“The start of this Tour wasn’t very good for our team” – Mathieu van der Poel turns Alpecin-Premier Tech’s fortunes around with Stage 9 victory
CyclingSunday, 12 July 2026 at 17:52
Mathieu van der Poel ended Alpecin-Premier Tech’s difficult start to the 2026 Tour de France with victory on Stage 9, beating Tobias Halland Johannessen and Tom Pidcock after a punishing day in the Correze heat.
The Dutchman helped keep the strongest breakaway alive, attacked on the final classified climb and then controlled the four-rider sprint in Ussel. “It was a very tough day,” Van der Poel said in his post-stage flash interview. “The start of this Tour wasn’t very good for our team, but we stayed calm. We have a good group and we believed we could turn it around. It’s really nice to go into the rest day with a victory.”
Van der Poel refuses to surrender breakaway chance
Stage 9 had been shortened from 185.5 to 155.5 kilometres after Correze was placed under a red heatwave alert, but the altered route still contained approximately 2,800 metres of climbing in temperatures around 37°C.
The relentless fight to escape eventually produced a 15-rider move before Pidcock bridged across alone. Further attacks reduced that group to eight, with Van der Poel joined by Pidcock, Johannessen, Alex Baudin, Lennert Van Eetvelt, Quinn Simmons, Derek Gee-West and Pablo Castrillo.
UAE Team Emirates – XRG refused to concede the stage and kept the gap close throughout the climbing. The advantage fell below one minute over the Cote de la Croix du Pey, while a reduced peloton containing Mads Pedersen remained close enough to threaten the breakaway.
Van der Poel tried to restore urgency whenever cooperation began to fail. When the leaders reached the 900-metre Mont Bessou with approximately 25 kilometres remaining, he accelerated from the front and briefly distanced every one of his companions.
Pidcock and Johannessen eventually regained contact, followed by Baudin. Pidcock then suffered a rear-derailleur problem, but kicked the mechanism back into operation while descending and returned to the leading quartet.
“I put a lot of energy into keeping the breakaway alive”
Lidl-Trek committed Simmons and Gee-West to Pedersen’s pursuit after both dropped back from the escape, while INEOS also contributed to the chase. The four leaders continued working as their advantage fluctuated around 40 seconds.
“Not that confident,” Van der Poel admitted when asked how certain he had been of winning the sprint. “I put a lot of energy into keeping the breakaway alive. We fought for it. I’m very happy to finish it off like this.”
The leaders delayed their tactical contest until the final two kilometres. Van der Poel entered the last kilometre on the front and held his position as the peloton closed to within 20 seconds.
He launched first on the rising finishing straight and held off Johannessen, with Pidcock completing the podium in third. Van der Poel’s victory gave Alpecin-Premier Tech its breakthrough on the final stage before the Tour’s first rest day.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- seems like he finally found enjoyment ...Ketterechts12-07-2026
- he isn't one dimensional - road, cross, gravel, MTB. he just needs to check these GTs and leave it to the pure sprinters or climbers.mij12-07-2026
- winning MTB races - that would get headlines. anything MVDP does generates a headline.mij12-07-2026
- One-dimensional, haha, only someone who’s world turns around his idol can Trumpify a description so badly.Mistermaumau12-07-2026
- No, there was another reason, it was. TTT so his personal performance wasn’t really that relevant. There may be something to him not being 100% (but still pretty darn good) but nobody except him and his close entourage will know if it’s a remnant of the Giro, a temporary problem, or off day or he’s just pre-peakMistermaumau12-07-2026
- Oh c’mon, ! What’s the point in trying to sound knowledgeable after the man himself had already told the world how he’s feeling. Besides, didn’t take him long to regain that « one » percent.Mistermaumau12-07-2026
- I'm not so sure, going in I agreed with you. But, he hasn't really seemed to be 100% at this race. The only reason he was leading for a few days was UAE goofed on the TTT. Had they not messed up, Pogi would have been in yellow day 1. In the TTT somehow during the climb, the 2 big riders that were supposed to pull dropped off. UAE had faster times on the flats. So, 1 mistake cost a day 1 yellowmd197512-07-2026
- Spoiling it with another cheap silly title.Mistermaumau12-07-2026
- Fair enough but I prefer the MVDP version working for other team goals and even then, none of them really exude that crucial A-M ingredient in their personality, assertiveness. I’d be curious to know which recent riders you’d all consider to have been examples of A-M.Mistermaumau12-07-2026
- Well done guys, even if it failsMistermaumau12-07-2026
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