Primoz Roglic takes yellow off Yate as Tadej Pogacar wins Stage 9

LARUNS: Tadej Pogacar led home a Slovenian one-two in Stage 9 of the ongoing Tour de France as compatriot Primoz Roglic moved into the yellow jersey after a pulsating second day in the Pyrenees.

The Slovenian duo was part of a deluxe chase quartet alongside Egan Bernal and Mikel Landa which swept up Swiss escapee Marc Hirschi with just over one kilometre remaining after a heart-in-mouth descent of the Col de Marie Blanque on Sunday.

Team Sunweb's Hirschi put in a brave sprint after spending 90 kilometres on the front of the race, but Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) powered through to deny the 22-year-old a first professional win. The victory instead went to another Tour debutant, Pogacar, who moments earlier almost hit the deck when touching wheels with his compatriot in the sprint for bonus seconds over the top of the final climb.

Roglic, a winner in Laruns two years ago, took over the race lead after yellow jersey Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) was distanced on the Marie Blanque following a succession of attacks from the Slovenian duo and the white jersey of Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers).

Britain's Yates came home in a second chase group 54 seconds in arrears to drop to eighth place in the general classification on the eve of the first rest day. Roglic now leads defending champion Bernal by 21 seconds after the Colombian missed out on bonus seconds over the Marie Blanque and at the finish, where he took fourth place ahead of Spain's Landa (Bahrain-McLaren). IANS

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