Froome keeps yellow, Porte struggles

Irishman Daniel Martin crosses the Stage 9 finish line after a spectacular breakaway. Source: AFP

RICHIE Porte's Tour de France podium ambitions have suffered a deadly blow as Cadel Evans returned to form and Movistar unsuccessfully attempted to ride Chris Froome into the ground on an eventful stage 9 of the centenary tour.

Porte tumbled from second overall to 33rd after losing 17min,59sec on the 168km trek over five categorised climbs from Saint-Girons as Sky team-mate Froome doggedly retained the yellow jersey.

Spain's Alejandro Valverde moved into second place ahead of Dutchman Bauke Mollema as Evans banished stage 8 misery with a typically tenacious and clever display.

The Victorian rose seven places in the general classification to be 16th overall, 4min,36 behind behind Froome, after finishing sixth to on the stage won by Ireland's Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp).

Dane Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Pole Michal Kwiatkowski (OPQS) filled the minor placings as the Porte plummeted out of contention.

Froome retains a 1min,25sec lead over Valverde (Movistar) with Belkin pair Mollema (1:44) and Lauren Den Tams ((1.50) and Saxo-Tinkoff's Alberto Contador (1:51) next. 

Porte finished 60th on the stage, only a day after rising to second iwith a career-best showing in Ax-3-Domaines.

But he was unable to recover from those exertions as Evans rebounded.

"A little bit better, a much better day," Evans said.

"It was a bit of a dramatic start.

"Certainly keeps your hopes alive. Quitting is definitely not an option right now."

Isolated when Porte cracked and Peter Kennaugh crashed, Froome was remarkable in the face of an unrelenting onslaught from Valverde's well drilled squad.

The Spaniard's henchmen repeatedly attacked the Briton, particularly on the final climb to La Hourqette d'Ancizan where Colombian Nairo Quintana tested Froome with four sharp attacks.

Froome responded to all of Movistar's moves, but the expected impact - and with the conspicuous absence of Sky lieutenants today - has suddenly invigorated the centenary Tour.

Hoping to wound Froome, Movistar attempted to strip away Sky's aura of invincibility, succeeding on most fronts, apart from dislodging Froome at the top of the general classification.

Evans was solid throughout the stage after briefly losing contact after enduring bike issues early.

The 2011 champion was among a high-class group of general classification riders who sparred all day.

A flurry of attacks came as soon as the starter's flag dropped.

Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ) claimed the first of five categorised climbs at Col de Portet-d'Aspet after a manic opening hour before a dangerous cluster of five riders broke away.

Giro champion Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin), Pierre Rolland (Europcar), Igor Anton (Euskatel) and Yury Trofimov (Katusha) trailed Thomas Danielson (Garmin) over category 1 Col de Mente as the race exploded behind them.

Porte and Evans lost contact as Contador and Valverde attacked, compelling Froome to counter.

Forced to change bikes, Evans fell off the pace again before a super solo counter-attack on the descent from de Mente enabled the Australian to catch Froome's group after 55km.

There was only a brief respite before Valverde and Movistar team-mate Ruben Plaza attacked again, leaving Froome with no choice but to respond on the long haul to Col de Peyresourde.

After 20km of high-stakes skirmishing, Valverde called a truce allowing Evans, Contador and Froome to reunite in a 20-rider group as change continued at the head of the race.

Porte's struggles continued as Thomas De Gendt won the intermediate sprint in Bagneres-de-Luchon. 

Orica-GreenEDGE's Simon Clarke launched out of the chasing peloton along the saw-toothed Peyresourde, riding away from Froome, Contador and Evans.

De Gendt took the king of the mountain points after slugging 13km to the Peyresourde summit before tackling the long, dangerous descent to Louderveille as Clarke made contact.

The Victorian launched near the feed zone in Armenteule, with 75km to go, and quickly surged away as the terrain swept upwards to category 1 Col de Val Louron-Azet.

Winner of the Vuelta mountain's jersey last season, Clarke duly claimed honours at the second last climb as Porte briefly raised hopes of a revival.

When Clarke began the descent to Guchan, he held a 20sec lead over Rolland, Romaine Bardet and Bart de Clerq with Froome, Contador and Evans at 1min,15sec.

Clarke's escape ended soon after and he was then caught by the peloton, which then reeled in Bardet on La Hourqette d'Ancizan.

With Porte badly hurt, Movistar turned on Froome on the final climb of the stage.

Quintana repeatedly jumped the race favourite in an orchestrated move as Martin (Garmin) and Fuglsang (Astana) swept over d'Ancizan before rocketing down the rapid descent to the finish.

Earlier, South Australian Rohan Dennis and Swiss Michael Schar failed to start.

Garmin-Sharp said the plan had always been for Dennis to abandon the Tour after nine stages, but the Olympic silver medallist suffered a minor calf injury.

"We wanted to get him through the first rest day and we're only a day short of that," Garmin-Sharp said in a statement.

"He did a fantastic job here and we're proud of how he rode for the team.

"Now he'll go home, rest, recover, and focus on the rest of his season with the benefit of having ridden his first Tour de France."

Dennis was thrilled to have been given the chance to contest the Tour.

"Having the opportunity to ride my first Tour at my age was incredible and a huge honour," Dennis said. 

"I would have liked to make it a little longer in the race but now it's time to go home and rest and recover.

"I'm very thankful for the support of my team and I know the guys will continue to do a great race."

BMC's Schar could not continue after failing to recover from a fall last week.

Two other competitors - Movistar's Jose Ivan Guittierez and Saxo-Tinkoff's Benjamin Noval - also dropped out.

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JERSEYS - STAGE 9

YELLOW

Christopher Froome was forced to defend the yellow jersey without any of his Sky teammates and he answered every challenge Movistar and Saxo-Tinkoff could throw at him to keep the race lead.

GREEN

Another tough day for the sprinters including the man in green, Peter Sagan, who will welcome tomorrow's rest day before a few flat stages ahead.

POLKADOT

Pierre Rolland takes the polkadot jersey outright by moving to 49 points, ahead of Chris Froome on 33 and Richie Porte on 28.

WHITE

Nairo Quintana remains the best young rider on general classification after several attempts to get away from Froome on the final climb of the day.

CADEL WATCH

A much better day for Evans who remained with Froome and the other GC contenders right to the finish and didn't concede any further time. Sits sixth overall.

THE AUSSIES

Richie Porte had a tough day at the office and slipped outside the top 10, as did Michael Rogers while Simon Clarke featured in an early breakaway for Orica-GreenEDGE.

Re-live the Stage 9 drama with Reece Homfray's live chat in the window below.

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