Vasseur Leads but Favorites Closing as Riders Hit Hills

The Tour de France moved to the mountains Monday, and the favorites moved closer to the top.

On Bastille Day, Laurent Brochard of France won the first mountain stage of a race that had been dominated by sprinters during the first week on relatively flat terrain.

Cedric Vasseur of France stayed in the overall lead, with Germany’s Jan Ullrich in second, 13 seconds behind. Ullrich finished second last year.

Ullrich’s teammate, Bjarne Riis, won the title last year. He moved to within 1 minute 43 seconds of the lead and was in fourth, but he lost 27 seconds to Ullrich.

Brochard, Riis, Ullrich, Richard Virenque and Marc Pantini were part of a small group that was ahead most of the day.

Brochard went off in the final 1.8 miles to win by 14 seconds over Virenque, Pantini and Ullrich in that order. Riis ended up 41 seconds back.

“To win the stage is one thing,” Brochard said. “To win it [on Bastille Day] is the cherry on the cake.”

There were four major climbs in the 113.1-mile ninth stage, including a trip up the Tourmalet, one of the most famous climbs of the Tour and ranked “out of category” in a rating system measuring steepness, length and difficulty.

Today is another day of mountains, 156.6 miles from Luchon through Andorra to Arcalis.