A 153-kilometer stage highlighted by a heroic ride and back-breaking attacks ended in a near-photo finish. Marc Hirschi spent 90 kilometers alone at the front of the race, only to be slowly caught by the Tour's elite riders and just edged in a sprint by a pair of Slovenian superstars.

Tadej Pogacar, who blasted the peloton apart up the Category 1 Col de Marie Blanque, won the stage with one last fearless acceleration, edging out Primoz Roglic (now in the yellow jersey) and leaving the 22-year-old Hirschi with a consolation third place.

Sunday's stage was both thrilling and revealing. And though there were a lot of incredible efforts, the man of the day was clear.

Man, Marc Hirschi deserved this one

Hirschi might have won Stage 2 if the road had been just a little bit longer. Now he's lost a stage because the road was too long.

He went solo out of a breakaway group on the first Category 1 climb, the Col de la Hourcère, with approximately 90 kilometers to go in the stage. He had a lead of two minutes over his chase group (made up of Warren Barguil, Sebastien Reichenbach, Jonathan Castroviejo, Daniel Martinez, Davide Formolo, Lennard Kamna, David Gaudu and Omar Fraile) and three minutes on the peloton being driven by Jumbo-Visma at the top of the Category 3 Col de Soudet. He gained even more time on a brave descent alone down misty, dreary roads. I saw the lead go out to as much as 4:11 at the top of the Col d'Ichère, 37 kilometers from the finish. Then Jumbo-Visma began putting the hammer down.

As Hirschi hit the Col de Marie Blanque, the peloton had long caught the riders in the original break, and the gap to Hirschi was 3:37. Wout van Aert took over pace-setting in the peloton, and riders began shedding like clumps of hair. When Van Aert finally pulled off with 23.2k to go, all that was left were the Tour's elite.

And four Jumbo-Visma riders, still. The team may have underwhelmed on the Port de Balès on Saturday, but they were in fine form Sunday with clear ambitions to get Roglic a stage win.

But it was Pogacar, not anyone in an annoyingly yellow kit, who would obliterate the last sense of order to the race. He attacked with 20.5 kilometers to go, approximately 2k to the summit of the Col de Marie Blanque, just as the ascent hit its steepest gradients. Tom Dumoulin, Roglic's final teammate standing, bridged the gap then fell away. All that was left, speeding up behind Hirschi, were some of the very top contenders for the yellow jersey: Roglic, Pogacar, Egan Bernal, Richie Porte and Mikel Landa, with another elite group containing Adam Yates, Guillaume Martin, Romain Bardet, Nairo Quintana, Bauke Mollema and Rigoberto Uran not far behind.

In the next two kilometers, the following took place:

• A Bernal attack with 20k to go, covered by Pogacar that pulled Landa and Roglic, and left Porte desperately chasing.
• ANOTHER Pogacar attack soon after, at 19.7k to go, the youngster desperately trying to break the will of his rivals, though they held fast.
• Bardet acclerating to catch the group with 18.9k to go.
• Adam Yates, having fallen back into a third group about 40 seconds behind Roglic and company, plugging way at a solid tempo the whole time, hoping to time trial his way into keeping the yellow jersey.

When Hirschi finally crested the Col de Marie Blanque, he had maybe 12 seconds on the Roglic group, and about a minute on Yates in the yellow jersey. His day appeared to be over, destined to be collateral damage in the explosive attacks and counterattacks behind him.

He had a small lifeline, however: The descent. He got in his supertuck position and gradually widened his gap again up to 20 ... 25 ... maybe 30 seconds from his chasers at the furthest extent. Roglic was the second rider to cross the final summit, sprinting up Pogacar's left side to take a few key bonus seconds (and nearly cause his countryman to wipe out in the process).

Hirschi's advantage began to come back down with seven kilometers to go, when the road flattened out once again. With 3.5 kilometers to go, he had shipped another 15 seconds, and the Roglic group -- now Roglic, Pogacar, Landa and Bernal -- had him in sight, with their chasers just another 12 seconds back.

Hirschi, who had already completed the most courageous ride of the Tour thus far simply by fending off everyone to this point, had one last gambit left. In normalized conditions, Hirschi is easily the fastest sprinter among those who were still contending the stage. So sensing that he was about to be caught, he eased up and put his front wheel on the back of his chase group, hoping to give his legs a bit of rest before opening them up in the closing meters.

As the front five riders rode under the 1k-to-go Flamme Rouge banner, Hirschi tightened up his shoes. With 250 meters left, he broke for the line from fifth position on the road, and surged up to a bike length lead. But Pogacar and Roglic, having ridden within bunches all day, had fresher legs and better timing. Pogacar would once again spoil someone's day with an attack, pumping both fists in the air as he eked his bike over the line, first by more than half a bike length. Roglic took second by maybe a quarter of a wheel, and more importantly secured the yellow jersey. And Hirschi, for working harder than anyone by an order of magnitude, took a crummy third and won the hearts and minds of everyone watching in the process ... for whatever that's worth.

So that was ANOTHER wild day

Man, I don't know how anyone is still standing. The "hardest first week of the Tour ever" had its lulls, but more than delivered in the end. I'd like to gather all my thoughts about the Tour so far tomorrow, but here are some quick thoughts about what we've seen.

