Tour de France 2022 Stage 9 LIVE - "Full-on racing" from the start of the second stage in Switzerland

1. Bob Jungels
2. Jonathan Castroviejo
3. Carlos Verona
4. Thibaut Pinot
5. Tadej Pogacar

Pog best of the rest. Again.

"I’m just overwhelmed to be honest. This is huge. This is what I came here for. I know it means a lot for the team and after a couple of years struggling, a very tough last year with surgeries and everything, also to take the victory this way is… It’s my style of victory. I’m super happy. I saw the shape was getting better day by day and to do something like this… I knew I had to try from far because probably on the last climb it was impossible to ride away from the favourites. I gave it a try.”

A 63km solo ride. You better believe he did.

He's been in a world of hurt for an age, but it will all be worth it.

Pinot won't even take second place, as Castroviejo and Verona appear from behind and go straight past.

From the remnants of the peloton, 48 seconds back Pogacar and Vinegaard sprint for seconds, taking one or two on Geraint Thomas and the rest.

Bob Jungels was able to recover well on that descent and even as Pinot rides desperately for the stage win, the AG2R man has been able to extend his advantage. It's going to be heartbreak for Pinot, for the umpteenth time. At least he should be used to that by now.

It's uncategorised, but it might be enough for Pinot, or either Spaniard to overhaul Bob Jungels. The Luxembourger just has to go for it.

The Frenchman loses his power-to-weight advantage and Jungels' TT prowess comes into play. Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers) and Carlos Verona (Movistar) aren't far behind, so they could provide some assistance to Pinot on the run to the line, but they will also be competition for the stage win.

He might well catch him, y'know. Either of these two riders would be very popular victors. Pinot because, well, Pinot; Jungels because he's similarly had a difficult couple of years and finally seems to be back to the top of his game.

McNulty returns to the fold, and right away Pogacar puts him to work on the front.

But, almost halfway up the climb, is it too little, too late? He's got 1'40 to make up on Bob Jungels, who is perhaps starting to struggle. He's been out on his own for quite a long time and put a lot of effort in on that valley road.

One third of the climb completed and Jungels' advantage hasn't reallly budged.

As the peloton comes closer to catching the green jersey group, Dani Martinez (Ineos Grenadiers) is struggling, just off the back.

This is a 15.4km climb, the sixth longest in the entire Tour de France, averaging 6.2% gradient. The steeper sections are where Jungels is now, and it eases up towards the top. It should take him about 40 minutes or thereabouts, but what does he have left after everything he's put in so far?

One thing that might help is that the bar remains open up to 10km from the finish, unlike the usual 20km.

UAE Emirates have rather lost control of this race, it seems. They've put in a huge amount of work and the only result is a whole load of burnt matches. Will McNulty be summoned back from the break?

This is apparently the first time the Tour has crossed over from Switzerland to France mid-stage since 1998. Magnus Backstedt won that stage.

Jungels presses on, now with a lead of 1'20 on the green jersey group, and now almost three minutes over the peloton. He'll probably get caught, but he's got a fighting chance, I reckon.

Bradley Wiggins, on the bike, is impressed with the way Jungels is riding, and his team's sneaky use of the car to shelter him from crosswinds by coming up on his side. Jungels has just turned left and now has a very helpful tailwind.

He's descending like a demon here, fully committed to the corners, hitting the apex, losing very little speed down towards the valley road. He's already about a minute ahead of the Wout van Aert group of chasers, who are roughly the same distance in front of the peloton. The threat of Rigoberto Uran has been effectively neutralised.

The race now rockets back down for 20km to Aigle, which is the home of the UCI, in the Canton of Vaud, and the foot of the final climb. Apparently David Lappartient is in the race director's car, which is a nice treat for him.

Bob Jungels is going for it.

As they neared the summit of the Col de Croix, the Cofidis rider made his way up to Jungels, sat on his wheel for a few hundred metres, and jumped out of the saddle to accelerate around. Geshke is now the virtual leader of the King of the Mountains competition. Well done Magnus Cort Neilson. You had a good run.

The AG2R Citroen rider increased the pace gradually and the others decided simply to leave him to it. Dan Lloyd wonders if Jungels hasn't gotten overexcited, but on the other hand, they can't afford to hang around, so why not eh?

UAE Emirates have been applying the pressure on this climb, and it's brought the break's advantage down meaningfully in the last fifteen minutes or so. They're about 5km from the summit, so the bunch and the break are only about 800m apart on the road.

Not much descending before the breakaway begins climbing again, with the day's first category 1 climb only 5km away.

Plenty of competition for the KOM jersey and it's Hugo Houle (Israel Premier Tech) who reaches out first, 500m from the top of the line. Pierre Latour is alert to it, going over the top of the Canadian to cross the summit in first place. Simon Geshke is keen himself, and the German overtakes Houle on the line to add 3 to his tally.

That's not enough to give us a new virtual King of the Mountains over this climb, but if either Simon Geshke (Cofidis) or Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) head over the top in first place, they will find themselves within two of the lead. 5.5km to the summit.