Stage 9: Vuelta

Chris Froome puts time into all his rivals as he wins stage stage 9 of the Vuelta ahead of the rest day on Monday

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Stage 9: Vuelta

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by Velon CC
Chris Froome extended his overall lead of the Vuelta a España by climbing to a peerless solo victory on Stage 9.

The Team Sky rider attacked out of an elite group of favourites with 500m to go to the summit finish at Cumbre del Sol and hung on to win by four seconds from runner-up Esteban Chaves (ORICA-SCOTT) and five seconds from third-placed Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac).

Chaves was initially the only rider able to respond to Froome’s attack and caught him with 200m to go, but the race leader kicked again to continue his dominance of this year’s race and seal the fourth Vuelta stage win of his career.

Ten, six and four bonus seconds were on offer at the finish line, meaning Froome stretches his overall lead to 36 seconds over Chaves and 1’03” over third-placed Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing Team).
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Chris Froome (team Sky): “I put everything I had into that last couple of hundred metres. I was determined that they weren’t going to catch me. I’m really, really happy to get the victory. The team did a brilliant job on that final climb and set such a good tempo.

“After a week we couldn’t have asked to be in a better position. It’s been a fantastic start to the Vuelta. The legs are feeling great. I’ve been to the Vuelta so many times, trying to target this race, and so far it feels like everything is going really well.”

Esteban Chaves (Orica Scott) “I thought the same,” Chaves said when a journalist suggested they thought he would take the victory over Froome. But with 100m to go he looked around and accelerated again. (Chris) is an unbelievable rider, he showed for what reason he (has) won the Tour de France four times”.

“For me, it’s a really good result actually. Two years ago, I arrived 15 or 20seconds down on this climb so it’s not really good memories. I think I am more mature, more experienced and more calm and this is the important thing. We keep the second place on the GC and we put time on the other guys and that’s really good. The team, like always, worked unbelievable. I’m really happy for the team, thank you really much. We’ve passed nine days and now it’s time to rest.”

Nicolas Roche (BMC): “I was flat out. Today was a very different type of heat. It was so humid being so close to the sea and I’ve been training in the dry heat and used to that, but today was a proper shock. I was drifting and I didn’t get over excited, I stayed almost last wheel of that group trying to stay sheltered and as much as possible in the rhythm knowing that the final 500m were going to have to be at not 100%, but more.

When I saw the guys attack for the line just before that corner, I thought “this is a bit too far for me” so I paced myself around the corner and once I saw the 500m to go, I thought “there’s no choice now, I have to go and hope that I can make it to the line”.

“I’m quite happy after nine very hard days. I have to give a big thanks to the team because without them, I wouldn’t be in that position at the first rest day. Now there is a completely different type of mountains coming up. The second week is going to be as hard as the first one.”

Tejay van Garderen (BMC) “It was okay. I’m glad to make it to the rest day. Hopefully I can recover from these aches I’m having from my crash. I feel like I’m not moving as well as I was before but I’m still going okay, so hopefully it keeps getting better. We’re going to see some longer climbs, less explosive. Hopefully that suits my style more so we can hopefully weed some people off the back and if I’m feel really good, move off the front.”

Alberto Contador (Trek Segafredo) “It was a short final. In the end, you have days in which you perform better and days where you perform less. Today I lacked the legs to fight for the victory, but in the end, I don’t think I was that bad today,” said Contador.

“Cannondale had made it a tough stage all day long, by pulling hard in front of the peloton. Yes, it was a very fast and breathtaking ascent of Cumbre del Sol. Yes, I definitely expected Froome to attack. He is a very strong rider who likes to have a bigger gap on his rivals. I think that’s very logical, he has quite a big gap on me, but not on his other direct competitors,” he continued, then added: “Off to the rest day now.”

“If I look back on the first part of the Vuelta, I would like to say that it was very good, but I can’t because the stage to Andorra was not good,” explained Contador. “On the other hand, I think it’s good to stay optimistic with the eye on what’s left of this Vuelta. There is still a lot that can happen, and we will see. Froome is obviously very strong, but we are not in Madrid yet.”

Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) “I feel like the legs are getting better each day. The team did a perfect job today positioning me before the last climb and after a perfect lead out we stayed at the front of the peloton. It was full gas up the climb straight through to the end but I still had it in the legs to sprint to 4th. It was great to see Sam up there with me too as he finished 8th.”

David De La Cruz: “I didn’t know this climb, it was the first time I rode here, so I made a small mistake pushing hard too early, but at the end of the day I didn’t lose too much time, which is a good thing. I’m content with where I am at this point of the race, a little over a minute behind in the rankings, which makes me confident for next week, when we’ll tackle the big mountains”.

“Tomorrow we have a rest day scheduled and it will be important to recover before the tough stages which lie ahead”, said David De La Cruz, who has showed a remarkable consistency so far at the season’s final Grand Tour, where he came after finishing the Vuelta a Burgos in the top three.

Fabio Aru: “I will enjoy tomorrow’s rest day!” said Fabio smiling after the finish. “Jokes aside, it has ended today the first part of La Vuelta, where, in reason of my after-Tour rest period, I was missing a bit of brilliance – explained the Italian – “I believe the Vuelta is still very long and there are so many very challenging stages to be ridden… on my side, I go to the rest day with a small gap in the GC and I hope my condition will grow up in the next two weeks.”

The Vuelta pauses for its first rest day on Monday, but racing resumes on Tuesday with a mountainous, 164.8km 10th stage from Caravaca Jubilar to Elpozo Alimentacion.

Stage 9
1 Chris Froome Team Sky
2 Esteban Chaves ORICA-Scott 0:04
3 Michael Woods Cannondale-Drapac 0:05
4 Wilco Kelderman Team Sunweb 0:08
5 Ilnur Zakarin Team Katusha – Alpecin
6 Alberto Contador Trek – Segafredo 0:12
7 David de la Cruz Quick-Step Floors
8 Sam Oomen Team Sunweb
9 Nicolas Roche BMC Racing Team :14
10 Vincenzo Nibali Bahrain Merida
11 Fabio Aru Astana Pro Team 0:17
12 Tejay van Garderen BMC Racing Team 0:19
13 Miguel López Astana Pro Team
14 Jack Haig ORICA-Scott 0:23

16. Adam Yates ORICA-Scott 0:27
19. Domenico Pozzovivo AG2R La Mondiale 1:09
20. Louis Meintjes UAE Team Emirates
24. Romain Bardet AG2R La Mondiale 1:17
106. Simon Yates ORICA-Scott 10.37

OVERALL
1. Chris Froome Team Sky
2. Esteban Chaves ORICA-Scott 0:36
3. Nicolas Roche BMC Racing Team 1:05
4. Vincenzo Nibali Bahrain Merida 1:17
5. Tejay van Garderen BMC Racing Team 1:27
6. David de la Cruz Quick-Step Floors 1:30
7. Fabio Aru Astana Pro Team 1:33
8. Michael Woods Cannondale-Drapac 1:52
9. Adam Yates ORICA-Scott 1:55
10. Ilnur Zakarin Team Katusha – Alpecin 2:15
11. Wilco Kelderman Team Sunweb 2:31
12. Sam Oomen Team Sunweb 3:04
13. Alberto Contador Trek – Segafredo 3:32
14. Wout Poels Team Sky 3:45
15. Jan Polanc UAE Team Emirates 4:07
16. Miguel López Astana Pro Team 4:09
17. Louis Meintjes UAE Team Emirates 4:42
18. Steven Kruijswijk Team LottoNL-Jumbo 4:46
19. Nelson Oliveira Movistar Team 4:50
20. Jetse Bol Manzana Postobon 5:53

25. Romain Bardet AG2R La Mondiale 10:51
29. Simon Yates ORICA-Scott 13:21

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