Mathieu van der Poel wins heat-shortened Tour stage

Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel claimed a hard-fought victory in the ninth stage of the Tour de France on Sunday, July 12, 2026, winning a four-man sprint after a stage shortened due to a severe heatwave. The 31-year-old Alpecin-Premier Tech rider, a former world champion, secured his third career Tour stage win, holding off Norwegian Tobias Johannessen and Britain’s Tom Pidcock at the finish in Ussel.

The stage, originally planned to be longer, was reduced by approximately 30 kilometers after a "red alert" weather warning was issued for the central Corrèze region. The altered route covered 154.6 kilometers from Malemort to Ussel, with temperatures still approaching 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). The race was characterized by aggressive racing, with a decisive eight-rider breakaway forming about halfway through the stage. Van der Poel launched a powerful attack with 25 kilometers remaining on the final categorized climb, Mont Bessou, reducing the leading group to just himself, Johannessen, Pidcock, and France’s Alex Baudin.

In the tactical final kilometer, van der Poel initiated his sprint with roughly 200 meters to go, demonstrating superior power to win clearly. The...