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| - As the Tour de France pauses for a rest day on Monday, AFP looks back at how the action unfolded on the first nine days of racing. Stage 1 Nice to Nice 151km flat The 2020 Tour de France got underway two months later than planned due to the Covid-19 pandemic and instead of bright sunshine, host city Nice offered rain. The result: a series of crashes. "Half the peloton scored a touchdown," Ineos rider Luke Rowe joked at the end of the stage won by veteran sprinter Alexander Kristoff of UAE Emirates on the famous Promenade des Anglais after one last peloton pile up. Stage 2 Nice to Nice 186km hilly Organisers had said the 2020 route looked like the 2019 one and as if to illustrate the point Julian Alaphilippe produced a carbon copy of a successful long-range rampage last year as he attacked on a late climb in Nice. He delivered by romping to the stage win and pulled on the yellow jersey again, sparking French hopes that he could once again hold it for 14 days. Lurking quietly in second overall was the Briton Adam Yates, just four seconds off the pace. "I'm pretty happy with that," said Yates, blissfully unaware of what was coming a few days down the line. Stage 3 Nice to Sisteron 198km flat Australian pocket rocket Caleb Ewan produced an irresistible late burst of speed to pip Sam Bennett of Ireland on the finish line in the first mass bunch sprint. The timely win gave Lotto a double boost after the team was reduced from eight to six riders on stage one and four of their technical staff were sent home after testing positive for the coronavirus. "The world is watching and everyone would like to be here at this, it's the biggest race in the world and I'm delighted," Ewan said. Alaphilippe held on to the overall lead with ease. Stage 4 Sisteron to Orcieres-Merlette 154.5km mountainous There was an element of showboating to Jumbo leader Primoz Roglic's celebrations after the Slovenian outkicked his key rivals to take the first summit finish. Defending champion Egan Bernal and fancied Frenchman Thibaut Pinot were part of the 12-man group that finished with the same time. "If we learned one thing, we learned that Jumbo are very difficult to keep up with," said Alaphilippe, who kept the yellow jersey again. Stage 5 Gap to Privas 183 flat Britain's Adam Yates had gone back to the team bus and had already showered when he was called back to reluctantly pull on the yellow jersey as overnight leader Julian Alaphilippe was penalised for taking on a water bottle in the final 20km, a penalty that divided opinion in the cycling world. "Nobody wants to take the jersey like this, said the Mitchelton-Scott leader. Easy to forget that Belgium's Wout Van Aert won the fifth stage and Sam Bennett became the first Irishman to pull on the green sprint points jersey since Sean Kelly in 1989. Stage 6 Le Teil to Mont Aigoual 191 mountainous Alexey Lutsenko of Astana completed a long breakaway over two mountains in the magnificent Cevennes National Park. A few minutes later Yates crossed the line with the overall contenders in tow. "When you grow up as a kid everyone wants to wear the Tour de France yellow," said Yates. "I came here to win stages, so once we get to the high mountains I'll try that." Stage 7 Millau to Lavour 168km rolling Bora and Ineos set out to hurt their rivals and, after a day of frantic racing, succeeded. Peter Sagan's outfit set a 70km/h pace early on trapping Bennett and Ewan in crosswinds. While several overall contenders lose 81 seconds in the standings. "Today was okay, I'm more focussed on the weekend with two really hard mountain stages," said defending champion Egan Bernal. Stage 8 Cazeres-sur-Garonne to Loudenvielle 141km Mountainous On this first Pyrenean slog the hotly-tipped French star Thibaut Pinot became the first overall contender to go into meltdown. "This might be a turning point in my career" he said after finishing 15 minutes down. But Jumbo's Tom Dumoulin also lost two minutes as Nans Peters achieved a solo win over three major mountains in the presence of French Prime Minister Jean Castex. Adam Yates dug deep to cling on to the yellow jersey. Stage 9 Pau-Laruns 153km Mountainous Slovenians took the laurels in the Basque country as rookie Tadej Pogacar won a Pyrenean mountain slog and his compatriot Primoz Roglic took over the overall lead. "Many things will happen to all of us on the way to Paris," Roglic warned when he was reminded that defending champion Egan Bernal was only 21 seconds adrift. The longer climbs awaiting the Tour in the latter stages should suit the slightly built Bernal, and there has been no sign of panic from the Colombian despite repeated attacks from his rivals. dmc/pb/dj
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