Luxembourger Bob Jungels won the 9th stage of the Tour de France 2022 between Aigle, Switzerland, and Châtel Les Portes du Soleil, Haute-Savoie. He won ahead of the Spaniards Jonathan Castroviejo and Carlos Vérona. The Frenchman Thibaut Pinot, who was less than twenty seconds behind the race leader, broke down in the last kilometers and failed at the foot of the podium. Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, favorite and double title holder, keeps his yellow jersey.
In this 192.9 km stage, a breakaway of around twenty riders, including nine Tour stage winners, formed at the end of the first hour. His lead capped at more than three minutes, due to Pogacar’s men chasing not to leave Colombian Rigoberto Uran, second in the 2017 Tour, too big a lead.
The pursuit of Pinot
At the front, Jungels took the lead in the Col de la Croix, 64 km from the finish, to present himself at the foot of the Pas de Morgins (15.4 km at 6.1%) with an advantage of two minutes on his former companions and almost three and a half minutes on the pack of favorites. Pinot emerged from the intercalated group less than 9 km from the summit. The Frenchman started a chase behind Jungels to erase the delay approaching two minutes, without managing to catch the Luxembourger.
The 29-year-old Jungels won the Tour for the first time. But he has the “monument”, Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2018, on his list, which now includes 25 victories. Recruited for 2021 by the team of Vincent Lavenu, the Luxembourger had to be operated on last year for the iliac artery. He only recovered his level late, during the Tour de Suisse (6th).
First victory for a Luxembourger on the Tour since 2011
Apart from the national titles in Luxembourg, his last international success dates back to March 2019 (Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne). He brought some comfort to the French team whose leader, the Australian Ben O’Connor, has been suffering for several days. Luxembourg had not won in the Tour de France since Andy Schleck in 2011.