Anthony Turgis denied British rider Tom Pidcock victory on the line in Troyes at the end of a chaotic stage nine of the Tour de France.
Turgis and Pidcock were in a group of riders who spent virtually all of the 199km stage in a breakaway and it came down to a reduced sprint, with Pidcock slamming his handlebars in frustration after coming within metres of a second career Tour stage.
Race leader Tadej Pogacar tested the mettle of his general classification rivals several times with Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic all having issues at different times.
But by the end there were no time gaps between the main contenders as they crossed the line a little under two minutes after Turgis.
A mechanical issue forced Vingegaard to take the bike of his team-mate Jan Tratnik, and such was the pace that he would never be able to change back before the finish.
Going into Monday’s rest day, Pogacar leads overall by 33 seconds from Evenepoel, with Vingegaard third at one minute 15 seconds, and Roglic fourth a further 21 seconds back.
The inclusion of a stage featuring some 32 kilometres of gravel sectors caused great controversy in the build-up to the Tour but there was no doubting the entertainment value.
