Tour de France Stage 9 Preview: A Bruiser Before the First Rest Day

Malemore – Ussel: 185.5km / 3300m+

Tour de France stages are always aggressive affairs but this is even more so the case just before a rest day. Riders know they can empty the tank a little more than usual, with caution thrown to the wind. Sore legs the following morning? Not such a big deal.

The race to Ussel is not a major mountain stage but it still racks up over 3,000 meters of climbing. Things are lumpy early on, but not too extreme: the day’s sprint is located 45km after the start but may well be mopped up by a breakaway, unless the sprinters’ teams are particularly focused on scrapping it out there.

Whether or not a group has snapped the elastic by then, there is ample opportunity after that for time to be gained. The category 3 Côte de Naves and the cat. 2 Suc au May are perfect platforms for aggressors to build a buffer, while the later cat 3. Côte de la Croix du Pey and the cat 4 ramp of Mont Bessou will enable the strongest of those to thin things out if the group is not pulling as one.

The final 24km is downhill to flat, enabling any resilient sprinters to try to get back on terms. It certainly won’t be an easy day for the fastmen, though, with punchy riders most looking forward to this kind of parcours.

• Start: 7:35 a.m. ET
• Est. Finish: 11:47 a.m. ET