Racing | Tour De France | Stage 9

17:10 CEST   

Another big group comes in. This stage didn't cause big gaps between the race favourites - apart from Ricco's time gain, and Schumacher's loss - but it did split the peloton up somewhat. Tomorrow's summit finish at Hautacam is likely to have a bigger effect on the top ten.

17:07 CEST   

Lövkvist and Hincapie come in together, 6'26 back. The white jersey has gone now.

17:05 CEST   

David Millar finishes in a group 4'34 back. His team-mate Vande Velde had a good day and is now up to third overall, leapfrogging Schumacher who drops to fourth.

17:02 CEST   

Schumacher leads home a group 1'56 back. He surely regrets his attack, which sparked off a succession of counter-moves and ultimately saw Lang caught by Ricco.

17:01 CEST   

Efimkin comes in 1'03 back. Team-mate Dessel takes third, 1'15. Kirchen was quite far back and so may not have got points. He had a tough day...

17:00 CEST   

He sits up, points to his chest, then throws his arms in the air. Efimkin will take second, having burned the others off his wheel with a powerful attack.

16:59 CEST   

He's sprinting all the way, and getting a great reception from the crowd.

16:59 CEST   

He sprints towards the line, pushing hard..

16:59 CEST    223km/1km to go

Final kilometre! The Italian is still trying to get time, realising that he's back in the GC hunt in this race.

16:58 CEST   

Ricco is inside the final two kilometres and is relishing this moment. His team-mate Piepoli is at the back of the group behind, content that the Saunier Duval squad will be celebrating this evening.