Chris froome keeps yellow jersey as tom dumoulin grabs tour de france stage win
Britain’s Chris Froome fended off attacks on his Tour de France lead as Holland’s Tom Dumoulin won stage nine in a storm at Andorre Arcalis on Sunday.
Team Sky’s Froome, who took the yellow jersey in surprise style on Saturday, carries a 16-second lead into Monday’s first rest day after repeatedly snuffing out attacks on the 184.5-kilometre route from Vielha val d’Aran. His group of rivals is dwindling.
Briton Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange), wearing the best young rider’s white jersey, remains second overall after finishing 10th on the stage, six minutes 35 seconds behind Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin).
Chris Froome held on to the yellow jersey despite numerous attacks on stage nine (AP)
Froome finished 11th on the same time, with Nairo Quintana (Movistar) on his wheel.
Richie Porte (BMC) and Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) were two seconds further back.
Martin is third overall, 19 seconds behind, while Quintana is fourth, 23 seconds adrift.
Thursday’s stage to Mont Ventoux is likely the next key one for Froome and his overall rivals. Froome won on the Giant of Provence in 2013 en route to winning his first Tour.
The Briton’s Tour has been better than expected so far, while Alberto Contador could not have fared much worse.
Two-time winner Contador (Tinkoff) abandoned the race on Sunday, while sitting 20th overall, after early crashes and illness.
Already in the race lead, Froome’s Team Sky squad were content to allow a large breakaway group, without any genuine overall rivals, to form.
The escape group fragmented on the penultimate climb, the Col de Beixalis, as Team Sky set a furious pace behind and the peloton disintegrated.
Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) led the race over the summit, with eight others closely behind him.
The manoeuvring began in the valley before the 10.1km concluding climb.
Dumoulin made his move, surging clear of his escape companions, who could not keep pace.
Pinot (FDJ) and Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) led the early pursuit as torrential rain fell at the finish.
Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) joined Costa, the 2013 world champion, in the chase, but Dumoulin won alone. Costa won the sprint for second.
Dumoulin now has won stages at all three Grand Tours, after wins in last year’s Vuelta a Espana and May’s Giro d’Italia.
Behind them, Sergio Henao, Froome’s one remaining team-mate, accelerated and Martin followed him.
Porte bridged the gap, with Froome on his wheel. Froome then burst clear, with Quintana shadowing.
Porte caught the pair, then Martin and Yates also followed.
Froome had to respond to any acceleration, with rivals trying to break him. Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and Martin were the most aggressive, but Froome held on.
He followed a familiar wheel, that of former Team Sky colleague Porte, to the finishing straight, where Yates accelerated to lead the group over the line.
Contador was one of four riders to abandon on the day.
Mark Renshaw quit due to illness, but given the way Mark Cavendish has won his three stages to date, he should not miss his Team Dimension Data leadout man too much.
FDJ duo Matthieu Ladagnous and Cedric Pineau also quit the race.
Geraint Thomas, who finished 25th on the stage and is 16th overall, expressed satisfaction on the day’s work.
Thomas told ITV4: “It’s been a tough week. It was hard to control, but we stuck together well, stayed as a unit and it all came down to the last climb. It wasn’t quite hard enough for big gaps.
“We showed our strength again, stayed as a unit, stayed calm and collected and didn’t panic under pressure, which was really good.”
On Martin and Yates’ challenge, the Welshman added: “They’re good climbers, but it’s only stage nine and a lot can happen in Grand Tours.
“We’re in a good position, but everyone within a couple of minutes is a threat at the moment.”
Asked about the wet weather, Thomas added: “It’s actually quite nice. It’s like back in Wales.
“It’s hard in the heat, so with the rain it’s actually quite nice. It wasn’t an issue at all.”
Froome is pleased with his position ahead of Monday’s brief hiatus.
The 31-year-old said on ITV4: “Really happy with that. Of course, it would always be nice to try to take a bit more time, to have a bit more of a buffer in the yellow jersey.
“All in all I’m really happy. Going into the first rest day in yellow. Got a fantastic team around me. Couldn’t be in a better place right now.”
The conditions contributed to the challenging day.
Froome added: “That was a tough old day out there. Really, really hard day yesterday and again another tough day today.
“Going from pretty extreme heat – 35 degrees, really hot, stuffy weather – to hailstorm at the finish, 10 degrees.
“Just complete from one extreme to the other, made it quite difficult there.”
Chris Froome held on to the yellow jersey despite numerous attacks on stage nine
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Chris froome keeps yellow jersey as tom dumoulin grabs tour de france stage win
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