Tour de France 2017: TV Schedule, Route, Live-Stream Coverage for Stage 9

After Saturday's ride to Station des Rousses, the 2017 Tour de France will ramp up the intensity even more for Sunday's Stage 9, which will take the peloton over three climbs of hors categorie.

After a tricky start to the stage, the riders will face the Biche, Grand Colombier and Mont du Chat, three long, winding ascents that will push even the best climbers to their limit. While the Grand Colombier is one of the Tour's most iconic climbs, the Mont du Chat is even tougher, and the ensuing descent could cause all kinds of carnage.

Here's a look at the full route and the stage profile, via CyclingnewsTV:

TV Info: Eurosport, ITV 4 (UK), NBC Sports (U.S.)

Live Stream: Eurosport website, ITV app, NBC Sports Live service

Right from the start of the stage, the peloton will be forced to climb out of the saddle. There's a category 2 climb to be tackled early, and in all likelihood, contending teams will use the opportunity to hurt Team Sky early.

LIONEL BONAVENTURE/Getty Images

The favourites for the yellow jersey mostly held back during Saturday's stage, knowing full well what was in store during Stage 9. Riders can't win the Tour on the road to Chambery, but at least a handful will lose minutes and see their dreams of the yellow crushed in the process.

The Mont du Chat was also a part of last month's Criterium du Dauphine and saw Richie Porte, Chris Froome, Jakob Fuglsang and Fabio Aru separate themselves from the pack, as shared by the Tour's official YouTube channel:

Aru has already shown solid form with an impressive win in Stage 5, but Sky and their rivals gave the Italian plenty of space to create a gap―now that's he's proven a real competitor for the yellow, he likely won't have that same luxury.

The descent could prove just as decisive as the climb itself, and while Froome has become a far better technician than he was in previous years, he will have to be careful. Per Accuweather, there's a very high risk of heavy storms in the area, and the roads could become very slippery in the blink of an eye.

Sky showed their willingness to take risks last year―Froome and Company could put a lot of distance between themselves and their rivals if they're willing to hit the descent hard, but with plenty more racing to come, they might opt to take it slow.