After the rest day , the ninth stage of the Tour de France 2004 led from Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat to Guéret over 160.5 km. This was the shortest of the tour - apart from the time trial. The profile was quite wavy and so many attacks followed.
However, this attack was again thwarted by the main field. After that there was an attempt by Halgand, Perreiro and Peron, which was followed by Iban Mayo , Azevedo and Hruska and Richard Virusque . However, because of Mayo, this group was also put back.
After many smaller attacks, the Spaniard Landaluze and the Italian Simeoni finally managed to get a lead of a maximum of ten minutes. Later, the Dutchman Karsten Kroon tried to catch up with the two, but he did not succeed. He let himself fall back into the field.
The lead of the leading group decreased continuously. In addition, there were a few attacks at the end, but these were thwarted again by the field. The field was able to catch up with the leading group in the last 20 meters and Robbie McEwen was able to secure his second stage by a few millimeters before Thor Hushovd .
