Stage 9

The road

At the start

Thirty kilometres cut in the heat

Pogačar's lead is untouched at 2:42 after two days for the sprinters, and the last stage before the rest day has been redrawn overnight: a red-alert heatwave in the Corrèze has forced the organisers to cut thirty kilometres from the start, leaving 154 to Ussel. Every climb survives — Suc au May, the Croix du Pey, Mont Bessou — which is why Christian Prudhomme thinks the short version may be harder.

How it was won

1. 1171 km to go

   Pedersen strikes early at Beynat

   The intermediate sprint comes almost straight from the gun and Pedersen takes maximum points ahead of Girmay; behind, the two-day stage winner Merlier is already out the back, facing a long, hot afternoon in the hills.

2. 2111 km to go

   Sixteen becomes eight on the Suc au May

   Simmons and Johannessen decide the break is too crowded and attack as a pair, Pidcock, Gee-West and Van Eetvelt chasing; by the summit eight riders are clear and the rest of the move is doomed.

3. 355 km to go

   Van der Poel kicks on Mont Bessou

   Cooperation has collapsed and the gap is tumbling when the short, steep Mont Bessou arrives — exactly the shape Van der Poel wants. He kicks, takes Johannessen and Pidcock over the top, and Lidl-Trek are left with numbers and nothing to do.

4. 444 km to go

   Pidcock's derailleur nearly ends it

   Baudin claws his way across on the descent to make four, and four almost becomes three when Pidcock suffers a mechanical — a few furious kicks at the derailleur get him rolling again.

5. 5At the line

   Leading out and winning anyway

   The quartet hold their advantage to the flamme rouge, then gang up on the fastest man: they force Van der Poel to the front and make him lead the whole final kilometre. He opens up regardless, and nobody comes past — a third Tour stage win, in Ussel, from the front.

The result