Results Tour de France 2026 Stage 9 - Mathieu van der Poel shows Philipsen how it's done and powers to breakaway win ahead of Johannessen and Pidcock
CyclingSunday, 12 July 2026 at 17:29
Mathieu van der Poel won a brutal, heat-shortened Stage 9 of the 2026 Tour de France, beating Tobias Halland Johannessen and Tom Pidcock in a four-rider uphill sprint in Ussel.
Van der Poel ripped apart the day’s strongest breakaway on the Mont Bessou before holding his nerve as the reduced peloton closed to within 20 seconds. Pidcock recovered from a late mechanical to contest the finish, but Johannessen denied him second place behind the Alpecin-Premier Tech star.
Pedersen takes maximum points before stage explodes
The route had been reduced from 185.5 to 155.5 kilometres after Correze was placed under a red heatwave alert. Removing the opening 30 kilometres placed the intermediate sprint around 15 kilometres into the stage, at the top of a 2.6-kilometre rise averaging 4.9%.
Lidl-Trek controlled the opening and positioned Mads Pedersen, who collected the maximum 25 points. Biniam Girmay secured second and 20 points, while Jasper Philipsen was unable to maintain contact on the uphill approach.
The fight for the break began immediately beyond the sprint. The opening phase was raced at approximately 45km/h despite temperatures around 37°C, with repeated attacks preventing any group from gaining meaningful freedom. Tim Merlier was among the first riders distanced, while Pedersen and Mathias Vacek also began suffering as the climbing intensified.
Read also
Pidcock forces decisive eight-rider selection
Valentin Paret-Peintre led over the Cote de Naves as the peloton began to disintegrate. A group containing Merlier and Girmay fell almost three minutes behind, while UAE Team Emirates – XRG kept Pogacar close to every dangerous move.
Gee-West eventually drove a 12-rider group away before it expanded to 15. Pidcock then completed an impressive solo bridge, but poor cooperation prompted Quinn Simmons and Johannessen to attack before the Suc au May.
Pidcock responded with Lennert Van Eetvelt and Gee-West. Van der Poel then crossed with Pablo Castrillo and Alex Baudin, forming an eight-rider front group with Simmons and Johannessen. Pidcock led them over the Suc au May, a 3.8-kilometre climb averaging 7.7% with ramps reaching 14%, and collected five KOM points.
The remaining members of the original break were caught as UAE continued riding through the valley. The pace reduced the peloton to 39 riders and kept the eight leaders within reach.
Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe were left with only Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz in the group, while UAE retained considerably greater support around Pogacar and Isaac del Toro. Tim Wellens drove the pursuit.
Pedersen, Alex Aranburu and Michael Matthews survived despite the sustained pressure, leaving Lidl-Trek with two riders in front and several more around the green jersey behind.
Tom Pidcock ahead of Stage 9 at the 2026 Tour de France
Van der Poel makes his move on Mont Bessou
The escape began the Cote de la Croix du Pey with only 1:15. UAE reduced that advantage to 55 seconds by the summit, where Pidcock accelerated clear to collect another two mountain points before the group came back together.
Improved cooperation briefly pushed the lead back to 1:20, but INEOS Grenadiers moved to the front of the peloton through Tobias Foss and Kevin Vauquelin. The team chased a possible victory through Filippo Ganna while also defending Egan Bernal’s GC position from Pidcock and Johannessen.
Hesitation reduced the gap to 40 seconds approaching the Mont Bessou. Van der Poel responded by attacking on the 900-metre climb at 6.4%, eventually distancing even Johannessen after Gee-West and Simmons had already lost contact.
Pidcock and Johannessen fought their way back to Van der Poel before Baudin also bridged across. Pidcock briefly lost contact with a rear-derailleur problem, but kicked the mechanism back into operation while descending and regained the leading trio.
Van Eetvelt was caught after a lone pursuit, while Simmons and Gee-West waited for the peloton as Lidl-Trek committed fully to Pedersen. They joined Carlos Verona in driving the chase, with Vauquelin also maintaining the pressure for INEOS.
The four leaders retained 45 seconds over the final rise. Simmons and Gee-West were dropped after completing their work, leaving Verona and Vauquelin to continue the pursuit before Cofidis added Ion Izagirre to the chase for Aranburu.
Van der Poel delivers in uphill sprint
The advantage stood at 38 seconds with two kilometres remaining, allowing the leaders to begin their tactical contest. Van der Poel remained on the front as the pace dropped inside the final kilometre and the peloton closed to 20 seconds.
Baudin, Johannessen and Pidcock waited behind, but Van der Poel refused to surrender his position. He launched the sprint on the rising road and held off Johannessen to claim the stage victory, with Pidcock crossing in third.
Carlos Silva is a writer for CiclismoAtual.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he contributes race reports, interviews, analysis pieces, and live coverage of the international cycling calendar. Holding a degree in Sports from the Jean Piaget Institute, he combines academic knowledge of performance, training, and competition with hands-on journalism experience in professional cycling.
Throughout his career, Carlos has conducted interviews with leading figures in the sport, including Alberto Contador, Joaquim Rodríguez, Óscar Pereiro, João Almeida, Isaac del Toro, Derek Gee, John Degenkolb and Geraint Thomas. These conversations reflect direct engagement with Grand Tour winners, Classics specialists, and emerging talents.
