2023 Tour de France Stage 9 Results & Recap
Stage 9 of the 2023 Tour de France is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Woods victorious on Puy de Dome\nMichael Woods (IPT) raced to the top of the Puy de Dôme after being a part of the early breakaway that split on the final climb. The Canadian caught and passed Matteo Jorgenson (MOV) about 500 metres from the line, as did Pierre Latour, who took second place.
“I’m proud of myself and proud of my team," Woods said. "It’s special to win here. I’m 36 years old, turning 37 this year, I’m not getting any younger. I’m 36, turning 37 this year. To win a Tour de France stage was my ultimate goal, and I could see the window closing on me. That was the goal. I wish I could say this victory today was planned, but how the cards played, I was the most marked man. I had to be patient and not think about the win when I was racing behind Jorgenson. I wasn’t thinking of catching him but only to give the best of myself. It’s very similar to the win I got at La Vuelta in 2018: very fast start, lots of teams attacking before the final steep climb, and I made it at the end despite the suffering. It’s a dream come true. The great people I have around, starting with my wife and kids, made it possible.”
The race for the yellow jersey was happening 15 minutes behind the breakaway as they started the Puy de Dome, and Tadej Pogacar once again delivered a tremendous attack in the last 1.5km that put Jonas Vingegaard on the defensive. Pogacar took eight seconds back, and VIngegaard gave enough to retain his yellow jersey heading into the rest day.
"It is not a victory … but a small one," Pogacar said. "I'm super happy today, it's a super nice day. I was quite relaxed until the last climb. I felt on my legs immediately that I was good. I waited for the last 1,5km to go, just in case. But yeah, I had a good day. When I started my attack, I saw his shadow on the road and he was chasing me, trying to match my acceleration. I felt my legs were good, so I kept pushing until a gap opened… and, from then on, I just kept going. Cyclists, like every athlete, like to win every race they take part in. It is a shame that the breakaway went away, yet in the group, there were excellent riders who also deserved a victory like this one. Also, we learned from last year that we shouldn’t chase victory in every stage. This climb is super nice and would be nicer with more spectators. I was a bit scared because everyone was telling me it was super steep and super hard… but it actually felt as if we were flying up the road. I had my family here, and I’m super happy to see them. Also, since today there are not a lot of people here, I can speak with them a bit more."\n
Get our full coverage of the Tour de France and every race we cover with our mobile app! The apps have over 100 additional exclusive features, including our award-winning Time Machine feature that lets you pause/rewind/replay the entire app to sync with delayed race video, integrated Fantasy Cycling, push notifications, an integrated news feed, live GPS tracking, world-class commentary, and our animated interactive maps and profiles.
