Jayco AlUla's Simon Yates is 17th in the general classification and the British rider is clearly not a fan of gravel, speaking to reporters at the start he said: "Last time I checked we did road cycling. It is not something I really enjoy. There is a place for it in the sport but I think we should stick to road racing.

"You could say back in the day all the roads were cobbles, but we are in 2024 now. It creates a risk for punctures and crashes for no reason but we have to deal with it."

Surely only a matter of time before the leading quintet are swallowed up. They only have 10 seconds now.

The breakaway of Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Jarrad Drizners (Lotto-dstny), Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) and Paul Lapeira (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale) have eked out 20 seconds.

Drizners and Lapeira, who received his weight in champagne this morning in Troyes, as recognition of his title as champion of France are not pulling mind, so their teams must want to get other riders up the road.

Jonas Vingegaard had a bit of bother on the cobbles from Lille to Arenberg a couple of years back if memory serves, where he had to change his bike about three times.

On that occasion though Wout van Aert very much came to the rescue putting in a sensational shift to bring him back to the GC group.

Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard has not done any recon on this stage and sounds slightly nervous about how things could go.

"All the guys who have seen it have told me about the gravel sections and given me as much information as possible," he said at the start line.

"I have done a few races in the past, some years ago and one time I have been second in one behind Kasper Asgreen but I also have bad memories from gravel racing. I would not take gravel or cobbles in [to a Grand Tour] I think it's an unnecessary risk."

Neilson Powless and Derek Gee try to get up the road in a group of five riders, albeit a strong tailwind is rather hampering their attempts to snap the elastic.

Now if anyone has a puncture or mechanical on the narrow white roads it'll be quite a disadvantage.

However, to try and minimise that the race organisers have four motorbikes at the ready equipped with six wheels of different brands, as well as bidons and tools, ready to provide neutral assistance for the riders.

Nothing quite sticking at the moment. The majority of the riders are on wider tubeless tyres today to combat the incoming gravel.

The flag drops and you've guessed it Jonas Abrahamsen is among the riders on the attack.

The man in the polka dot jersey spent more than 165km at the front of the race on Saturday.

Now then, you'd think that gravel world champion, Matej Mohoric would be playing up his chances of winning today considering the huge number of dirt roads incoming.

Not a bit of it. He reckons today's stage will be one of the most watched in this year's Tour and whoever gets in a break off the front will get the job done.

This could be a classic with riders fighting for position at all of these points:

• Chemin de Bligny à Bergères (2km), km 47.3 *
• Chemin de Baroville (1.2km), km 67 *
• Chemin des Hautes Forêts (1.5km), km 96.8 **
• Chemin de Polisy à Celles-sur-Ource (3.4km), km 105.2 *
• Chemin de Loches-sur-Ource à Chacenay (4.2km), km 118.6 *
• Chemin du Plateau de la Côte des Bar (2.2km), km, 131.9 *
• Chemin de Thieffrain à Magnant (3.9km), km 140.8 *
• Chemin de Briel-sur-Barse (2.2km), km 151.9 *
• Chemin du Ru de Paradis (1.2km), km 165.7 *
• Chemin de Fresnoy-le-Château à Clérey (1.8km), km 169 *
• Chemin de Verrières (1.5km), km 175 *
• Chemin de Daudes (1.9km), km 178 *
• Chemin de Montaulin à Rouilly-Saint-Loup (2.2km), km 182.3 **
• Chemin de Saint-Parres-aux-Tertres (3km), km 189.4 **

** Denotes harder sections of the race.

Image source, ASO

With 14 gravel sections totalling 32km heading in and out of Troyes, this is likely to be a tense and exciting stage with fights for position before each white section of road.

With punctures, mechanical issues and falls all likely to come into play, splits could well occur between the GC contenders - particularly if the elements turn nasty.

Image source, Reuters

Following the tragic news of Norwegian cyclist Andre Drege's death at the Tour of Austria on Saturday, Uno-X Mobility have been leading the tributes to the 25-year-old at the start of stage nine with a minute of applause.

The final stage of the Tour of Austria will also be a ride of condolence for Drege.

Good afternoon and welcome to our coverage of stage nine of the Tour de France.

Today's route includes 32.2 km of gravel. There will be 14 sections of white/dirt roads - including seven in the final 50km - which have become a trademark of Italy’s Strade Bianche.

Tadej Pogacar (twice) and Tom Pidcock have won the last three editions of the famous race in Tuscany, while Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert also have victories there on their palmares.

This could be an absolute thriller and there is every chance of a shake-up in the top 10 of the general classificationfor the yellow jersey.

Sit back and strap in.