He has provided on-site coverage at major events ranging from the Vuelta a España to the Tour de France, alongside stage races such as Vuelta a Andalucía, Volta ao Algarve, Volta a Portugal and O Gran Camiño. Covering the mythical climbs of the Giro d'Italia remains one of his professional ambitions.
Carlos is responsible for liveblog coverage of all major WorldTour races and beyond, including the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España. His reporting integrates verified data from ProCyclingStats to ensure statistical accuracy, contextual depth, and analytical precision.
A lifelong cycling enthusiast, he approaches storytelling across written, photographic, and video formats with a focus on credibility, tactical insight, and informed race interpretation.
claps 8visitors 4
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- In other news, it seems Tadej has wished for more than just time changes, he now no longer wants to ride in July or August. And here we have the problem with popular people making suggestions to sound logical to the masses but are basically nonsense. Firstly, weather is pretty unpredictable, we’ve also had pretty cold summers in the last 10 years (at least 2 years we’ve had the fireplace on and we live somewhere defined as warmer than average. This is France’s third but not worst heatwave of the year, the others were in May and June so be happy you can ride in July and what is there to avoid in August? Most of the Vuelta is in September. If you move the GTs further off summer you worsen the « Giro problem » of icey cold, pouring rain and closed mountain passes. There is no reliable solution to prevent surprises, the only thing that would help is planning in last-minute flexibility, ie warning and preparing everyone involved there may be changes, delays. Because of course no-one is going to start discussing working on or mitigating the real problem which is we are all part of the problem why these things are happening and the people involved are far worse than the average. I for one will be following a few days like most years when they pass close enough, on a bike. Already sick and tired of silly water rationing rules. If people would treat water responsibly the rest of the year, we’d have enough in reserve for during moments like this.Mistermaumau13-07-2026
- I think they were under additional serious pressure after realizing Jasper wasn't delivering. But I also agree with you, it was a good profile for MVDP.Ride197413-07-2026
- Hmm, had to look that up, not my domain. I guess it’s similar but weight is more tricky, not sure it’s linearly correlated. When I go karting with my son who these days can be 10kg heavier than me we always used to imagine weight to be a factor why he was faster when he was lighter. Then he turned out to be faster when heavier so he put it down to skill. Until I convinced the course staff to designate the karts oppositely and the tables turned. They were forced to admit there were quite big differences between identical karts.Mistermaumau13-07-2026
- Would be very interesting indeed
Rafionain-Glas13-07-2026 - You realise that at that time, A. Doping didn’t interest too many and people hda hard time distinguishing what was morally ok and what not inthat department. B. There were very few voices and those there were were generally split according to nationality with non-Belgian ones were far more suggestive. C. All his rivals were equally doped so there was no point for neutrals to point in any direction. At the time doping was not considered so much immoral as dangerous. There are excellent website giving a simple summary of historical doping or an exhaustive listing of riders pinned for doping in each year. Let me know if you’re interested.Jumpyjohn12-07-2026
- Weird way of arguing to dispel suspicion. Let’s try another weird way to argue suspicion. There is no evidence any anonymous member of the public wants to harm children but would you leave when your child is in a playground and some guy is sitting around close by? It’s hunan nature to be suspicious and up to a point, healthy and useful, don’t tell people to stop. Some of the statements are downright silly, if anyone could prove it, there would be no point in accusing it would be fact. There are enough reasons to be suspicious, besides those that get repeated, how about the number of other riders where there was never proof or evidence who later admitted having doped or got caught out retrospectively? In any case, even if something were revealed it’s unlikely to be definedas doping, they’d be really stupid to try that AGAIN, but anything unfair that technically isn’t classable as doping will be argued as being legal and allowed. Anyone who knows Mauro knows how his lawyers work and the freedom it gives them in searching for no-risk solutions for advantages. You all seem to forget (or ignore) his personal experimentation with dopingless doping.Jumpyjohn12-07-2026
- Pity Traen crashed out, could have been this years’ surpriseJumpyjohn12-07-2026
- Can’t really tell your boss or sponsor you’re sraying home if they need you at work or pay you for it though, or is this how you function? It’s always been obvious he’d prefer not to have to go anymore, at least ever since he got his first stage to dedicate to his granpa.Jumpyjohn12-07-2026
- I think he went for it because it was an interesting stage for him to go for and because he felt in shape, no other reason. Or do you imagine he’d have held back if Jasper had won any or even ALL the sprints?Jumpyjohn12-07-2026
- Tadej Pogačar is facing another wave of doping allegations on social media and from skeptics following his historically dominant performances at the Tour de France. I want Vingegaard to be put through a scanner and analyzed in detail because it is impossible that in the 2nd toughest race in the world in May in the toughest sport, he made all 180+ cyclists look like amateurs with 80% strength. I want him to be examined in detail. He must be doping, just like Pogi. I want Merlier to be tested for gene doping and everything possible, because he must be cheating. Belgians, speak up!!! It is not possible that he is 5 times better than everyone else in the sprints, and he makes them look like amateurs. He must be doping, just like Pogi. I just want to hear Belgians on this topic.mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales12-07-2026
Loading
13 Comments