After suffering a tire puncture midway through the chaotic, gravel-filled Tour de France stage 9, Jonas Vingegaard (Vimaris-a-Bike) was forced to ride the remaining 199km stage on teammate Jan Tratnik's bike.

A slow puncture in the last 3km made a busy day even more difficult for Jonas Vingegaard, the two-time Tour de France champion.

Yellow jersey Tadej Pogachar came under pressure from UAE Team Emirates, with the defending champion unable to return to the team car after the first bike change.

With 98 km to go, Vingegaard jumped on Tratnik's bike, which was suffering from mechanical problems. Vingegaard was forced to return to the peloton alone, despite the presence of several teammates.

Back in the fractured pack, he was assisted by his Visma Reese A bike teammates, European champion Christophe Laporte and Wout Van Aert, to the front of the pack.

Although similar in build, Vingegaard was 2 cm taller than Tratnik at 1.75 meters and had to race on a bike that was not perfectly suited to his body.

UAE Team Emirates ran tactically to keep the pace up, and Pogacar, now third in GC, was not given enough room to get back on his bike.

Remco Evenpole (Sourdal-Quick Step) and Pogachar covered the two attackers.

"It was too early to change with Jan. I didn't even get on the car. I was always in the group. I'm really happy to have made it to the finish today."

Wingegaard thanked his teammates for sacrificing their bikes to keep him out of trouble.

"They did a really good job today. Jan gave me the bike. Jan gave me a bike and ...... Everyone else kept me in the lead the whole time I was going through all the sectors in first place, and when I couldn't keep up with them they kept me in the lead. And sometimes they closed the gap when I couldn't keep up. So I think I owe them a lot for what they did today."

Vinger admitted that Pogachar was the strongest on Sunday's stage, especially in the loose gravel sectors.

"In the gravel sectors he was the strongest. Especially when (the gravel) is loose, a rider of my weight doesn't have much of an advantage. Especially when [the gravel] was loose, a rider with my weight is at a disadvantage. The gravel was loose, and to be honest, it was really difficult to control the machine because it kept sliding."

He also made it clear that he was against adding "unnecessary risk" gravel stages to the Tour de France.

"It was a very stressful day. I don't think gravel stages belong in the Tour de France."

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