United Arab Emirates,  September 07, 2020:  An incredible performance on the last Pyrenees stage of the Tour saw 21-year-old and Tour de France debutant Tadej Pogacar win the first Tour Stage of his career by the barest of margins. 

 

The Slovenian from the Emirati squad won the 9th stage of the Grande Boucle, 153km Pau-Laurns by outsprinting a group containing Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), Marc Hirschi (Sunweb), Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren) becoming the youngest Tour stage winner of the 21st century.

 

Hirschi had led the race for 80km moving four minutes clear of the main group of contenders and had looked at one point to be soloing to victory but a series of accelerations from Pogacar saw the quintet of riders catch him with 2km to go ahead of the flat run to the finish. 

 

Pogacar then timed his sprint to perfection and snatched the first Tour Stage win of his career ahead of fellow Slovenian, Roglic by the circumference of a wheel.  

 

Roglic took second place and subsequently the yellow jersey as he became the new overall leader of the Tour. Pogacar climbs another two positions in the General Classification and sits just 44 seconds behind him in seventh place.

 

Pogačar said, “It is incredible to have won at the end of such a hectic day. Firstly I thank the team for the excellent work done throughout the stage. I am very happy, in the final my goal was to recover as many seconds as possible in the general classification, also aiming for bonuses, but the concentration was then turned to the sprint: I don’t remember exactly how I won the sprint, I just thought about pushing as hard as possible. 

 

“I arrive on the first rest day with a stage win, which is added to the one obtained in the first stage by my teammate Kristoff. I am happy with what we have done so far in this Tour, with only one off-day on the 7th stage”.

 

Tomorrow will mark the first rest day for the team before attention turns to Tuesday’s Stage 10 – a flat trip from Ile de l’Oleron to Ile de Re (168.5km). 

 

Stage 9 results

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 3h55’17”

2. Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) ST

3. Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb) - ST 

General Classification after Stage 9

1. Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) 38h40’01”

2. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) +00’21”

3. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) +00’28”

7.    Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +00’44”