Van der Poel wins shortened Tour de France stage nine

USSEL: Mathieu van der Poel took his third Tour de France stage victory on Sunday, winning stage nine after a late breakaway effort in a route that had been cut short because of extreme heat.

The 31-year-old Dutch rider, a former world champion known for his success in cobbled one-day races, prevailed in a sprint involving the four riders who had broken clear late in the stage. Tobias Johannessen finished second and Tom Pidcock came in third.

Speaking after the finish, Van der Poel said the opening part of the Tour had been difficult for his team before the breakthrough result ahead of the first rest day.

It was a super hard day. The start of the Tour was not great for our team, but I think, like always, we stayed calm.

We have a really nice group here and we kept believing that it will turn around.. but it's really nice to go to the first rest day with a win.

Van der Poel had spent the previous two days working as a lead-out rider for Alpecin Premier Tech teammate Jasper Philipsen, who had placed fourth and fifth in the sprint stages, but stage nine gave him the opportunity to chase a result of his own.

Break forms after long battle

The stage from Malemort to Ussel was reduced by about 30 kilometres after authorities issued a red alert weather warning in the central Correze region. Temperatures again rose to near 40C, although some sections of the course were closer to 30C.

There was an intense fight from the start to make the day’s escape. An eight-man breakaway only managed to go clear around halfway through the 154.6km stage, on the steep 3.8km Sucau May climb. The group’s advantage never exceeded one and a half minutes, but it stayed organised enough to resist the peloton.

Van der Poel then attacked with 25km remaining on the final categorised ascent, the 900m Mont Bessou. Johannessen, French rider Alex Baudin and Britain’s Pidcock were the only men able to go with him, and the quartet pressed on to the finish with a lead of 50 seconds over a much smaller chasing peloton.

With enough time in hand, the four eased slightly in the final kilometre before contesting the sprint. Once Van der Poel launched his effort, however, the outcome was no longer in doubt.

He said he had needed to spend heavily to keep the move alive against pressure from behind.

It's only my third victory so it shows how hard it is for me to win a stage in the Tour.

It will always be special to win one. Sometimes, it looks really easy because in the past seasons we (Alpecin) always succeeded in winning a Monument or winning sprints in a Tour, but we know that it will not always come that easy.

That's also why we just keep working and keep believing in it and we do our best -- that's all we can do.

I was not so sure. I spent a lot of energy trying to keep the break alive.

There was a lot of pressure from the bunch. The roads were horrible for a breakaway with a headwind the whole day.

"We fought for it and I'm happy to finish it off."

Pogacar keeps overall lead

Defending champion Tadej Pogacar finished in the chasing peloton, six seconds behind the stage winner, and retained the race lead heading into Monday’s first rest day. The four-time champion leads two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard by 2min 42sec, with Mexico’s Isaac del Toro another 45 seconds back.

Van der Poel had previously won Tour stages in 2021 and 2025. Earlier this year he also collected a record eighth cyclocross world title. This was the first season since 2021 in which he had not won one of cycling’s Monument one-day classics, although he did win Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and E3 Saxo Bank.

Crash near finish injures spectators

Shortly before Van der Poel crossed the line, a press vehicle crashed into barriers near the finish, injuring eight spectators, one seriously.

The Correze prefecture told AFP that the driver of a car belonging to newspaper L'Equipe had fallen ill less than 500 metres from the line, causing the vehicle to hit the barriers and strike spectators standing behind them. According to the same source, one spectator was receiving critical emergency care on Sunday but their life was not in danger, while the other seven suffered minor injuries.