David Langenbein and Felix Schröder, dpa
Even after more than 150 kilometres through the heat of France, Mathieu van der Poel kept his cool and showed his true class in the sprint. At the finish line, following his victory on the ninth stage of the 113th Tour de France – which had been shortened due to the high temperatures – the Dutch former world champion was the first to receive a kiss from his girlfriend, with whom he is expecting a child.
“The start of the Tour hasn’t been great for our team,” said the 31-year-old, referring to his team-mate Jasper Philipsen, who has so far been unlucky in the bunch sprints. “But I think we’ve kept our cool, as always. We’ve got a great team and we believe we can turn things around.” For the 31-year-old Dutchman, this is his third stage win at the Tour.
After 154.6 kilometres of undulating terrain between Malemort and Ussel, the classics specialist prevailed in a sprint from a breakaway group, ahead of Tobias Halland Johannessen and Tom Pidcock. The group of favourites almost caught up with the breakaway riders just before the finish line.
The stage through the Massif Central had been shortened by around 30 kilometres to 154.6 kilometres due to the extreme heat – a first in the tour’s long history. A red heat alert had been issued for the Corrèze department. Temperatures reached almost 40 degrees.
Pogacar and other favourites cross the finish line together
Nevertheless, it turned into a fast-paced and thrilling race. Following numerous attacks, a group of eight riders formed on the climb up to Suc au May. At the final mountain classification, around 24 kilometres from the finish, van der Poel went on the attack. Pidcock had brief problems with his bike but managed to catch up again.
Among the favourites, the support riders for overall leader Tadej Pogacar set the pace and controlled the gap, particularly to Johannessen and Pidcock. Later on, the teams of Jonas Vingegaard and Egan Bernal also lent a hand, but were unable to catch up with the group.
Pogacar defended his yellow jersey and his 2:42-minute lead over the Dane Jonas Vingegaard. Germany’s hope, Florian Lipowitz, and his co-captain Remco Evenepoel were quickly left without support riders in the group, but crossed the finish line at the same time as their rivals. Just a few days after the Belgian had expressed his frustration at Lipowitz’s lack of support, the German could be seen fetching water bottles for himself and his team-mate from the support car.
“It was a really tough race right from the start, a really tough day. I’m glad we’ve got a rest day tomorrow,” Lipowitz told ARD. The fact that there were no support staff left wasn’t a problem: “It was just a really tough day. You can’t blame anyone for that. Everyone rode brilliantly; the whole team has done a brilliant job all week. We worked well together at the front.”
Before the start, the man in the yellow jersey, Tadej Pogacar, and his rival Jonas Vingegaard were shielded from the scorching sun by parasols. Many riders wore cooling vests or simply stuffed ice into their jerseys.
Following discussions with the authorities and the teams, the organisers had previously decided to shorten the stage. This was the first time in the history of the tour that this had been done due to high temperatures. The aim was to protect the riders and fans lining the route.
Degenkolb: Every minute you save helps
“It’s a tough stage,” explained Tour director Christian Prudhomme the night before. Since the Tour began on 4 July, the riders have been competing in “high, very hot temperatures”. According to Prudhomme, Pogacar expressed his gratitude for the decision.
German Tour veteran John Degenkolb also praised the shortened route in an interview with ARD: “Every minute you save in this sweltering heat when you’re pushing yourself to the limit is a relief. It really is a major challenge in these temperatures,” Degenkolb told ARD.
The new German champion, Felix Engelhardt, believes further changes are needed: “On the other hand, a 1.30 pm start isn’t really ideal, as you’re still riding during the hottest part of the day. We need to come up with a different solution in the long term.”
After the rest day, the next mountain stages
The race got off to an extremely fast start. In the first hour, the riders maintained an average speed of more than 49 kilometres per hour – and that was on narrow roads with plenty of small climbs. The toughest part of the stage, featuring a total of four mountain classifications, had not been cancelled.
Monday will be the riders’ first rest day. The race then continues in the Massif Central. On France’s National Day, the riders will face 3,800 metres of climbing and two Category 1 climbs between Aurillac and Le Lioran.
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