Van der Poel almost achieves the feat in a stage won by Tim Merlier

It should have been another dull stage in the 2025 Tour de France but, luckily, Mathieu van der Poel appeared to give us a crazy breakaway that almost succeeded. Finally, the predictions were fulfilled and the stage ended in a sprint where Tim Merlier once again beat Jonathan Milan.

Mathieu van der Poel avoids a nap in the Tour de France with a crazy breakaway that almost culminated

Second consecutive flat stage in the 2025 Tour de France. 174 kilometers between Chinon and Chateauroux that seemed unattractive and destined for a sprint finish unless the wind made an appearance and the teams sought action.

However, the unexpected animator of stage 9 of the 2025 Tour de France turned out to be Mathieu van der Poel who started off with his teammate Jonas Rickaert in a move that initially seemed only aimed at the intermediate sprint points located just 24 kilometers from the start.

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This was also what the peloton thought, allowing the breakaway to happen on a day where the wind was favorable throughout, a situation that caused the leading duo to think "why not?" They began to push, with the impetus of a thoroughbred like Mathieu van der Poel, and the gap started to grow to five and a half minutes, a situation that started to raise alarms in the peloton.

Beyond the chase of the escapees, the news halfway through the stage was the abandonment of Joao Almeida, unable to continue due to the pain caused by his rib fracture. A significant loss for Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG as they lose their main man for the mountain stages.

The sprint teams started to work hard, but the quality of the Alpecin-Deceuninck duo made the time gaps decrease very slowly, hinting at the possibility of a surprise. The problem for the two escapees was that, with 50 kilometers to go, they began to feel the fatigue of a very fast stage that concluded at an average speed of 50 km/h, and in the final part, the road had several changes in direction where the wind became crosswind, a situation that created tension in the peloton and made the teams of the favorites tighten the race even more, with some moments where several splits occurred.

With 6 kilometers to go, with just over 30 seconds of advantage, Jonas Rickaert finally gave up. Mathieu van der Poel tried to push towards the finish line with all his might, but unlike in the classics, the fatigue of the many kilometers on the road and having a perfectly organized peloton behind him instead of a group with diverse interests prevented the Dutchman from reaching the finish line, and he was caught just 800 meters from the end.

The sprint ended up being extremely disorganized due to the chase, with Jonathan Milan having to launch from close to the barriers and without teammates, from a long way out. On the other hand, starting from a few positions behind, Tim Merlier chose to open up in the middle, allowing him to enjoy a cleaner sprint, which enabled him to overtake the Italian in the final meters and claim his second stage win in this 2025 Tour de France.

Tomorrow, July 14, the last stage before the first rest day will take place, with a challenging route through the Massif Central and a summit finish in Mont Dore. A stage that will surely allow us to draw good conclusions for the resolution of the general classification.

Stage 9 Classification

1. Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) 3h28'52''
2. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) +00''
3. Arnaud de Lie (Lotto) +00''
4. Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL) +00''
5. Paul Penhoet (Groupama-FDJ) +00''
6. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) +00''
7. Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) +00''
8. Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +00''
9. Stian Fredheim (Uno-X Mobility) +00''
10. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +00''

General Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 33h17'22''
2. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +54''
3. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +1'11''
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'17''
5. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +1'46''
6. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'34''
7. Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL) +2'49''
8. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +3'02''
9. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +3'06''
10. Matthias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +3'43''