by Our Sports Desk

CHRIS FROOME held on to the Tour de France race leader’s yellow jersey yesterday as Team Sky were beaten by one second on the ninth stage team time-trial from Vannes to Plumelec.

Froome began the day with a lead of 11 seconds over Tinkoff-Saxo’s Peter Sagan and 13 seconds over Tejay van Garderen of BMC Racing.

The 2013 champion was influential in Team Sky finishing in 32 minutes 16 seconds, but Van Garderen’s BMC Racing squad won by the most slender of margins.

The 28-kilometre route was technical, twisting and finished with a 1.7km ascent to the finish, where time gaps were expected to open up.

Times were given on the fifth rider of the team, meaning unity was important and Team Sky stuck together well until the road ramped up in the final 500m and that is where the stage was lost for the British squad.

The battle for the maillot jaune will begin in earnest on Tuesday in the Pyrenees, following Monday’s first rest day and transfer to Pau.

On Saturday, Froome showed his authority as the Tour leader on stage eight.

Froome was well positioned by his Team Sky squad at the foot of the Mur de Bretagne, the concluding ascent of the 181.5km route from Rennes, and made a spurt to intimidate his rivals.

Alexis Vuillermoz claimed the first French win of the 102nd Tour, with Birmingham-born Irishman Dan Martin (Cannondale-Garmin) a frustrated second.

Froome finished eighth on the stage — one place behind fellow Briton Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) — and overall remained 11 seconds clear of Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), who was fourth on the day.