Tour de France 2015 – Stage 09 [FULL STAGE – Team Time Trial]

July 12, 2015

Tour de France 2015 – Stage 9 – Vannes – Plumelec (TTT) : 28 km

As befits a race that is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the red polka dot King of the Mountains jersey, the emphasis of the 102nd Tour de France is very firmly on climbing. There are no less than seven mountains stages and five summit finishes on a 3,360km route starting in the Dutch city of Utrecht on 4 July and finishing in Paris on 26 July, when another significant anniversary will be marked as it is 40 years since the Tour’s first finale on the Champs Élysées. However, despite being weighted towards the specialist climbers, the route is packed with all manner of tests designed to catch out the unwary and reward the courageous. This has become the defining style of Tour supremo Christian Prudhomme and his route director Thierry Gouvenou, with the pair determined to ensure that the contenders for the yellow jersey have to be right on their mettle from the 13.8km time trial in Utrecht on the very first day. There are complications aplenty over the eight stages that follow, the most significant being the hilltop finish at Huy on day three, the 13km of Paris-Roubaix pavé that come the day after, and the hilltop finish that comes on the race’s second Saturday at Mûr de Bretagne. Following that, and prior to the first rest day, a shortish team time trial should also be intriguing, both because of its rolling course and because some teams will already be down a rider or two. Three hard days in the Pyrenees, including a very tough finish at Plateau de Beille, kick off the high-mountain action. This continues after the second rest day, when there are three summit finishes in the Alps. The first is at Pra Loup, where Frenchman Romain Bardet recently triumphed in the Critérium du Dauphiné, the second at La Toussuire, and the third at Alpe d’Huez, which for the first time features on the penultimate day of the race.

World champions BMC Racing won the stage 9 team time trial in the Tour de France, just nudging Team Sky out of the stage victory by fractions of a second when the maillot jaune had to drop back for his fifth rider in the run to the finish line. The Movistar team came in third, another four seconds behind.

“We knew we were on a really good ride,” Tejay van Garderen (BMC) said. “In a perfect world, we would have taken the stage and the yellow jersey. But we will take the stage win. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier.”

Chris Froome maintained his overall lead in the Tour de France thanks to a strong ride from his Sky squad in the team time trial to Plumelec, Yet even the well-drilled British team weren’t able to chip away more than a handful of seconds on their rivals on the hilly 28km course.

“We would have loved to win today’s stage but we can’t be disappointed by our performance,” Froome said. “I expected something similar from Team Sky and BMC. With a difference of point six of a second, we can’t know where we’ve lost and what have we missed. At the end everyone has seen that Nicolas Roche was struggling a bit but this is the nature of team time trial. He has given so much before!

“BMC did better than us and that’s it. The first phase has gone better than any of us in the team could have imagined. I haven’t lost anything and I even gained time during the first week. It puts us in a fantastic position. The pressure is certainly not on my shoulders. It’s up to my rivals to make it up. My tactic can be more defensive than I expected. I didn’t expect Vincenzo Nibali to have lost so much time by now. To be totally honest, before the Tour I thought he’d be the one of my rivals who would have gained the biggest time in the first week.”

Tejay van Garderen looked set to become the first American to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France since Floyd Landis, but BMC were not able to gain time over Froome. In the end, they earned just fractions more than a second. Peter Sagan, whose Tinkoff-Saxo team fell far short of putting him into the race lead by coming in fourth place, slipped down the standings to fourth behind Greg Van Avermaet (BMC).

Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) continued his slow hemmorhage of seconds, losing another 18 seconds to Nairo Quintana and 34 seconds to Chris Froome, with Alberto Contador also slipping behind by 28 seconds to Froome.

How it happened

Orica-GreenEdge was the first to take off, at 3 p.m local time. The Australian team would normally have been a hot favourite, having won the opening team time trial at the Giro d’Italia. But crashes and injuries have decimated the team, leaving only six riders, many of them also battered, to take on this difficult stage. Their weakness was apparent from the start, but still, they made it to the finish with all six riders, which had not necessarily been expected. The team later said they rode slowly on purpose, to keep Michael Matthew with them and to be sure he made the time cut. In the end, they were nearly five mintues down.

For most of the teams, it was a matter of getting to the finish line without problems. All were tired after an exceptionally tough opening week of the Tour, and Orica-GreenEdge was far from the only team whose riders were still suffering from crashes. Lotto-Soudal’s seemingly indestructible Adam Hansen, riding with a shoulder dislocated on stage 2, used his usual road bike for a more comfortable position.

