Cycling-Dumoulin beats breakaway group to win ninth stage, Froome leads

By Julien Pretot ARCALIS, Andorra, July 10 (Reuters) - Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands attacked near the foot of the final climb to claim victory in the ninth stage of the Tour de France in extreme weather conditions as Alberto Contador pulled out of the race on Sunday. Giant Alpecin rider Dumoulin, sixth in last year's Vuelta, was the strongest of the day's breakaway riders, taking a solo victory in a deafening hailstorm after riding most of the day in temperatures nearing 40 degrees Celsius. Briton Chris Froome retained the overall leader's yellow jersey after controlling his closest rivals in the ascent to Arcalis, a 10.1km effort at an average gradient of 7.2 percent. Contador, who had crashed twice in the two opening stages and had a fever in the morning, called it quits 104km from the finish line after trying his luck one last time with a vintage early move. "I have not recovered from the crashes, I've been sick overnight, that's why I made this decision. I could not continue," said the Spaniard. Other top favourites had a tough time with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Italian Fabio Aru (Astana) and American Tejay van Garderen (BMC) losing ground in the ultimate climb of the first summit finish of the Tour. Overall, Froome, who made a few brief attacks in the finale, could not distance himself from last year's runner-up Nairo Quintana (Movistar) of Colombia, former team mate Richie Porte (BMC) of Australia, fellow Briton Adam Yates (Orica-Bike Exchange) or Ireland's Dan Martin (Eticc-Quick Step). Frenchman Thibaut Pinot, who lost all hope of a decent overall finish in Paris in the first Pyrenean stage, snatched the polka dot jersey for the best climber with a strong ride in the breakaway. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)