Tour de France 2024: discover the profile and timetables of the 9th stage, a great first with the white paths

Mathieu Van Der Poel devrait être le grand favori de cette neuvième étape. MAXPPP – DIRK WAEM

"Une journée de stress": la neuvième étape du Tour de France dimanche sur les chemins blancs autour de Troyes est celle de tous les dangers pour les favoris du général.

Innovation on the Grande Boucle, the 14 sectors of white gravel on the program for this Troyes-Troyes loop constitute a first-rate trap, a mini Paris-Roubaix likely to send you flying# 39;air all hopes and ambitions on a roll of the dice, a puncture or a fall.

"I don't think we can win the Tour on this stage, but we can lose it", summarizes Remco Evenepoel, second overall who has very little experience on this field, unlike the yellow jersey Jonas Pogacar.

Determined not to offer more than two consecutive sprint stages during the long plain tunnels, the organizers unearthed these wine trails in Aube (32 km out of the 199 km of the stage) to break the gap. routine and "energize things". "For us these white paths are a great first. It existed at the origin of the Tour de France but over the last 60 years I don't think so", explains the Tour tracer, Thierry Gouvenou.

 "Stupidity"

Some people don't like this new thing. The boss of Visma-Lease a bike, Jonas Vingegaard's team, deplores a "useless" initiative which exposes too much to the bad luck. He is joined by his counterpart from Soudal-Quick Step, Patrick Lefevere, "totally against", who castigates a"stupidity" capable of destroying "on a puncture all the efforts made beforehand".

Offering unpaved routes is a fashionable phenomenon in cycling, embracing the rise of the practice of "gravel", halfway between road cycling and mountain biking. A race like the Strade Bianche on white paths in Tuscany has quickly become a favorite among riders.

And on Sunday, the spectacle should also be there. “The part of the vineyard is very beautiful, insists Gouvenou. The paths are uphill or flat, there is no downhill section, but it will still go quickly, especially in the finale where the last six sectors follow one another very quickly. It feels like Paris-Roubaix, it’s so continuous. It's left-right in all directions."

The terrain suits classic riders like world champion Mathieu van der Poel, double winner of Paris-Roubaix, and Wout Van Aert who clearly ticked off this stage.

The stage profile.

Ideal terrain for Van der Poel

"A sprinter can win, the classic guys like Van der Poel and Van Aert should enjoy themselves, but for the leaders it's a day of stress. You need a little luck, a strong team and fighting all day", adds Gouvenou.

Of the first four overall, not all are in the same boat. Tadej Pogacar, always a player, "likes" this kind of course and he demonstrated it at the Strade Bianche won in March after a solitary raid of 81 km.

"I did the rec' of the journey and know what awaits us. The race can take place in several scenarios depending on the wind, the weather, what the peloton decides. I like these kinds of stages, even if you don't know what to expect, says the Slovenian.

Its three rivals offer fewer references on gravel. Evenepoel completely collapsed during a gravel stage at the Giro in 2021 but he was just returning from injury. Jonas Vingegaard, who does not race the spring classics, had a bad day during the cobblestone stage on the Tour in 2022.

As for Primoz Roglic, he is known for not being the most skilled on a bike, as evidenced by the countless falls of the former ski jumper, who came to cycling late in life.

Departure from Troyes at 1:15 p.m. (actual at 1:35 p.m.), arrival in Troyes at 6:00 p.m. (timetable calculated on an average of 45 km/h)