French cyclist Anthony Turgis clinched victory in stage nine of the Tour de France, navigating the white gravel tracks through the champagne vineyards after a long breakaway on Sunday.
British rider Tom Pidcock finished second, trailing Turgis but appearing to be slightly impeded during his last-minute bid for the finish line, ahead of Canada’s Derek Gee, who placed third.
“That was wonderful,” Turgis remarked at the finish line in Troyes. “I’ve been close to winning for ages and to get one here is just great,” the 30-year-old added.
Overnight leader Tadej Pogacar launched several attacks on this novel route, which included dusty gravel paths for the first time in the race. However, he finished alongside his main title rivals, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard.
As France held the second round of a parliamentary election, hundreds of thousands of cycling fans turned out for the Tour on this first holiday weekend.
A shake-up in the overall standings had been anticipated as the peloton tackled 14 rustic white gravel paths in the region’s renowned champagne vineyards, which produce over 300 million bottles of bubbly annually. Turgis celebrated by opening one at the finish line, having been part of the long-range breakaway from a group of one-day specialists.
In the overall standings, Slovenian two-time champion Pogacar leads Tour rookie Evenepoel of Belgium by 33 seconds, while defending champion Vingegaard of Denmark is third, trailing by 1 minute and 15 seconds.
