​The Massif Central welcomed the peloton on Stage 9 of the Tour de France. In theory, it was the sort of terrain suited to a breakaway group. In practice, however, UAE Team Emirates – XRG in particular made for an extremely tough race, resulting in a battle for every second between the final four breakaway riders and the peloton right up to the finish.

In the end, the group held on to a lead of just a few seconds to the finish: on the uphill home straight to Ussel, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) won the stage. Second place in the four-man sprint went to Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), ahead of Thomas Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5). The peloton, which followed six seconds later, was led by Filippo Ganna (Netcompany – Ineos) ahead of Mads Pedersen (Lidl – Trek).

Van der Poel was the strongest rider in the breakaway

In the final, it was van der Poel in particular who kept the pace high from the breakaway group and did a lot of the work at the front. The Dutchman ultimately led the sprint up the final climb to Ussel and, thanks to his power, proved unbeatable by his three companions.

The stage took place on a modified route. On Saturday evening, the race organisers had announced that the stage would be shortened from 185.5 to 155.5 kilometres. The reason for this was the authorities’ “red alert” warning due to high temperatures in the Massif Central region. Once again, the stage took place in temperatures of between 35 and 40 degrees Celsius.

​​The jerseys for the 2026 Tour de France

​There were no changes to the top positions in the general classification. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) remains in the lead, 2 minutes and 42 seconds ahead of Jonas Vingagaard (Visma | Lease a Bike). Third place is held by Pogacar’s team-mate Isaac del Toro, who trails by 3 minutes and 27 seconds – he also wears the jersey for the best young rider. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe) follows in seventh place, four minutes behind.

In the general classification, Pedersen extended his lead once again on this stage. Pogacar remains at the top of the mountains classification.

​​​Tour de France 2026 – Results of Stage 9

​Here’s how Stage 9 of the 2026 Tour de France went

​The first highlight of the stage was the intermediate sprint after 15 kilometres in Beynat, which Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) won on an uphill section thanks to the work laid down by his team-mates Quinn Simmons and Mathias Vacek. Second place went to Biniam Girmay (NSN), and third to Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech). Anyone who thought, given the high temperatures, that the peloton would let a breakaway go and have a quieter day was in for a surprise.

Over the roughly 50 kilometres of undulating terrain, the peloton fought a tough battle with numerous breakaway attempts – the attackers included, amongst others, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) on several occasions. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal - Quick Step) won the mountain classification on the way to the Côte de Naves (Category 3) from a breakaway group.

The breakaway group is only caught after 65 kilometres

In the run-up to the Suc au May climb (Category 2), a group of 15 riders initially formed, which once again included van der Poel and Pidcock. After 65 kilometres, Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) broke away from this group. Behind them, a chasing group formed around van der Poel. This group included Pidcock, Derek Gee-West (both Lidl-Trek), Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) and Pablo Castrillo (Movistar). They caught up with the breakaway duo shortly before the summit of the Suc au May, after 74 kilometres. Pidcock won the mountain classification.

The group built up a lead of around 1 minute 30 seconds. However, UAE Team Emirates – XRG would not let them get any further ahead and at times closed the gap to as little as 50 seconds. With 56 kilometres to go, Pidcock, riding in the breakaway, also claimed the mountain classification on the Côte de la Croix du Pey (3rd category).

UAE Emirates is rapidly narrowing down the field

Due to the high pace set by UAE Team Emirates – XRG, the peloton was whittled down to around 40 riders on the undulating terrain of the Massif Central – including all the favourites, as well as Pedersen and Michael Matthews (Jayco – AlUla). With 50 kilometres to go, Netcompany – Ineos also joined in the pace-setting, ensuring that the leading group was kept at a gap of around one minute at all times.

As there was no consensus amongst the breakaway riders, van der Poel pushed the pace 25 kilometres from the finish on the final climb at Mont Bessou (4th category), won the mountain classification and was soon joined by Johannessen, Baudín and Pidock. The rest of the group was caught up with over the following kilometres. Nevertheless, 20 kilometres from the finish, the four breakaway riders had a lead of just 48 seconds over the depleted peloton.

Van der Poel is fighting to ensure the breakaway group’s success

The terrain remained undulating, even without any mountain classifications. A battle for seconds developed between the breakaway riders and the main chasing pack. Van der Poel, in particular, put in a lot of effort to lead the front group. Lidl–Trek also got involved in the chase, as Pedersen was still in the group. In the end, however, the leading group made it through by a matter of seconds.