U.S. Team Wins Stage 9 Time Trial - Brit Stays In Yellow

Stage 9 of the Tour de France was a 28 kilometer team time trial. BMC Racing (United States) proved to be the top team, but only beat Team Sky (Great Britain) by 1 second. Movistar (Spain) finished in third, 4 second behind the American team. American Tejay Van Gardener moved into second place overall thanks to the great ride by BMC Racing, but Team Sky was able to keep their rider, Christopher Froome, in the Yellow jersey.

Monday will be a rest day for the riders -- and then the Tour moves into the mountains on Tuesday. Stage 10 has three category 4 climbs, and then finishes with a very difficult unrated climb. This stage should tell us who the real contenders are this year.

Here are the standings after stage 9:

YELLOW JERSEY (Overall Leaders)
1. Christopher Froome, Great Britain (Team Sky)
2. Tejay Van Garderen, United States (BMC Racing)..........12"
3. Greg Van Avermaet, Belgium (BMC Racing)..........27"
4. Peter Sagan, Slovakia (Tinkoff-Saxo)..........38"
5. Alberto Contador, Spain (Tinkoff-Saxo)..........1' 03"
6. Rigiberto Uran Uran, Colombia (ETIXX-Quick Step)..........1' 18"
7. Alejandro Valverde Belmonte, Spain (Movistar)..........1' 50"
8. Geraint Thomas, Great Britain (Team Sky)..........1' 52"
9. Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas, Colombia (Movistar)..........1' 59"
10. Zdenek Stybar, Czech Republic (ETIXX-Quick Step)..........1' 59"

GREEN JERSEY (Best Sprinter)
1. Peter Sagan, Slovakia (Tinkoff-Saxo)..........213 pts
2. Andre Greipel, Germany (Lotto-Soudal)..........210 pts
3. Mark Cavendish, Great Britain (ETIXX-Quick Step)..........159 pts
4. John Degenkolb, Germany (Giant-Alpecin)..........158 pts
5. Bryan Coquard, Francee (Europcar)..........102 pts

POLKA DOT JERSEY (Best Climber)
1. Daniel Teklehaimanot, Eritrea (MTN-Qhubeka)..........4 pts
2. Joachim Rodriguez Oliver, Spain (Team Katusha)..........2 pts
3. Alexis Vuillermoz, France (AG2R La Mondiale)..........2 pts
4. Michael Schar, Switzerland (BMC Racing)..........1 pt
5. Romain Sicard, France (Team Europcar)..........1 pt
6. Rafal Majka, Poland (Tinkoff-Saxo)..........1 pt
7. Thomas De Gendt, Belgium (Lotto-Soudal)..........1 pt
8. Christopher Froome, Great Britain (Team Sky)..........1 pt
9. Daniel Martin, France (Cannondale-Garmin)..........1 pt

WHITE JERSEY (Best Young Rider)
1. Peter Sagan, Slovakia (Tinkoff-Saxo)
2. Nairo Alenander Quintano Rojas, Columbia (Movistar)..........1' 21"
3. Warren Barguil, France (Giant-Alpecin)..........2' 05"

TEAM LEADERS
1. BMC Racing (United States)
2. Tinkoff-Saxo (Russia).........4' 04"
3. ETIXX-Quick Step (Belgium)..........7' 28"
4. Team Sky (Great Britain)..........7' 30" 
5. Movistar (Spain)..........7' 47"