2026 Tour de France Stage 9 Results & Recap
Stage 9 of the 2026 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
Short stages often make for thrilling racing, which was backed up again by three-and-a-half hours of captivating action between Malemort and Ussel that concluded with Mathieu van der Poel (APT) claiming the third Tour de France stage win of his career when he outsprinted breakaway rivals Tobias Halland Johannessen (UXM), Tom Pidcock (PQT) and Alex Baudin (EFE).
The quartet had initially been part of a 16-rider group that went clear 60km into the stage, before being halved on the cat 2 climb of the Suc au May and then halved again on the final categorized climb of Mont Bessou.
Shortened by 30km the previous evening due to a forecast for extremely high temperatures, the stage began with a number of attacks that were neutralized by Lidl-Trek to set up Mads Pedersen (LTK) for the intermediate sprint after 13km. Once the Dane had taken maximum points there to boost his lead in the points competition, the following 50km featured countless attacks and chases.
Finally, 15 riders went clear on the approach to the Suc au May. Pidcock made it 16, showing his strength when he bridged across on his own. On the climb, he demonstrated it again with an attack that reduced the break to eight riders, Van der Poel, Johannessen, Baudin, Lennert Van Eetvelt (LOI), Pablo Castrillo (MOV), Derek Gee-West (LTK) and Quinn Simmons (LTK) joining the Briton.
At the top of that climb, their lead was 1'30". Yet, it began to fall rather than grow as UAE Team Emirates XRG set a fast tempo in the yellow jersey group. Netcompany INEOS came forward to help the pursuit too in order to defend Egan Bernal (NCI)'s 10th place on GC from Johannessen and Pidcock.
Going onto the final climb of the day, the break's lead had been cut to 40 seconds, to the clear frustration of the gesticulating Van der Poel and Pidcock. Rather than trying to cajole his breakaway companions, the Dutchman responded in typical fashion, barrelling clear on the climb, where only Johannessen, Pidcock and Baudin were able to bridge back up to him. The quartet had 50 seconds in hand with 20km remaining.
Although Netcompany, Lidl-Trek and, late on, Cofidis maintained the pursuit behind the four leaders, the quartet remained 45 seconds clear with 10km left and still had 20 seconds in hand going into the final kilometre. Van der Poel was doing all of the pace-setting by that point and kept going into the last 250 metres, when he put all he had left into the final sprint.
Johannessen chased gamely, but there was no denying the Dutchman on a stage that had the profile of a short one-day Classic and served up as many thrills as that kind of race.
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