Few, if any, of the teams arrived with full force at the finish line. Lampre-Merida put in an excellent time early on, and sat on the hot seat until IAM Cycling blasted their way to the finish, 10 seconds faster.

The first of the title contenders’ teams to go was Astana. They lost two men early on, and although they set a new best time, it was one which obviously would not hold up.

Movistar looked as if it would pull an upset, putting in an exceptional time at the first time check. However, they fell apart on one of the climbs, with the team splitting into three separate groups. They all came back together, but it cost precious time. Five of them, including Nairo Quintana, came in 31 seconds quicker than rivals Astana.

Both Alberto Contador and Peter Sagan put in strong work for Tinkoff-Saxo, but it didn’t really pay off. The Russian team finished seven seconds ahead of rivals Nibali and Astana, but they finished behind Quintana and Movistar, and ultimately BMC and Sky.

BMC, riding for Tejay van Garderen, really put the hammer down, and with only five men, came in with 11 seconds on Movistar. But they knew that a very strong and determined Sky team was close behind them.

Sky was also flying along and set best times during the check points. They too dropped riders along the way, with Froome frequently looking back to see how many were still there. The race leader set the pace most of the way, almost always turning up the speed on each of his pulls.

This may have worked against him, as at the very end, Nicolas Roche was lagging behind, as the fifth man. Froome himself waited to pace Roche back to his teammates, with only some 100 metres left to go – which probably cost Sky the win, as they finished one second behind BMC.

Results :
1 BMC Racing 0:32:15
2 Team Sky 0:00:01
3 Movistar Team 0:00:04
4 Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:28
5 Astana Pro Team 0:00:35
6 IAM Cycling 0:00:38
7 Etixx-QuickStep 0:00:45
8 Lampre-Merida 0:00:48
9 Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:14
10 AG2R LA Mondiale 0:01:24
11 Trek Factory Racing 0:01:25
12 Team Cannondale-Gramin 0:01:29
13 Bora-Argon 18 0:01:31
14 FDJ 0:01:33
15 Lotto Soudal 0:01:36
16 Team Giant-Alpecin 0:01:37
17 Team Europcar 0:01:42
18 Bretagne-Seche Environnement 0:01:46
19 Team Katusha 0:01:53
20 MTN-Qhubeka 0:01:56
21 Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:32
22 Orica-GreenEdge 0:04:58

General Classification after Stage 9 :
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 31:34:12
2 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:12
3 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:27
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:38
5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:01:03
6 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:01:18
7 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:50
8 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:52
9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:59
10 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx – Quick-Step
11 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:02:01
12 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:02:18
13 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:02:22
14 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:02:43
15 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:02:52
16 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing 0:02:56
17 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:30
18 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:03:52
19 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:04:17
20 Mathias Frank (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:04:32
21 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:38
22 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:08
23 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida 0:05:20
24 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:05:22
25 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:06:17
26 Dominik Nerz (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 0:06:28
27 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team 0:06:40
28 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:06:49
29 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:08:05
30 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:08:35
31 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:09:21
32 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling
33 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka 0:10:14
34 Alberto Losada Alguacil (Spa) Team Katusha 0:10:37
35 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) IAM Cycling 0:11:20
36 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar 0:11:43
37 Paul Voss (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 0:11:47
38 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Bretagne-Séché Environnement 0:12:25
39 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:15:18
40 Michael Rogers (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:15:57
41 Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ.fr 0:16:24
42 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:16:47
43 Cyril Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar 0:17:14
44 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal 0:17:18
45 Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:17:44
46 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge 0:17:45
47 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team 0:17:49
48 Bram Tankink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:18:03
49 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge 0:18:29
50 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:19:41
51 Michal Golas (Pol) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:20:23
52 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:20:33
53 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) MTN – Qhubeka 0:20:54
54 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
55 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:20:59
56 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:21:52
57 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:22:15
58 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:22:25
59 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:23:00
60 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:23:01
61 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:23:02
62 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:23:06
63 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:23:31
64 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:23:49
65 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:24:12
66 Romain Sicard (Fra) Team Europcar 0:24:31
67 Julien Vermote (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:24:32
68 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:24:47
69 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:24:50
70 Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:25:05
71 Rein Taaramae (Est) Astana Pro Team 0:25:11
72 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:25:25
73 Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) MTN – Qhubeka 0:25:36
74 Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:25:42
75 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Team Europcar 0:25:57
76 Grégory Rast (Swi) Trek Factory Racing 0:26:24
77 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:26:29
78 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:26:34
79 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:26:51
80 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha 0:27:14
81 Jan Barta (Cze) Bora-Argon 18 0:27:17
82 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 0:27:21
83 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:27:22
84 Tiago Machado (Por) Team Katusha 0:27:34
85 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek Factory Racing 0:27:59
86 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:28:02
87 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:28:04
88 Paul Martens (Ger) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:28:19
89 Armindo Fonseca (Fra) Bretagne-Séché Environnement 0:28:39
90 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Bora-Argon 18 0:28:47
91 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:29:00
92 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky 0:29:04
93 Serge Pauwels (Bel) MTN – Qhubeka 0:29:28
94 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Bretagne-Séché Environnement 0:29:39
95 Florian Vachon (Fra) Bretagne-Séché Environnement 0:30:01
96 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:30:17
97 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek Factory Racing 0:30:19
98 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:30:34
99 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:31:02
100 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:31:15
101 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:31:36
102 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:31:43
103 Adriano Malori (Ita) Movistar Team 0:31:57
104 Marcel Wyss (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:32:06
105 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale 0:32:09
106 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:32:34
107 Tyler Farrar (USA) MTN – Qhubeka 0:32:38
108 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:32:46
109 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) MTN – Qhubeka 0:33:39
110 Jose Rodolfo Serpa (Col) Lampre-Merida 0:34:09
111 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Team Europcar 0:34:10
112 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:34:22
113 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bretagne-Séché Environnement 0:34:31
114 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana Pro Team 0:34:47
115 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Lampre-Merida 0:35:06
116 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:35:08
117 Bartosz Huzarski (Pol) Bora-Argon 18 0:35:11
118 Stef Clement (Ned) IAM Cycling 0:35:27
119 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:36:15
120 Yohann Gene (Fra) Team Europcar 0:36:21
121 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Lampre-Merida 0:36:26
122 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:36:28
123 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
124 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Bretagne-Séché Environnement 0:36:29
125 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:36:52
126 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Team Katusha 0:37:46
127 Damien Gaudin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:37:48
128 Matthias Brandle (Aut) IAM Cycling 0:38:03
129 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:38:57
130 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky 0:38:58
131 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Team Europcar 0:39:28
132 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky 0:39:31
133 Julian Arredondo (Col) Trek Factory Racing 0:39:53
134 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:40:00
135 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:41:01
136 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Team Katusha 0:41:35
137 Bob Jungels (Lux) Trek Factory Racing 0:41:56
138 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica GreenEdge 0:42:34
139 Nathan Haas (Aus) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:42:55
140 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:43:19
141 Jerome Coppel (Fra) IAM Cycling 0:43:23
142 Martin Elmiger (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:43:29
143 Brice Feillu (Fra) Bretagne-Séché Environnement
144 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky 0:44:04
145 Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fra) Bretagne-Séché Environnement 0:45:01
146 José Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team 0:45:09
147 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team 0:45:59
148 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:46:43
149 Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:46:50
150 Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:47:52
151 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team 0:48:39
152 Kenneth Van Bilsen (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
153 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Lampre-Merida 0:48:48
154 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:49:17
155 Ruben Plaza Molina (Spa) Lampre-Merida 0:49:23
156 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:50:15
157 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:51:14
158 Ivan Basso (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:51:23
159 Lars Boom (Ned) Astana Pro Team 0:51:24
160 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:51:41
161 Stephen Cummings (GBr) MTN – Qhubeka 0:51:51
162 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:52:00
163 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky 0:52:07
164 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:52:10
165 Merhawi Kudus Ghebremedhin (Eri) MTN – Qhubeka 0:52:23
166 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek Factory Racing 0:52:37
167 Bryan Nauleau (Fra) Team Europcar 0:52:54
168 José Mendes (Por) Bora-Argon 18
169 Marco Haller (Aut) Team Katusha 0:53:16
170 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Trek Factory Racing 0:53:18
171 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 0:53:30
172 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:54:24
173 Louis Meintjes (RSA) MTN – Qhubeka 0:54:27
174 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 0:54:54
175 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica GreenEdge 0:57:09
176 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:59:17
177 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18 1:00:45
178 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 1:00:46
179 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 1:01:51
180 Svein Tuft (Can) Orica GreenEdge 1:04:17
181 Frédéric Brun (Fra) Bretagne-Séché Environnement 1:06:00
182 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 1:06:12
183 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 1:09:54
184 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 1:13:01
185 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica GreenEdge 1:16:10