Stage 9 | Arras – Roubaix | Tour de France 2018

This episode of The Cycling Podcast comes from the grandstand at the famous outdoor velodrome in Roubaix, which traditionally hosts the finish of the Paris-Roubaix classic.

Today’s stage nine covered almost 22 kilometres of cobbled roads and Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and François Thomazeau convene to make sense of the action and ask what the results mean for the rest of the Tour.

As expected, the stage spelled the end for at least one of the overall contenders and the unlucky man was Richie Porte, who crashed before the race even reached the cobbles. Ironically he crashed out of the Tour on the ninth stage last year too.

Most of the other favourites all finished together, with Romain Bardet and Mikel Landa conceding a few seconds. The most significant time lost was by last year’s runner-up Rigoberto Uran.

The stage was won by former Paris-Roubaix winner John Degenkolb - his biggest win since a horrible collision with a vehicle while on a training camp two years ago.

We hear from a number of people who were in the thick of the action, including Matt White, who was unhappy about the way Bardet regained ground after puncturing. We also hear from Porte’s team boss Jim Ochowicz and Degenkolb’s teammate Koen De Kort and sports director Steven De Jongh, plus Vincenzo Nibali’s domestique Heinrich Haussler and Bardet’s helper Oliver Naesen.

Monday is a rest day and we will return with our Press Conference episode in which Richard, Lionel and François will answer listeners’ questions. Send us yours via a WhatsApp voice note to +447971338205.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Rapha and Science In Sport.