Sunday, in Ussel, the Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel won the 9th stage of the Tour de France, cut by thirty kilometers due to the intense heat. The Alpecin runner, 31, won in the sprint in front of his three breakaway companions: the Norwegian Tobias Johannessen, the Briton Tom Pidcock and the Frenchman Alex Baudin.
On the eve of the first day of rest, Slovenian Tadej Pogacar remains at the top of the general classification, with 2 minutes and 42 seconds ahead of Dane Jonas Vingegaard. The two favorites crossed the line together, surrounded by around forty runners, just six seconds behind the winner of the day.
This is the third victory in the Tour de France for Van der Poel, the grandson of Raymond Poulidor whose memory was saluted by numerous banners along the roads of Corrèze, after those in Mûr-de-Bretagne in 2021 and Boulogne-sur-Mer last year.
The stage, reduced from 185 to 155 km as the Corrèze department went into heatwave red vigilance, gave rise as expected to a fierce battle to take the breakaway on uneven terrain, ideal for adventurers.
The general ranking
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO/UAD) 32 h 17 : 04.
2. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN/TVL) at 2:42.
3. Isaac Del Toro (MEX/UAD) 3:27.
4. Remco Evenepoel (BEL/RBH) 3:30.
5. Juan Ayuso (ESP/LTK) 3:34.
6. Paul Seixas (FRA/DCT) 3:55.
7. Florian Lipowitz (GER/RBH) 4:00.
8. Lenny Martinez (FRA/TBV) 4:21.
9. Mattias Skjelmose (DEN/LTK) 4:57.
10. Egan Bernal (COL/IGD) 9:12.
Monday’s stage
Cantal has some nice surprises in store for climbers once again this year, with a route of 166.6 between Aurillac and Le Lioran. “Their scene thickens when they climb the Col de la Griffoul, new to the Tour program, then with the prospect of the Pas de Peyrol, which this time will be tackled by Murat. There will still be a lot to explain when attacking the Col de Pertus, a road steep enough to let go of its last rivals. But the Lioran station can also serve as a setting for a close match between the masters of the game,” according to Christian Prudhomme.
