The 2025 Tour de France’s ninth stage delivered a thrilling display of endurance and tactics on Sunday, as Dutch cycling star and former world champion Mathieu van der Poel secured his third career Tour de France stage victory, overcoming extreme heat and grueling road conditions to claim the top spot on the podium. The stage, originally scheduled for a 184.6-kilometer route from Malemort to Ussel in France’s central Correze region, was cut by 30 kilometers after officials issued a red alert heat warning, bringing the total race distance down to 154.6 km. Temperatures across the stage climbed as high as 40 degrees Celsius, testing the limits of every rider in the peloton.
A fierce fight for a spot in the day’s breakaway unfolded from the opening kilometer, with dozens of riders launching attacks to get clear of the main group. It was not until the midpoint of the stage, on the steep 3.8-kilometer Suc au May climb, that an eight-man breakaway finally managed to establish a gap over the peloton. Though their lead never stretched beyond one minute 30 seconds, the breakaway group cooperated smoothly to hold off the chasing main field.
With 25 kilometers remaining on the day’s final categorized climb, the steep 900-meter Mont Bessou, van der Poel launched a decisive attack out of the breakaway. Only three riders could match his pace: Norway’s Tobias Johannessen, France’s Alex Baudin, and British standout Tom Pidcock. The leading quartet pushed hard to the finish, opening a 50-second gap over a sharply reduced peloton by the final kilometer. In a classic display of sprint tactics, the breakaway slowed in the final 1000 meters for a tense cat-and-mouse game, but when van der Poel kicked off his final sprint, his strength proved unmatchable. Johannessen crossed the line in second, with Pidcock taking third place.
The win marked a satisfying turning point for van der Poel and his Alpecin Premier Tech team. In the two days prior to stage nine, the cobbled classics specialist had put his own ambitions aside to serve as lead-out man for teammate Jasper Philipsen, who notched fourth and fifth place finishes in previous sprint stages. “The start of the Tour was not great for our team, but like always, we stayed calm,” van der Poel told reporters after the race. “We have a really nice group here and we kept believing that it would turn around… it’s really nice to go to the first rest day with a win.”
Van der Poel, a three-time winner of both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix – the sport’s most prestigious one-day cobbled classics – previously won Tour de France stages in 2021 and earlier this 2025 edition. He acknowledged the extreme challenges of Sunday’s stage, noting: “I spent a lot of energy trying to keep the break alive. There was a lot of pressure from the bunch. The roads were horrible for a breakaway with a headwind the whole day. We fought for it and I’m happy to finish it off.”
Reigning Tour champion Tadej Pogacar maintained his grip on the general classification lead, finishing in the chasing peloton just six seconds behind van der Poel ahead of Monday’s first scheduled rest day. The four-time champion holds a 2 minute 42 second lead over two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard, with Mexico’s Isaac del Toro sitting third overall, a further 45 seconds behind Vingegaard.