second round of Macron’s snap election, on the Tour it’s a tense day of constant small climbs and 14 stretches of gravel roads through the Champagne vineyards. It will be dusty and spectacular, and there will be punctures and crashes, particularly if it rains. Pogacar will relish this, having twice won the very similar Italian Strade Bianche race; cyclo-cross specialists Van der Poel and Wout van Aert could also shine.
Preamble
Welcome to the Guardian’s latest Tour de France live blog and a stage that introduces gravel to the parcours which will, most likely, bring some chaos to the peloton. Don’t just take my word for it. Jai Hindley of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe told Rouleur magazine ahead of today’s stage: “I think it will be super stressful, the guys told me that the gravel is going to be chaotic and also the roads in between are shit.”
Of the near 200km route on stage nine that begins and ends in Troyes, 32km of it will be on gravel. That’s 14 segments of unpaved terrain facing them. This could suit riders who have off-road credentials such as Tom Pidcock, Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Matej Mohorič, so they will be ones to watch. Will they be going for a win in this unique stage of the 2024 Tour de France?
Send me your thoughts and questions via email. It’s always great to hear from you and I also love hearing about where you’re following the live blog from, so include that if you want.
Neutralised start: 12.15pm BST/1.15pm CET
