Afternoon everyone and welcome to live blog for the ninth stage of the Tour de France. We're heading from St Etienne where we finished yesterday to Brioude, birthplace of a certain Monsieur Bardet. If that weren't enough of an incentive for the Frenchman to give it a go, it's also Bastille Day... always an incredibly prestigious stage and much sought-after among the home riders in the peloton.
Tour de France
Stage 9 | Semi mountain | Men | 14.07.2019
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ByTom Owen
Updated 14/07/2019 at 16:16 GMT
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Thanks for joining me today, I'll see you tomorrow for the downhill smash to Albi!
Jan Tratnik took third in the sprint against Naesen, fourth, and Jasper Stuyven, fifth. Roche finished a further four seconds down.
The peloton have nine kilometres still to go and are currently being led by Team Ineos. They'll want to get Thomas and Bernal to the finish in safety.
That was imperious stuff from Impey. He knew he had it and waited for Benoot to go before easily blowing by him. That's a first Tour de France stage win for the South African national champion on his seventh participation in the race.
Impey is more than equal to that sprint from Benoot. He hits the jets and overtakes the Belgian easily. He points to the South Africa flag on his chest and celebrates as he crosses the line!
They are in the finishing straight. Benoot launches!
They hit the flamme rouge.
2km
Benoot senses the urgency and takes a turn on the front.
4km
The chasing group including Naesen, Stuyven and Soler is 14 seconds behind Benoot and Impey. The two leaders can't let up here or they'll be caught.
5,000 metres stand between Impey and Benoot and the glory of a Bastille Day stage win in the Tour de France.
The Bardet trio has been caught by the peloton.
Bardet has Porte and a Jumbo Visma rider for company. Meanwhile, Benoot continues to sandbag Impey.
The AG2R leader is on the hunt for time gained, rather than the stage win. That horse bolted some time ago...
Bardet attacks from the peloton.
Romain is going for glory in his hometown!
8km
Roche blows up. The small incline has done for the Irishman.
Benoot and Roche are leaning on Impey here. They know he's the fastest finisher of the three and they are going to try and force him to lead them all the way down to the line.
10km
They have a small 1km rise to contend with after a brief drop from the summit of the Cote de Saint-Just before they hurtle the last 9km to the finish line.
Impey blew right by Tratnik there and he's now leading this trio at the head of the bike race. The South African looks brilliant here!
13km
Impey jumps away from Stuyven and Naesen in an attempt to bridge to Tratnik.
The leading pair still have 1.5km to the summit and they are giving it some serious welly. Pain is writ large across both faces.