Bob Jungels clung on to win stage nine of the Tour de France in Chatel as a breakaway was allowed its fun on Sunday.
Jungels went solo off the penultimate categorised climb of the 193-kilometre stage from Aigle to the Portes du Soleil ski station, still with some 64km to go, and held off a spirited late attack from Thibaut Pinot.
The Frenchman, who chose a day spent almost entirely in Switzerland to try to deliver a first home success of this Tour, closed a gap that had stood at around two minutes with a little more than 20km to go and got to within 20 seconds.
But Jungels, who had built his advantage by tackling the descent of the Col de la Croix at speeds nearing 100km an hour, extended his gap on the descent to the short uncategorised climb to the finish to claim his first career Tour stage.
Pinot was caught by Jonathan Castroviejo and Carlos Verona at the end to finish in fourth, just ahead of Tadej Pogacar who tried to outsprint Jonas Vingegaard to extend his advantage in yellow - unable to shake the Dane but managing to pick up three seconds on third-placed Geraint Thomas in the process.
Vingegaard remains 39 seconds down in second place overall, with Thomas now 77 seconds in arrears.
Victory for Jungels came after the Luxembourger tested positive for Covid-19 in the week before the Tour began, although the 29-year-old was allowed to race after doctors deemed he was not contagious to others.
More than that, this was a first race win since the 2020 Luxembourg nationals for the AG2R Citroen rider, whose has battled a number of injuries in recent seasons.
It was more frustration for Pinot, the Frenchman who had insult added to injury on Saturday when he was wiped out by a rival team's helper in a feed zone as he tried to recover from a crash.
They had been part of a 21-man breakaway which included stage eight winner Wout Van Aert in the points leader's green jersey as well as Rigoberto Uran, the Colombian who was second overall in 2017 and who began the day three minutes and 24 seconds off yellow.
