Tour de France 2019: stage nine – live!

136.5km to go: The odd “Allez Bardet” banner beginning to appear, as the Frenchman rides through home territory. He’s back in the pack, with the peloton just over three minutes behind the leaders as it passes over the Loire.

And here’s that leading bunch in full: Benoot (Lotto-Soudal) Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), Clarke(EF Education First), Delaplace (Arkea-Samsic), Garcia (Bahrain-Merida), Herrada (Cofidis Solutions Credits), Impey (Mitchelton-Scott), Martin (Jumbo-Visma) OliverNaesen (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Postlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Roche (Sunweb), Sicard (Total-Direct Energie), Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Tratnik (Bahrain-Merida). Soler and Rui Costa continue to plough their lonely, slightly futile-looking furrows as chasers.

143km to go: We’re climbing now, through really beautiful countryside it must be said, and we now have an established and strong break of 14, headed by Nico Roche and followed by Herrada and Stuyven. Benoot, Boassen Hagen, Naesen and Martin are among them. In no-man’s land around 50 seconds behind them is Marc Soler, with Rui Costa on his own a minute and 40-odd seconds further back. Alaphilippe heads the peloton, which is around two and a half minutes behind the front.

153km to go: It looks as if the big break will be made on the Mur itself, which is looming large now. There’s a group of about 15 at the front, including Roche, Naesen, Impey, Garcia Cortina, Herrada, Clarke, Martin, Stuyven and Benoot. Marc Soler has broken clear in a bid to join them.

158km to go: Tim Wellens, Wout van Aert and Rui Costa have joined Politt out front, with others looking to join the breakaway behind them. It’s been a pretty aggressive start

159km to go: Alessandro De Marchi has had a nasty looking crash back in the pack, and looks to have hurt his head on the kerb. He’s receiving medical assistance, and has had to be taken away in an ambulance. His race is over.

163km to go: Politt’s powering ahead at the moment. He’ll want and expect some company soon. Total Direct Energy have packed out the front of the peloton. De Gendt, yesterday’s winner, riding cautiously thus far.

167km to go. Tim Wellens has gone off on his own, Billy no-mates, to set an early pace. Nils Politt is next to break clear. They’re going at around 75km per hour

170km to go: Off they go, downhill, amid a volley of early Bastille-day fireworks. A fast-looking start, with those keen to get in the early breakaway already going hard.

Today’s stage heads downhill for the first 10km, which promises us a fast start, followed by 7km up, 7km down again before we begin the arduous Mur d’Aurec-sur-Loire climb. They’re about 4.3km from the line, which is also a downhill run.

They’re getting ready to ride out from Saint-Étienne, which is bathed in glorious/gruelling sunshine

“What a day for Pinot it was yesterday!” trills MaliciousA on the Twitters. “Reaching into the bag and pulling a Stomp On, he thrilled with his heroics. Today is going to be great as he continues to consolidate his position.” Yep, his performance has certainly spiced things up.

Some Frenchman-in-yellow facts: Alaphilippe is the 32nd Frenchman to be wearing yellow at the start of the race on Bastille Day. The last two to lead on 14 July were Tony Gallopin in 2014 and Thomas Voeckler three years earlier, though the former only had it for one day.

Some pre-racing reading for your delectation. Here’s William Fotheringham on French hopes:

When the tide runs his way, Pinot looks more than strong enough, as he did at the end of last year when he won two stages in the Tour of Spain and the Giro di Lombardia. So far in this Tour it has all gone his way. While Bardet’s AG2R squad flopped, the Groupama-FDJ team performed above expectations in the first Sunday’s team time trial, putting him on the front foot immediately, and this was followed by a strong showing behind the victorious Alaphilippe in Épernay, where he gained five seconds on Thomas. Slender pickings, but it gave him an advantage. His young, talented climbing teammate David Gaudu is also in sparkling form.

The full piece is here.

And here’s yesterday’s stage eight report from Jeremy Whittle:

Stage nine, Saint-Étienne to Brioude, 170.5km

Morning everyone, and happy Bastille Day. These are hopeful times for French fans, with one of theirs in yellow, Julian Alaphilippe, and another, Thibaut Pinot, riding himself into serious contention for the overall crown. Could 34 years of hurt be ending this time? (And will we ever stop describing any sporting title-drought as “xx years of hurt?”). Whatever, this Tour is showing signs of heating up after a meandering first week, with Geraint Thomas’s tenacious display in yesterday’s stage from Mâcon to Saint-Étienne raising hopes that last year’s champion might retain his title.

Thomas’s position might have been even stronger had he not been caught up in the crash between Michael Woods and Gianni Moscon, from which he recovered strongly but still lost 39 seconds to Alaphilippe and 28 to Pinot. “If I hadn’t crashed I could have followed [Pinot and Alaplilippe] and it’s a totally different story then,” Thomas told ITV afterwards. “Thibaut Pinot and Julian Alaphillipe have a good kick and punch – they are the guys to watch and beat.”

Today’s stage, a hilly one, features an imposing early climb in the shape of the Mur d’Aurec-sur-Loire, from which we should see the stage’s first breakaway and ends with a 30km loop around Brioude (Romain Bardet’s hometown of course) that should be tailor-made for a bunch sprint of those who’ve stayed the pace. The ever-formidable Peter Sagan, the current points leader, will, one suspects, be looking forward to this in particular.

Today’s stage starts at 12.25pm BST.

And since we’re starting in Saint-Étienne, here’s some gratuitous, and possibly appropriate, pre-stage music:

Tom will be here shortly to take you through stage nine.