Ineos Grenadiers started Sunday's ninth stage of the Tour de France with four riders inside the top 10 overall, but finished the day one man short after Daniel Martinez was 15 minutes behind in the yellow jersey.

While most of the time the breakaway riders were battling for the stage win, the main GC contenders were able to go dry without launching any major attacks on the Alpine climbs. Martinez was the rider who suffered the biggest stall in the Pas de Morgins.

The 26-year-old Colombian had been named as one of the team leaders heading into this year's Tour, but his GC aspirations were dashed on Sunday.

Martinez fell off the pace early in the final climb and was unable to rejoin the pack. The group then proceeded uphill, entering a short descent before the final unclassified climb, and then up to the finish line.

Race leaders Tadej Pogachal (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) were three seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas, Adam Yates, and Tom Pidcock, while the trio's teammate, Ineos Grenadiers' Martinez was far behind Pogachal's time by 15.03 seconds. When all was said and done, Martinez had dropped from 10th place by 1:59 to 30th place by 17:12 in the Tour GC standings.

"I wasn't feeling good today. It showed," said Ineos' deputy team principal. Rod Ellingworth, Ineos' deputy team principal, said after the stage, "We're not in good shape today, and it showed.

"We'll have to see what happens, but it's probably a little disappointing for him.

So far, despite Pogachal's impressive performance, the strength in numbers of the Ineos Grenadiers has been dependable, with the team sending multiple options to the starting lineup every day. The ability to play a variety of cards when on the attack will be useful as the uphill climb continues with the tools. Ahead of Sunday, Martinez appeared to be part of that strategy, the winner of the 2020 Criterium du Dauphiné and this year's Iturria Basque, and a strong fifth overall in the Grand Tour at last year's Giro d'Italia.

That success came to an end on Sunday, with UAE Team Emirates pushing a high pace on the climbs and Marc Soler and George Bennett doing the hard work and not letting the break take too long. Nevertheless, Ineos still had three riders within striking distance of the race lead. Former Tour winner Thomas is 1:17 back in third, Yates is 1:25 back in fourth, and Pidcock is 1:46 back in seventh.

Ellingworth said Sunday that Martinez's rough day would not significantly change the team's approach going forward.

"Not really," Ellingworth said. 'At the end of the day we have three guys left on GC. Tom will be there and I think Lord has done his part so far for Tom.