Primoz Roglic became the first Slovenian to wear the yellow jersey, taking the overall lead by finishing second in the ninth stage won by countryman Tadej Pogacar on Sunday.
What happened?
The ninth stage of the Tour de France saw a mountain shakeup, with Roglic finishing second and taking the lead.
Why it matters for Primoz Roglic
Roglic, a pre-race co-favorite with defending champion Egan Bernal of Colombia, could hold the lead through the three-week Tour’s end in Paris in two weeks.
What comes next?
The Tour has a rest day on Monday, when all riders are to undergo coronavirus testing, and the flat, 10th stage on Tuesday starts and finishes on two different islands for the first time in Tour history.
Roglic now leads Bernal by 21 seconds with Frenchman Guillaume Martin in third place, 28 seconds behind.
Pogacar moved into seventh place, 44 seconds back, after becoming the youngest Tour stage winner since Lance Armstrong in 1993.
Brit Adam Yates, who led Roglic by three seconds going into Sunday, was dropped on the last of five categorized climbs and fell to eighth in the overall standings, 62 seconds behind.
Roglic won last year’s Vuelta a Espana, becoming the first Slovenian to win a Grand Tour.
Pogacar finished third, becoming the youngest Grand Tour podium placer since 1974.
American Sepp Kuss, Roglic’s teammate on Jumbo-Visma, said “It’s the perfect position to be in going into the second week”,
with stages that are coming being ones they would want to be in control anyway.
The stages include a couple windy stages and some really medium mountain stages that could be tricky.
Roglic, a 2007 World junior team ski jumping champion, is in a strong position to win the Tour de France.
The next stages will be crucial for Roglic to maintain his lead and become the first Slovenian to win the Tour de France.