Tour de France Stage 9 TTT: Etixx - Quick-Step Powers to 7th

Tour de France Stage 9 TTT: Etixx - Quick-Step Powers to 7th

Etixx - Quick-Step, despite missing three-time UCI World TT Champion Tony Martin due to a withdrawal from Le Tour de France after a crash, finished 7th in the 28km team time trial from Vannes to Plumelec on Sunday.

BMC Racing Team won by a single second over Team Sky with a time of 32 minutes and 15 seconds. Team Sky was fastest by 5" by the third checkpoint, but a 5th rider went into difficulty on Côte de Cadoudal (1.7km, 6.2%) into the finish. Movistar was in the hot seat before those teams crossed the finish line, and took 3rd (+4").

Etixx - Quick-Step finished 45" down on BMC Racing Team, with an average speed of 50.909 kilometers per hour.

Etixx - Quick-Step heads into the first rest day with a highly successful first week. The team won Stage 4, Stage 6, and Stage 7, and Tony Martin wore yellow after his solo victory in Stage 4 before he crashed inside 3km to go in the 6th Stage. Martin also finished 2nd in the opening time trial in Utrecht. Zdenek Stybar attacked late to win the 6th Stage, and Mark Cavendish won the 26th Tour de France stage of his career in the 7th Stage.

Rigoberto Uran remains 6th in the GC, 1'18" down from Chris Froome (Team Sky)in the race lead. Zdenek Stybar is 10th (+1'59").

"I think we have done a good TTT considering that Tony wasn't here with us," Uran said. "With him we could have done better, but we are satisfied with our result. Technically we rode well and we didn't lose too much time from the winning team. Concerning me, I'm happy about this first week of Le Tour. My goal was to work with the team and be useful for them. I think I have done well with these objectives. Starting Tuesday it is another Tour de France entirely. We will see what the road can bring. As I said at the start of this race, we will go day-by-day."

"I watched the race on television and I can say that it was pretty fast considering all the up and downs of the parcours," Martin said while recovering from surgery to fix a broken collarbone suffered in a crash earlier in the week. "The guys did very well and they didn't lose a lot of time. I am proud of them. They interpreted the race very well, with a good start, and they kept riding consistently until the end. Of course I wish I would have been there with them. There's nothing worse than seeing your teammates suffering and you can't help them. I wish them all the best for the next two weeks of racing."

Watch Tony Martin's reaction to the team's TTT performance here: https://www.facebook.com/opqscyclingteam/videos/vb.213365598715839/983904384995286/?type=2&theater