Van der Poel wins shortened Tour de France ninth stage

Cobbled classics specialist Mathieu van der Poel claimed his third Tour de France win on Sunday with victory in the ninth stage, which was shortened due to intense heat.

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The 31-year-old Dutchman, a former world champion, won a sprint among his three breakaway companions with Tobias Johannessen taking second and Tom Pidcock third.

"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," he said.

"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."

Having worked as a sprint lead-out man for his Alpecin Premier Tech teammate Jasper Philipsen – who had finished fourth and fifth in the sprint stages – in the previous two days, Van der Poel finally had a chance to go for a stage win for himself.

Reigning champion Tadej Pogacar came home in the chasing peloton six seconds behind the winner to maintain his lead in the overall standings ahead of Monday's first rest day.

💛 The end of a perfect first week for @TamauPogi and @TeamEmiratesUAE!

💛 La fin d’une première semaine parfaite pour @TamauPogi et @TeamEmiratesUAE !#TDF2026 pic.twitter.com/NGi2fh7C8H
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 12, 2026

The four-time champion leads two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard by 2min 42sec with Mexican Isaac del Toro a further 45sec back.

Van der Poel, a three-time winner of both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix – the two most important one-day cobbled classics – had previously won Tour stages in 2021 and 2025.

MVDP Magic. ✨#TDF2026 pic.twitter.com/Rx8E7y2Wt5
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 12, 2026

And although he won a record eighth cyclocross world title earlier in the year, this season had not gone to plan.

It was the first year since 2021 that Van der Poel had failed to win one of the prestigious Monument one-day classics, although he did claim the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and E3 Saxo Bank classics.

"It's only my third victory so it shows how hard it is for me to win a stage in the Tour," said Van der Poel.

"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."

'HORRIBLE' ROADS

This stage was shortened by around 30km due to a "red alert" weather warning in the central Correze region.

Temperatures once again reached close to 40C, although in parts on the stage it was nearer 30C.

There was a furious battle from the beginning of the 154.6km run from Malemort to Ussel to make it into the day's breakaway.

It was not until about halfway through the stage that an eight-man breakaway finally went clear on the steep 3.8km-long Suc au May climb.

The group never eked out a lead of more than a minute and a half, but they worked well together.

Van der Poel then attacked out of that group with 25km left on the final categorised climb of the day, the 900 m-long and equally steep Mont Bessou.

Only Norwegian Johannessen, Frenchman Alex Baudin and Briton Pidcock were able to follow and then it was a full-throttle charge to the finish line with a 50-second lead over the significantly-reduced peloton.

The breakaway riders had plenty in the bag and even slowed down in the final kilometre in a cat-and-mouse game before the final sprint.

🏆 Full power!

🏆 Tout en puissance ! #TDF2026 pic.twitter.com/3sVxzD5FHv
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 12, 2026

But when Van der Poel launched that, it was clear that he would be too strong for the others.

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

"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."

Not long before Van der Poel crossed the line, a press vehicle crashed into barriers, injuring eight spectators, one of them seriously.

The Correze prefecture told AFP the driver of a car belonging to newspaper L'Equipe "fell ill" less than 500 metres from the finish line, hitting the barriers marking out the course and injuring the spectators standing behind them.

One of the spectators was in critical emergency care on Sunday, though their life was not in danger, and the other seven people were only slightly injured, the same source added.

STAGE 9 RESULTS

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin–Premier Tech) – 3:27:51

2. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) – same time

3. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) – same time

4. Alex Baudin (EF Education–EasyPost) – same time

5. Filippo Ganna (INEOS) – +0:06

6. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) – +0:06

7. Michael Matthews (Team Jayco AlUla) – +0:06

8. Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) – +0:06

9. Nicolas Breuillard (TotalEnergies) – +0:06

10. Sean Quinn (EF Education–EasyPost) – +0:06

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION