Van der Poel triumphs on Tour stage shortened due to heat
· Yahoo Sports
Mathieu van der Poel won stage nine of the Tour de France from a breakaway on Sunday as a late mechanical issue cost Tom Pidcock.
Briton Pidcock was left unable to change gear and came in third as Van der Poel beat Tobias Johannessen in a four-up sprint in Ussel.
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Pidcock’s issue had first surfaced around 25 kilometres from the end of a 155km stage through the Massif Central, shortened by 30km due to a red alert for a heatwave, and although the Yorkshireman managed to stay with the lead group, it left him unable to respond when Van der Poel kicked for the line.
A third career Tour stage win for Van der Poel came at the end of an intense day of racing as the shortened distance increased the focus.
The Dutchman had been instrumental in keeping what had been an eight-man breakaway clear of a chasing peloton paced by the UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad of race leader Tadej Pogačar, seemingly determined their lead should be no more than a minute and a half.
Van der Poel’s victory will be savoured by Alpecin-Premier Tech after their sprinter Jasper Philipsen was left frustrated in each of the past two days.
“It was a super hard day,” Van der Poel said. “The start of the Tour was not so great for our team but I think always we stayed calm. We have a really nice group, we kept believing it will turn around.
“Maybe not today, maybe in the second week or the third week, but it’s really nice to get to the first rest day with a win.”
There was no change at the top of the general classification.
Pogačar, aiming for a record-equalling fifth Tour de France crown, continues to lead by two minutes 42 seconds from rival Jonas Vingegaard, with Pogačar’s team-mate Isaac del Toro three minutes 27 seconds down in third, three seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel.