Tour De France 2016: TV Schedule, Route and Live Stream Coverage for Stage 9
The riders competing in the 2016 Tour de France can almost enjoy their first rest day of this year's race, as Sunday's Stage 9 will be the last before the peloton gets the day off in Andorra.
Team Sky's Chris Froome shocked everyone on Saturday by attacking during the final descent and opening up a gap between himself and Movistar's Nairo Quintana. In all likelihood, the Colombian climber and his team-mates will respond in kind on Sunday.
With five categorised climbs and few flat roads in between, Stage 9 will belong to the climbers and will be an extremely tough ride. The finish up the Arcalis isn't the longest or steepest, but after several days in the Pyrenees, it will weigh on the favourites, and major time gaps are to be expected.
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Date: Sunday, July 10
Time: 11 a.m. (BST), Noon (Local), 6 a.m. (ET)
Route: Vielha Val d'Aran—Andorre Arcalis
Stage Profile: High mountains
Live Stream: ITV Hub (UK), NBC Sports App (U.S.)
TV Info: ITV 4 (UK), NBC Sports Gold (U.S.)
Preview
Here's a look at Stage 9, per Cyclingnewstv:
The Arcalis isn't one of the Tour's most iconic climbs, but it does have a rich history of shaking up the standings. It's perhaps best remembered from the 1997 edition of the Tour, when Jan Ullrich announced himself as a dominant force in the sport.
The climb itself isn't particularly long or steep, but the peloton will mostly ride out of the saddle on the road to the Arcalis, and that should lead to a tricky finish. On paper, it's the type of ascent where pure climbers like Quintana and Tinkoff's Alberto Contador should do a lot of damage, and after Saturday's shocking stage, we should see some attacks.
No one expected Froome, who isn't known as an exceptional descender, to take so many risks during Stage 8 and distance his main competitors for the yellow jersey this early. Former pro rider Robbie McEwen thought the defending champion took a huge risk:
Per Patrick Fletcher of Cycling News, Froome told reporters he didn't plan the sudden attack:
"It wasn't planned.
It was just bit of fun really. I thought I’d give it a try, I had a go on the climb and nothing was sticking and I thought I’d give it a go and see what I could do on the descent – see if I could catch someone out. It was real old-school bike racing, just fun. Maybe I spent a bit too much, let’s see, tomorrow is hard day and 20 seconds isn’t a huge margin but I’ll take every second I can get at this stage.
"
But it sure didn't seem that way. Froome was riding with a massive chainring, and per Fletcher, he later admitted he put on the 54 chainring specifically for Stage 8. Such massive rings are extremely rare, and it's unlikely a rider would install such a ring in a mountain stage unless he was specifically looking at the descents.
Movistar will be furious they were duped like that by Sky, but they'll also take Froome's risky move as a sign he's not 100 percent confident he can keep up with Quintana in the high mountains. The Colombian got the better of him toward the end of last year's Tour on the toughest climbs, and without super-domestique Richie Porte there to help him, it will be even tougher to deal with Quintana this year.
With a rest day on the horizon, expect Quintana and team-mate Alejandro Valverde to take the fight to Froome and see how he holds up. Contador likely won't factor―his Tour is all-but over at this point―but the other star climbers will likely try their luck on Sunday, knowing they have a full day to recover in Andorra.
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