Tim Merlier has won the ninth stage in the Tour de France. He was the fastest in a mass sprint in Châteauroux, for Jonathan Milan and Arnaud de Lie. The stage was colored by Mathieu van der Poel. After a whole day in the attack, together with his teammate Jonas Rickaert, the Dutchman was only taken back in the last kilometer by the peloton.
“Jonas [Rickaert] Had a dream to be on the Tour stage someday […] So I started to help him with that today, “Van der Poel told the NOS afterwards. He himself said he believed” not really “in his own saying that he could win the stage. Rickaert has been rewarded with the ‘Prize for the fighting spirit’, and thereby appears on stage in Châteauroux. “In the end we don’t buy much for it except that we let Jonas” dream come true, “says Van der Poel.
Van der Poel and Rickaert started their unusual attack immediately after the start of the 174 -kilometer stage. The lead of the two of Alpecin-Deceuninck increased to more than five minutes. Van der Poel even rode virtually in the yellow jersey, which he had previously wore this tour for four days. The team of Jonathan Milan, leader in the points classification, was for a long time the only one who tried to pick up the pair back. Only in the second half of the stage did other sprinter teams connected to the chase.
With six kilometers to go, Van der Poel left his teammate behind and then being overtaken by the peloton 750 meters before the finish line. The stage, partly due to the Rugwind, goes into the history books as the second fastest touredappe ever. Along the way, the Portuguese classification rider João Almeida, who broke his rib on Friday in a fall, had to leave the Tour. This way, Gaithrager Tadej Pogacar has lost his most important teammate.