Daryl Impey became the second rider from South Africa to win a Tour de France road stage when he won stage nine in a two-man sprint on Bastille Day in Brioude today.
The SA champion had too much firepower for breakaway companion Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) over the final 200m and deservedly crossed the line first – proudly pointing to the SA flag on the front of his jersey. Behind, Jan Tratnik (Bahrain-Merida) finished third.
“It’s pretty much for me, from the Tour de France perspective, something that I was really missing,” said the rider from Mitchelton-Scott, who became the first African to wear the yellow jersey in 2013.
“It’s the seventh time I’m riding the Tour de France. I have been in a number of breakaways, to finally nail it today, is a dream come true. I really don’t have any words.”
Impey rode within himself on the final third category climb as several riders in the sizeable breakaway group took turns to accelerate, with the biggest kick coming from Nicolas Roche (Sunweb), who was later joined by Benoot.
When everyone else seemed to run out of steam behind them, the South African put in a sustained acceleration to catch the two up front just as they crested the climb.
On the fast run-in to the finish an attack from Benoot saw the end of Roche, leaving Impey and the Belgian to hold off the chasers over the final kilometres.
Impey, the better sprinter of the two, did the lion’s share of the work as they approached the line as he knew a stage win would more than likely be in the offing should they stay clear.
Earlier, Bora-Hansgrohe’s Lukas Pöstlberger attacked the 15-man breakaway group with 41km of the stage left in an all or nothing attempt to try and steal the stage. Even though he was able to build a lead of well over half a minute, he was reeled back 20km later on the final climb as the attacks started.
After a relatively sedate ride by the main contenders, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) remains in yellow going into tomorrow’s predominantly flat stage over 218km from Saint-Flour to Albi.
Daryl Impey claimed gold in stage nine of the Tour de France, which fell on Bastille Day, in Brioude today. Photo: A.S.O./Pauline Ballet
