Giant-Alpecin’s Tom Domoulin attacks on the final climb to Arcalis to win Stage 9 of the 2016 Tour de France.
Today was the first proper mountain top finish at the Tour de France. The stage was 184km long and most of it took place in Spain, in the autonomous area of Catalonia. The final climb was Arcalis in the country of Andorra, a hors category climb, one of the hardest climbs in the Tour. There was a turbulent start with constant attacks, followed by a large group, which got away with Tom Dumoulin. They managed to increase their advantage to a maximum of nine minutes with Team Sky setting the pace at the front of the peloton.
Towards the Arcalis, the highest point of the Tour and the fifth ascent of the day, Tom Dumoulin attacked and climbed at a steady pace to enjoy an one minute advantage on the first chasers, halfway through the climb. In extreme weather conditions, Tom was able to stay away, to the mountaintop finish to win his first stage at the Tour de France. Warren Barguil finished in 28th place and is now 15th in the GC.
REACTIONS
Tom Dumoulin gave his reaction: “To win the queen stage of the Tour de France here in Andorra is just fantastic. If somebody had told me a few days ago that I would win today I would have said they were crazy. Throughout the stage, I was starting to feel better and I saw the opportunity to join the break as my legs were feeling really good.
“It didn’t matter to me that it was raining on the final ascent, I was just determined to do my best and I barely noticed the weather conditions. I was just in the suffering mode and completely focused on my effort. I am super happy with this performance.
“The first week of the Tour didn’t go too well at all and I was not feeling particularly content with my performances but my team kept my spirits up. So now I have won one of the toughest stages of the Tour and I am very proud of myself and the whole team.”
Warren Barguil said: “Today my performance was much better today, and I reassured myself. Now I am looking forward to the rest day, to recover well and then I can go again and be ready for the Mont Ventoux and the Alpes.
“I was happy with the weather conditions today because I had suffered from the heat during the last stages. During the Tour de Suisse, I experienced the snow and today it was the hailstorm. Once it started to rain I just set my own pace and I was quite happy with my performance on the final climb.”
Coach Adriaan Helmantel added: “It was a hard fight to join the breakaway. When Valverde dropped out of the break then it was clear that the front group would make it to the finish. The gap finally grew quickly and I was confident that they would make it to the finish. But there were still some strong riders in the group but Tom did a great job.
“During the first category climb he let the others attack and he set his own pace. In the valley before the final ascent, he attacked himself and he immediately created a small gap. Behind him in the chasing group there was a lack of cooperation and Tom’s advantage grew to 40 seconds.
“On the final climb he started with a 50 seconds gap, and they didn’t close it and I became more confident that he could make it. In the end it was a little bit surreal with the rain and hailstorms and the final kilometre was just amazing.”
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