Colbrelli enters ninth place

Manama : Bahrain’s Merida Pro Cycling Team rider, Italian Sonny Colbrelli was classified in ninth place and Japanese Yukiya Arashiro in 24th yesterday as they completed the 10th stage of the 104th Tour de France in four hours and a minute from Perigueux to Bergarac over 178km.

The stage winner was the German Marcel Kittel (4:01;00) of the Quick-Step Floors team which saw 180 of the original 198 riders in action.

Aside from Colbrelli and Arashiro recording the same time as the stage leader, four other riders from the Bahrain team - Janez Brajkovic (83rd, Slovenia), Ondrej Cink (106th, Czech Republic), Tsgabu Grmay (114th, Ethiopia) and Javier Moreno (126th, Spain) also achieved the feat among 138 riders overall with the same recorded time.

The other two Bahrain riders classified were - Grega Bole (153rd, Slovenia, +0:51) and Borut Bozic (154th, Slovenia, +0:51). 

Bahrain’s ninth team member Spaniard Ion Izaguirre has already withdrawn since the opening stage in Dusseldorf, Germany after suffering a lumbar fracture of the lower spine.

The tour began with 22 teams comprising 198 riders racing 21 stages over 3,540km in varying terrains such as flat courses, hills and the mountains, with the final stage on 23 July covering 103km over a flat course from Montgeron to the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

The tour resumes today with the 11th stage taking the remaining (180) riders from Eymat to the city of Pau over 203.5km of a relatively flat course before the Pyrenees mountain stages.

Bahrain Merida Classifications Positions: 

45. J Brajkovic (SLO, 39 minutes 28 seconds) 

50. O Cink (CZE, +43:22)

107. J Moreno (ESP, +1:09:23)

115. Y Arashiro (JPN, +1:12:54) 

129. T Grmay (ETH, +1:17:23)

143. S Colbrelli (ITA, +1:24:19) 

146. G Bole (SLO, +1:24:38)

171. B Bozic (SLO, +1:36:32)