Bagneres-de-Bigorre, France (My Sportsbook) - Italy's Riccardo Ricco captured Stage 9 of the Tour de France on Sunday, while Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg remained the overall leader of cycling's most prestigious event.

Ricco finished the difficult 224-kilometer trek into the Pyrenees in a time of five hours, 39 minutes and 28 seconds, beating Russia's Vladimir Efimkin by one minute and four seconds to earn his second stage victory of this year's Tour. He previously won Stage 6 on Thursday.

Thursday was also when Kirchen first captured the coveted yellow jersey as the overall leader and he has not yielded it since. He finished 12th on Sunday, 1:17 behind Ricco, and still has a lead of six seconds over Australia's Cadel Evans, who was bloodied in a crash on Sunday.

"I survived what was maybe a bad day," said Kirchen, who did not appear too confident heading into the next mountain stage on Monday. "Maybe I was suffering but that's the Tour and I hope to be better tomorrow. We're just going to see what happens. I just hope my legs are a little bit better in Stage 10. If I feel like I did today, I will be [passed]."

Evans fell midway through the stage and suffered multiple cuts, but he was able to recover and crossed the line 23rd with the same time as Kirchen.

American Christian Vande Velde wound up 20th on Sunday and moved up a spot into third overall, remaining 44 seconds behind Kirchen. Germany's Stefan Schumacher couldn't keep up with the leader's pack and dropped into fourth overall, another 12 seconds off the pace.

Denis Menchov of Russia is 63 seconds behind the leader in fifth, while Spain's Alejandro Valverde is another nine seconds back in sixth overall.

Vande Velde, Menchov and Valverde all finished Sunday's stage with the same time as Kirchen, while Schumacher came in 40 seconds behind that pack in 41st place, causing him to drop in the overall standings.

Ricco, who took the lead for good near the top of the final climb on Sunday, moved up to 21st overall.

"I had told you the other day that I would win another one [stage]," said Ricco. "It was not part of the plan to attack when I did, it was just a spur of the moment decision. The mountains are my domain and it's great to be able to perform so well."

Another difficult mountain stage is on tap for Monday, as the riders will make a 156-kilometer jaunt from Pau to the ski resort of Hautacam.