Van der Poel wins shortened heat stage of the Tour de France in the Massif Central

Heat detector and stage record

The stage had originally been planned at a length of 185.5 km, but was shortened to 154.6 km because of the extreme heat. The 9th stage between Malemort and Ussel was shortened by 30 km to 155.5 km due to extreme heat. The start in the département of Corrèze, for which Météo France had issued the red alert level, took place at temperatures of around 38 degrees Celsius in the shade, with locally almost 40 degrees measured. It is the first time in the long history of the Tour de France that a stage has been shortened because of excessively high temperatures.

The shortening was decided by the organizers after discussions with authorities and teams. Before the start, Yellow Jersey wearer Tadej Pogačar and his rival Jonas Vingegaard were shielded from the burning sun with parasols, many riders wore cooling vests or stuffed ice into their jerseys. The riders' union CPA had demanded in a letter before the stage start that the start times of summer races be adjusted to protect the health of the athletes.

Breakaways shape the race

The race was characterized by a series of breakaway attempts. Marc Hirschi from the Tudor team broke away together with other riders and rode in the lead group for a while; 66 kilometers from the finish, the Bernese rider was then swallowed up by the peloton again. Marc Hirschi, who had also taken part in a breakaway attempt, ultimately made it to the finish with the favorites. In the first peloton with the Tour favorites including Pogačar, Vingegaard and Co., Yannis Voisard and Marc Hirschi were also present.

After around 60 kilometers, 16 riders broke away from the peloton; on the climb to the Suc au May, an eight-man lead group formed. They blew the eight-man lead group apart as the gap dropped to 30 seconds, with Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock, Tobias Johannessen and Alex Baudin attacking again at the front. About 24 kilometers from the finish, van der Poel attacked at the last categorized mountain climb; 15 kilometers from the finish, the group of four had finally broken away from the rest of the breakaway.

Group of four decides the sprint

In the peloton, the Emirates team of leader Tadej Pogačar also tried to close the gap to the escape group. The peloton ultimately came to within six seconds of the breakaway. The breakaway made it to the finish in Ussel just in the nick of time ahead of the charging peloton. Pidcock briefly had a mechanical problem along the way but was able to rejoin the group.

The route through the Massif Central included around 3,000 meters of elevation, with the final climb being 700 meters long. The first hour of racing was ridden at an average speed of more than 49 km/h. The stage included four categorized mountain climbs, with the hardest part not removed from the program.

Pogačar defends the Yellow Jersey

In the general classification, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) successfully defended his jersey as overall leader. The Slovenian finished the stage in eleventh place, six seconds behind van der Poel. His lead over the Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Visma – Lease a Bike) remained unchanged at 2:42 minutes. Third in the general classification is Pogačar's teammate Isaac del Toro from Mexico at 3:27 minutes back, followed by the Belgian Remco Evenepoel (+3:30) and the Spaniard Juan Ayuso (+3:34). The German rider Florian Lipowitz is in seventh place at 4:00 minutes back, the Austrian Felix Großschartner is in 38th place at 44:29 minutes, and the second Austrian Marco Haller is in 131st place at 2:18:51 hours.

Tour director Christian Prudhomme said at the finish: „Es ist eine harte Etappe“. According to the report, Pogačar thanked the organizers for the decision to shorten the stage. John Degenkolb said in the ARD interview: „Jede Minute, die man sich spart bei dieser brütenden Hitze, hier Höchstleistungen zu bringen, das ist angenehmer. Ist schon eine große Herausforderung bei den Temperaturen.“ Felix Engelhardt added: „Auf der anderen Seite: 13.30 Uhr Start ist jetzt nicht so hilfreich, da fährt man trotzdem in den heißesten Stunden des Tages. Da muss man sich langfristig noch eine andere Lösung überlegen."

Voices of the riders

Florian Lipowitz said in the ARD interview: „Es war von Anfang an ein richtig hartes Rennen, ein super harter Tag. Ich freue mich, dass morgen der Ruhetag kommt." Lipowitz and his co-captain Remco Evenepoel crossed the finish line at the same time as the other favorites. Lipowitz continued: „Es war einfach ein super harter Tag. Da kann man keinem einen Vorwurf machen. Jeder ist super gefahren, das ganze team hat schon die ganze Woche einen super Job gemacht. Wir haben uns vorne gut verstanden."

Van der Poel himself looked back on the Tour start after the race: „Der Start der Tour war nicht so großartig für unser Team. Aber ich denke, wir sind wie immer ruhig geblieben. Wir haben eine tolle Gruppe und glauben daran, dass wir es drehen können." The Dutchman, who is expecting a child with his girlfriend, launched the final sprint on the uphill finishing straight and prevailed from a group of four in the sprint on the slightly uphill finishing straight.

Outlook on the 10th stage

On Monday, the riders have a rest day. On Monday, the professional cyclists are allowed to catch their breath for the first time, with the first of 2 rest days at the Tour de France coming up. On Tuesday, the French national holiday, the 10th stage is on the program. From Aurillac to Le Lioran (166.6 km), a hefty 3,800 meters of elevation and 7 classified mountain climbs are on the program, including two first-category climbs. The stage ends with a short final climb in Le Lioran at 1,240 meters altitude in the Massif Central.

The 113th Tour de France started on July 4 and comprises a total of 21 stages. With the stage win in Ussel, van der Poel increased his collection of professional victories to 61.