Despite several heavy attacks on the gravel sections around Troyes on the afternoon of stage 9 of the Tour de France, Tadej Pogachar finished Sunday without extending his GC lead heading into the first rest day.

The Slovenian made several attempts to leave behind his main rivals for the yellow jersey, such as Remko Evenpor, Jonas Vingegaard, and Primoš Roglic.

He succeeded several times, taking Vingegaard and Evenpore with him. However, at the end of the 199 km stage, the "Big Four" all finished together, 1:48 behind stage winner Anthony Turgis.

At the post-stage press conference, Pogachar, who has won gravel races Strade Bianche and Haen Paraiso Interior in the past, said he preferred to enjoy racing on the gravelly surface rather than trying to beat his rivals' times.

"I like to drive on gravel. I think it's in my nature. I also prefer to ride at the front rather than at the back, so I tried a few times to make some gaps, but with the headwind, it was pretty, pretty bad."

Pogachar said that before the first rest day in Orleans, he did not have a clear idea of what he would do before this stage, which was his third GC showdown. He said the opening run to the first of 14 gravel sectors was "hectic" and the rest of the race was "super hard.

He added that the final run back to Troyes was headwindy and difficult to make the moves.

"I didn't have a clear vision before the stage," he said. I was just thinking about surviving." When we stopped to take a piss, we started going fast. Then we got into the first sector and on the uphill we were already very divided.

"It was really tough at the end, but it would have been tougher with a tailwind. But we did our bit."

Pogachar broke away from the leaders with 77km, 21km, and 7km remaining in the stage. His first attack was on the gravel of the Côte de Chacnay in category 4, where he and Vingegaard chased down Evenpoel. However, Vingegaard refused to work and was put back after 7 km.

In the second Veliers section, Vingegaard, riding teammate Jan Tratnik's bike, and Visma-Ries A bike teammate Matteo Jorgenson rode together, but again, the Visma riders refused to switch, so only a few km He was unable to run.

The Slovenians were the most aggressive of the GC men on the day, although their acceleration on the last gravel section of the day, Saint-Paul-aux-Tetres, was also unsuccessful.

Pogachar later said he expected that from the Visma athletes, even if Vingegaard was languishing 1:15 behind him on GC and 42 seconds behind second-place Evenpole.

"Honestly, I don't know. Honestly, I expected that. But I guess I underestimated some of the other players, like Lemko Evenpoel and Primosz Roglic."

"Today, Jonas and I were able to run away from the other GC racers, and me, Lemko, and Jonas were able to secure a podium finish. But everyone is doing their own race. You can't deny that. That's the way it is."

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