Matthieu van der Poel demonstrated high class in extremely hot conditions, overcoming temperatures of 40°C to claim his third stage victory in the Tour de France on Stage Nine.
Race Details and Victory
Gravel classic specialist Matthieu van der Poel won the ninth stage of the Tour de France on Sunday. The stage was shortened due to the intense heat. The thirty-year-old Dutchman, a former world champion, won the sprint among three teammates from the breakaway group. Tobias Johannesen came in second, and Tom Pidcock finished third.
After the race, Van der Poel noted: 'It was a very tough day. The start of the Tour wasn't the best for our team, but I think, as always, we remained calm.' He added: 'We really have a good group, and we kept believing that everything would change... but it is very pleasant to end the first rest day with a victory.'
Race Context and Leaders
Previously, Van der Poel worked as the lead sprinter for his teammate from Alpecin Premier Tech, Jasper Philipsen, who finished fourth and fifth in the sprint stages over the previous two days. Thus, Van der Poel finally got the chance to win a stage for himself.
Dominant champion Tadej Pogačar finished only six seconds behind the winner in the chasing peloton, thus maintaining his overall lead before the first rest day on Monday. The four-time champion leads Jonas Vingegaard, a two-time winner, by a margin of 2:42, while Mexican Isaac Del Toro trails by another 45 seconds.
Conditions and Stage Progression
Van der Poel, a three-time winner of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, had previously won stages in the Tour de France in 2021 and 2025. This stage was shortened by approximately 30 km due to a 'red signal' weather warning in the Corrèze central region. The temperature approached 40°C again, although on some sections of the stage it was around 30°C.
The tense marathon of 154.6 km started from Malemort to Ussel to join the breakaway group. Only about halfway through the stage did the eight-man breakaway finally break away on the steep 3.8 km Suc au May climb. The group never gained more than a minute and a half advantage, but they interacted well with each other.
Van der Poel attacked from this group when there were 25 km left to the finish on the day's last categorized climb, Mont Bessy, which is 900 m long and equally steep. Only Norwegian Johannesen, French Alex Bodin, and Briton Pidcock managed to follow him. Then followed an all-out attack towards the finish line, with a 50-second lead over a significantly reduced peloton.
