The Tour de France has its first free day on the agenda. The defending champion, the Belgian sprinter, leads the standings

The riders in this year’s Tour de France have nine stages under their belts and are scheduled for their first rest day on Monday. How is the 110th edition of cycling’s most famous race going so far and who has already enjoyed a stage win?

The Old Lady started this time on Spanish territory, specifically in the Basque Country. The opening stage with its undulating profile, which started and finished in Bilbao on Friday, July 1, saw two riders withdraw from the favourites for the top spot in the overall standings.

Movistar leader Enric Mas of Spain and reigning Olympic champion Richard Carapaz, who races for EF Education-EasyPost, withdrew due to injuries caused by a crash. The Yates twins battled it out for the win, with their brother Adam eventually finishing four seconds ahead of Simon. He therefore wore the yellow jersey.

The second stage was the longest of the year with 209 kilometres. The fastest rider from Vitoria-Gasteiz to San Sebastian was Victor Lafay of France. His Cofidis team won the Tour de France for the first time in 15 years.

In the third stage, the peloton crossed the border and reached the land of the Gallic cock. Jasper Philipsen dominated the first pure spurt in the finishing straight in Bayonne. The Belgian member of the Alpecin-Deceuninck team also enjoyed a day later at the Nogaro Autodromo.

The fifth round was a mountain test, including a challenging special category summit finish on the Col de Soudet. At the end, Jai Hindley succeeded with his charge, taking the race leader’s jersey at Laruns.

The stage also brought an important duel between the two biggest favourites. Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard had built up a 53-second lead over his rival Tadej Pogačar. During the second day in the Pyrenees, there was another twist.

The Slovenian star of the UAE Team Emirates stable escaped his Danish rival on the final climb in Cauterets-Cambasque and won the stage by 24 seconds. It included, incidentally, the legendary Tourmalet summit. Jumbo-Visma’s Vingegaard won the leader’s jersey after the finish, but Pogačar’s gap in the overall standings had shrunk to 25 seconds.

A leisurely flat route from Mont-de-Marsan to Bordeaux followed. The third mass finish also belonged to Philipsen, who narrowly beat Mark Cavendish. The Briton, who has announced the end of his career after this season, could surpass the legendary Eddy Merckx in the Tour de France historical table with a possible 35th stage win.

And he won’t be able to do that again this year, as he took an unfortunate fall on Saturday and had to withdraw due to a broken collarbone. Stage 8 ended with a hard uphill spurt in Limoges, in which Mads Pedersen of Denmark had the most strength.

Sunday was a day of escapes. Stage nine culminated in a 13km climb up the Puy de Dôme, with Canadian Michael Woods celebrating at the end. He overtook long-time US leader Matteo Jorgensen with about 450 metres to go.

The expected battle of the main yellow jersey contenders was better handled by Pogačar, who reduced his gap to Vingegaard to 17 seconds. Third place in the main classification belongs to Hindley, two minutes and 40 seconds behind the leader.

The polka dot jersey for the best climber is held by American Neilson Powless. The green one for the ruler of the points competition is currently Philipsen’s, the white one for the best young rider is Pogačar’s.

The 2023 Tour de France continues Tuesday with a 167-kilometer hilly stage from Vulcanie to Issoire in central France. At the end of the second week, the cyclists will battle it out in the Alps. The finish of this year’s edition will see Paris on July 23.

Source: Tour de France