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Slovenians took the laurels on the Tour de France on Sunday as rookie Tadej Pogacar gained a Pyrenean mountain slog and his compatriot Primoz Roglic grabbed the general lead. Overnight yellow chief Adam Yates of Britain made a valiant effort to maintain maintain of the yellow jersey however fell regularly away on the ultimate climb because the gradient hit 12 %. Pre-Tour contender Roglic has been the shape man this season and after Sunday’s second place end leads defending champion Ineos chief Egan Bernal by 21 seconds. “Everybody dreams of wearing the yellow jersey one day in his life so first off I’m just happy how things are,” stated Vuelta a Espana champion Roglic.
“It’s a fight for every second now and lots off things will happen to each of us on the road to Paris,” he stated.
When requested if he anxious that Bernal was beathing down his neck after Jumbo-Visma put the hammer down for 9 days, he shrugged.
“No-one could go as hard as Egan did there on the last climb,” he stated.
“We can enjoy a well deserved rest day now,” he stated.
– We can obtain nice issues –
Pogacar stated he remembered little of the frantic dash that gave him a primary Tour stage win as he pipped Roglic and Swiss rider Marc Hirschi, who had set the tempo for a lot of the day, on the road.
“I wanted to gain as much time as possible,” stated Pogacar, who twice misplaced time earlier within the week, however is now inside 41 seconds of the lead.
“Ten seconds bonus for the stage win in the sprint is great but I don’t know what happened in it,” he stated.
The 21-year-old Pogacar had a message of comfort for his 30-year-old countryman Roglic.
“He’s won before and he’ll win again. He and I can achieve great things for Slovenia,” Pogacar stated.
French pair Guillaume Martin and Romain Bardet are third and fourth general with Colombian duo Nairo Quintana and Rigoberto Uran inside touching distance.
The 153km ninth stage set off from Pau within the south-west, and there have been many spectators in berets alongside the route, and took in 5 climbs together with two class 1 mountains.
The two Slovenians narrowly averted catastrophe as they crossed the ultimate summit, Col de Marie Blanque, collectively.
Pogacar seemed spherical to see the place Bernal was, swerved and clipped Roglic. Both did properly to remain within the saddle.
“I was careless, I thought I’d gone past everyone,” he defined.
“We all worked together then to put time into the others behind us.”
“This is a really amazing experience,” stated Pogacar, who gained three levels on the Vuelta in 2019.
– ‘Difficult levels forward’ –
Bernal has needed to race the primary week with out his key climb associate Pavel Sivakov who harm each elbows on the opening stage however the Colombian remained assured he can defend his title regardless of dropping time on Sunday.
“It’s not just about the time gained or the time lost,” he stated. “At this point in the race the feeling on the bike is important. And today I felt better than the day before”.
Bernal was solely dropped by the 2 Slovenians on the finish of the ascent of the Col de Marie-Blanque.
“I enjoyed the last climbs a lot”, the Colombian. “In reality, you can’t make much difference on an ascent like this. I know I lost time again against Roglic and Pogacar but I have to be patient. There are still two weeks to go and there are some difficult stages ahead of us.”
Promoted
The longer climbs awaiting the Tour within the latter levels ought to go well with the marginally constructed 23-year-old, who final 12 months solely took the yellow jersey on the 19th of the 21 levels.
Monday is the primary relaxation day however a nervous watch for outcomes of Covid-19 swab checks awaits the riders with a ban on groups with two constructive instances.
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