BMC has won Stage 9 of the Tour de France. The American squad won a rolling, 28-km team time trial from Vannes to Plumelec in 32:15, edging Sky by 0:01 and Movistar by 0:04. Chris Froome (Sky) remains the maillot jaune.

Orica-GreenEdge, the first starter, won the last Tour time trial in 2013 and would ordinarily have been a favorite today. However, the Australian squad has lost three members to crashes. The six riders remaining went slowly to keep the injured Michael Matthews inside the time limit. Orica-GreenEdge finished five minutes behind BMC.

Lampre-Merida set the early standard with a 33:03. That time remained the standard until IAM Cycling bettered it by 0:10.

Astana was the first of the contenders’ squads to ride. The Kazakh team posted a 32:50 to take the lead, but with Tinkoff-Saxo Bank, BMC, Movistar, and Sky yet to ride, the time was unlikely to be the last word.

And it was not. Movistar got off to an excellent start, only to lose time when the team split into three parts on a climb. However, the Spanish squad got reorganized and outdid Astana by 0:03.

Tinkoff-Saxo Bank had hoped to move closer to the yellow jersey, but it failed to do so. The Russian squad was 0:07 faster than Astana but 0:24 slower than Movistar, and BMC and Sky had yet to finish.

BMC, the world team time trial champion, powered over the course and finished in 32:15. Sky, the last starter, matched pedals with the American team. The British squad was 0:01 behind BMC at the first time check and 0:01 ahead at the second. At the base of the climb to the finish, Sky led BMC by 0:05.

On the ascent, Sky, which was down to five men, dropped Nicolas Roche. Froome dropped back and paced the Irishman back to the other four riders. The hiccup probably cost Sky the stage, as BMC won by only 0:01.

Some observers had expected BMC to win by enough to put Tejay van Garderen in the yellow jersey. After the stage, the American squad seemed content to “settle” for the stage win. "We knew we were on a really good ride," the BMC captain said. "In a perfect world, we would have taken the stage and the yellow jersey. But we will take the stage win. Honestly, I couldn't be happier."

For Sky, which came close to winning but still kept the yellow jersey, the outcome was satisfactory but somewhat bittersweet. "We should have won that,” Geraint Thomas said. “Fair play, BMC did a good ride there. It's disappointing. There's a tough week now. A lot of people would say the Tour starts on Tuesday, which is crazy in a way. But I think we can be happy, we put time into everyone else bar Tejay but we really wanted that."

In the overall, Froome leads teammates van Garderen and Greg van Avermaet by 0:12 and 0:27, respectively. Tomorrow will be the Tour’s first rest day. Tuesday will be the first of three days in the Pyrenees. Stage 10 will be a standing shaker. The 167-km ride from Tarbes to La Pierre-Saint-Martin will take the riders over three Category 4 ascents before they tackle the hors categorie climb to the finish. Who will win? Will a Frenchman such as Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale), or Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) win on Bastille Day? Will Froome, Nairo Quintana (Movistar), or Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo Bank) win? Check in on www.roadcycling.com and find out!