• Pogacar is the strongest rider in the field by far. He has been a relentless thorn in the side to everyone, repeatedly unearthing stores of energy to put his rivals in trouble. If not for losing time in the crosswinds, he'd be in the yellow jersey right now. Oh, and Sunday's win made him the youngest rider to win a Tour stage since someone named Lance Armstrong in 1998. Speaking of which ...
• There are so many absurdly good young riders in this Tour: Pogacar is 21. Hirschi is just 22. Bernal has already won a Tour, and sits second on the GC at 22. Wout van Aert may be the best cyclist alive at 25. None of this is normal. Riders like Guillaume Martin and Nans Peters -- 27 and 26, respectively -- should seem like breakout stars in their own right, not grizzled vets. And none of this takes into account that other incredible riders like Remco Evenepoel and Mathieu van der Poel didn't make the trip. The next generation is here and it is really damn good.
• Roglic is still probably going to win the Tour ... BUT I think it will be close until the end. Jumbo-Visma has proven it can drive a relentless pace ... up until mountains get really high, and then Roglic is often left fending for himself. He has proven that he is more than capable to the task, but he doesn't nearly have the protection that, say, Chris Froome enjoyed as he was winning four yellow jerseys. And Roglic still hasn't proven that he can perform during the third week of a grand tour. He'll have to sustain a lot more punches before Paris.
• This is turning out to be a good Tour for France Martin and Bardet are in third and fourth place on the general classification, respectively, and neither Roglic nor Bernal look invulnerable. If you had known ahead of the Tour that Thibaut Pinot and Julian Alaphilippe would struggle so much, you would have never guessed that France's chances of winning the yellow jersey may be better this year than they were last year. Couple that with two stage wins by Frenchmen thus far, and things are looking up for the hosts.
• Good bye Fabio Aru. The former Italian national champion and perennial grand tour what-if fell off the back of the race as soon as it started, and abandoned the Tour shortly after. He got the prying camera treatment, and was clearly unhappy about it. He also gave a heartbreaking quote about his career struggles:

There are no soft falls in cycling.

WHAT ELSE

The inevitably sad Thibaut Pinot reaction to Stage 8: “Today is maybe a turning point in my career."

(He looked better Sunday, even if he clearly didn't feel better.)

David Gaudu REALLY wanted this spectator's poncho.

Better social distancing on the mountains today.

I watched a lot of today's stage expecting eldritch horrors to pop out.

A memorial to Nicolas Portal, the former French rider and Team Sky sporting director who died of a heart attack this year at age 40.

Here's Nans Peters' giddy reaction to the brand spanking new sticker on his number plate commemorating his stage win.

The standings

STAGE 9

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) -- 3hr 55min 17sec
2. Primoz Roglic(Jumbo-Visma) -- "
3. Marc Hirschi(Sunweb) -- "
4. Egan Bernal (Ineos) -- "
5. Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren) -- "
6. Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) -- +11sec
7. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) -- “
8. Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) -- "
9. Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) -- "
10. Rigoberto Uran (Education first) -- "
11. Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) -- "

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) — 38hr 40min 01sec
2. Egan Bernal (Ineos) — +21sec
3. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) — +28sec
4. Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale_ -- +30sec
5. Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) — +32sec
6. Rigoberto Uran (Education First) -- "
7. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) -- +44sec
8. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) — +1min 02sec
9. Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) – +1min 15sec
10. Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren) -- +1min 42sec

GREEN JERSEY

1. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) — 138 points
2. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) — 131
3. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) -- 111
4. Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) -- 106
5. Matteo Trentin (CCC) — 98

POLKA DOT JERSEY

1. Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R-La Mondiale) — 36 points
2. Nans Peters (AG2R-La Mondiale) -- 31
3. Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) -- 26
4. Ilnur Zakarin (CCC) -- 25
5. Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) -- 24

Stage 10 preview -- 168.5km from Le Chateau d'Oleron to Saint-Martin-de-Ré (Tuesday)

Stage 10 will begin at 1:45 p.m. local, 7:45 a.m. ET on Tuesday. For those watching from the United States, coverage will begin at 7:30 a.m. on NBCSN. (Here’s NBC’s complete broadcast schedule).

Don’t get that channel? You’ll need to pay, sadly. I really like the NBC Sports Gold Cycling Pass, which gives you a commercial-free stream as well as some handy race-tracking whatzits. The much cheaper option, however, is Peacock Premium, which costs $4.99 per month and will reportedly get you access to live coverage of every stage, though presumably with ads and without the whatzits.

If you can’t watch live and want access to replays, it appears Gold is your only way to go.

After Stage 9, the Tour de France will bus up the Atlantic for a rest day in La Charente-Maritime, then race along the water Tuesday.

Did you enjoy the crosswinds stage of Stage 7? Well Tuesday could be even windier, with almost zero shelter as riders wrap their way around a bay, facing gusts from every angle. Putting this course just after a rest day is a very mean thing to do.

Not even a whisp of a climb there, so expect sprint teams to do everything they can to control the race, until such a point when Ineos gets it in their heads that they can push the tempo and catch a GC rider napping. Definitely check the weather report ahead of the stage. If there's no sea breeze, then there might no be much to look at for most of the stage except for sweeping ocean views.

BONUS REST DAY PREVIEW: Riders will be getting their Covid-19 tests done Monday. Waiting out those results could be more nerve-wracking than any ascent.

Shell out for oysters and pastis and have a great Labor Day.