Tour de France wrap after stage nine

On Saturday night, Chris Froome said he expected Sunday’s stage nine of the Tour de France to see the fight for yellow “blown to pieces”. He did not know how right he would be. By the end of 181.5 brutal, frantic kilometres, the man who started the day second overall was out of the race, and so was the man who started the Tour as favourite to end Froome’s run of dominance. The loss of Geraint Thomas will come as a huge blow to Froome as he loses his super-domestique and rear-gunner, while he will not celebrate the absence of his good friend and former team-mate Richie Porte even if it strengthens his grip on yellow.

No little angel

Fabio Aru’s nickname is ‘Little Angel’ but the Italian lost plenty of friends for his actions on the Mont du Chat, the brutal final climb of the day, for the way he attacked while Froome was calling for his team car with a mechanical. The other general classification rivals followed the Astana man, apparently to remonstrate with him and bring him back.

To attack the race leader when they have a mechanical problem – or when they are taking a toilet break as we saw in the Giro d’Italia – goes against cycling’s unwritten rules, and Aru may well find himself short of friends in the peloton in the days ahead. “Fabio Aru does not want to be staying at the same hotel as Team Sky tonight because you’d be able to cut the atmosphere with a knife,” former Tour rider Rob Hayles said on BBC Sport. “What Aru did there was a big no no in cycling.” The good news is that the two teams’ hotels for Monday’s rest day are some 53 kilometres apart.

Chat and mouse

As if there was not enough drama on the day, there was panic on the Mont du Chat when one of the vehicles in the advertising caravan – a bizarre spectacle of cars, trucks and floats which drives ahead of the race each day – broke down on the steep slopes and blocked the road. They got it out of the way in the nick of time, but on closer inspection it turned out the vehicle in question was promoting a Mickey Mouse comic – so where else should it come to grief but on Cat Mountain?

No Romain holiday

Romain Bardet put in a desperate dig for the stage victory in the final 15 kilometres, but was swallowed up by Froome et al two kilometres from the finish before Rigoberto Uran took victory in a photo finish. The sight of Bardet striking out for home should have been no surprise given Chambery is home to his AG2R La Mondiale squad, though perhaps the fact he was in position to have a go after the Mont du Chat should be. Bardet used to live in Chambery, but rarely tackled the climb on his training rides, saying it was far too hard.