Belgium’s Tim Merlier won his second stage at this year’s Tour de France on Sunday, outsprinting Jonathan Milan and Arnaud De Lie in Châteauroux, but the real story of the day was an incredible day-long break from Alpecin-Deceuninck pair Mathieu van der Poel and Jonas Rickaert.
The duo attacked from the flag in Chinon, with Van der Poel eventually hanging on until there were just 740 agonising metres of the 174-kilometre route remaining. Behind them, the periodic appearance of crosswinds made it a nervous day for the peloton, but an exciting one for anyone watching. It was the second-fastest road stage in Tour de France history (at an average speed of 50.013 kilometres per hour, narrowly behind stage four in 1999), which only makes the efforts of the Alpecin duo even more impressive.
Route designer Thierry Gouvenou had criticised the riders for a lack of aggression after stage eight — he can have no complaints about how the ninth stage was tackled, especially with the daunting Bastille Day route to come on Monday.
💪 Big boys sprinting!
💪 Un sprint de costauds !#TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/lElEdI1saT
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 13, 2025
Jacob Whitehead and Jordan Halford break down the key moments from the stage.
Find all of The Athletic’s Tour de France coverage here. Or follow Global Sports on The Athletic app via the Discover tab.
How a joke almost turned into the cycling heist of the century
Mathieu van der Poel is a locomotive engine of a rider, but even the locomotive engine had to make way for the power of the modern train.
Having broken away alongside teammate Jonas Rickaert in the opening kilometre of Sunday’s stage — the hottest and flattest of the race so far — the Dutchman was only caught with 740m remaining, after over 170km of toil in front of the peloton.
Initially, it was unclear whether the Alpecin-Deceuninck duo were only targeting the sprint, which came after just 24km, but the pair pushed on afterwards to build up a significant lead. By the end of the first hour, they had a lead of five minutes and 34 seconds.
Hey guys, let’s go for a nice Sunday ride…#AlpecinDeceuninck pic.twitter.com/2DG0r5nJlX
— Alpecin-Deceuninck Cycling Team (@AlpecinDCK) July 13, 2025
“Mathieu is in a funny Sunday mood,” one member of the Alpecin staff texted at that moment.
This has already been an outstanding Tour for Van der Poel, who won stage two and has worn yellow during two different stints, but Alpecin were daring to dream of another stage victory.
Van der Poel and Rickaert came close to a famous win. (Marco Bertorello / AFP)
Alarm bells were starting to ring in the peloton, but the fear of echelons began to significantly stimulate their chase. Soudal-Quickstep joined Uno-X Mobility and Lidl-Trek as crosswinds caught out Wout van Aert and Team Picnic-PostNL’s Oscar Onley, but both managed to bridge the gap. With 35km left, both Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates joined the effort.
The leaders’ advantage fell to just 38 seconds with 24km to go, but with Wellens dropping back off the peloton and Van Aert out of the picture, panic was starting to spread among the sprinters’ teams as an exhausted Rickaert pulled Van der Poel to within six kilometres of the line. Rickaert, the 31-year-old Belgian, deservedly won the combativity award for his efforts.
Recognition for Rickaert’s efforts on the podium in Châteauroux. (Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images)
Van der Poel combines brute power with grace on the bike — as he pushed alone for the win, his form remained perfect, with the only giveaway of his exertion coming from the suffering on his face. At points, it looked like the 2023 road cycling world champion might make it, but the false flat uphills on the run to the line cruelly drained his legs further.
When he was finally caught, pride was apparent in Van der Poel’s demeanour, alongside the devastation of not quite pulling off the heist.
🤩 Caught with less than a km to go after a huge effort, @mathieuvdpoel couldn’t prevent the sprint. A look back at the last km of this 9th stage.
🤩 Repris à moins d’un km de l’arrivée après un énorme numéro, @mathieuvdpoel n’a pas pu empêcher le sprint. Retour sur le dernier… pic.twitter.com/rehkblSMaB
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 13, 2025
“It’s a bit of a disappointment,” he said afterwards. “We didn’t think we’d be so close. Jonas Rickaert’s dream is to be on the Tour de France podium, so I was happy to help him get the combativity award. We came really close. We put up a good show.”
“I think I will go home tomorrow. My tour is done,” Rickaert joked after the stage. “I was joking about starting with just the two of us. But he took it seriously.”
Jordan Halford
Thirsty Merlier edges out Milan again
Over his two stage victories at this year’s Tour, Tim Merlier’s combined winning margin over Jonathan Milan has been little more than a single wheel, having won by a tire-rim on stage three into Dunkirk.
Merlier’s slim winning margin on stage nine (Tour de France)
Almost a week later, with Van der Poel caught, the sprinters’ teams had to rapidly shift from the catch to the lead-out, leading to a slightly chaotic ending, despite the long, straight run-in to Châteauroux. In many ways, all expectations were inverted.
Typically, Lidl-Trek’s lead-out is considered superior to Soudal-Quickstep, but it was Merlier’s Belgian squad who had strength in numbers at the end of the stage.
European road champion Merlier celebrates victory on stage nine. (Anne-Christine Poujoulat / AFP via Getty Images)
Merlier is known as an expert wheel-surfer, but it was Milan who expertly escaped being boxed to nudge his rival off his own lead-out’s wheel.
And while Milan is considered to have the fastest top speed in the world, Merlier managed to come round him in the final metres with his superior speed endurance, claiming a third Soudal-Quickstep victory of the race — a third of all stages so far.
Merlier was led out by teammate Bert Van Lerberghe, a school friend from over 15 years ago.
Merlier suffered — and won — in the heat of stage nine. (Marco Bertorello / AFP via Getty Images)
“It was really hard in the heat, and though the bunch was OK all day, sometimes they tried to force echelons, and in the last 60km there were no drinks,” said Merlier. “The pacing was so high.
“But finally, me and Bert were together, and I was so much more confident with him in front of me. One moment I thought I was boxed, but I came out with 200 metres, went all in, and was so happy to come out with my second stage win.”
Jacob Whitehead
How much does Almeida’s departure weaken Pogačar?
The Tour de France does not hit the mountains until tomorrow, but Tadej Pogačar already finds himself shorn of one of his key lieutenants.
João Almeida, the yellow jersey’s key superdomestique, and a podium contender himself, withdrew midway through stage nine, having fallen two days earlier on the road to Mûr-de-Bretagne.
After the crash, UAE’s team doctor stated that Almeida has a fracture to one of his left ribs, as well as several deep abrasions. On the long, hot road to Châteauroux, the pain from Almeida’s ribs appeared too great.
Almeida abandons midway through stage nine. (Marco Bertorello / AFP via Getty Images)
UAE are still one of the strongest teams at the race, but Pogačar will now need to lean more heavily on Adam Yates and Jhonatan Narváez, the next best climbers in his team. Almeida was climbing at a visibly higher level than that pairing, however, having won last month’s Tour de Suisse, while he had been sitting seventh in the general classification pre-crash.
“A really big loss. He had to abandon, but I totally understand his suffering on the bike,” said Pogačar post-stage. “I can’t imagine how much he was hurting. I have so much respect for him.”
Visma-Lease a Bike’s support of Jonas Vingegaard, including Americans Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss, and Yates’ twin brother Simon, is now notably stronger.
Pogačar did not falter when Juan Ayuso withdrew from the 2024 Tour de France, but on that occasion, he had Almeida too. Almeida’s absence will make it harder for UAE to control tough mountain stages and could open up the reigning champion to attacks — there is barely a flat metre on Monday’s Bastille Day stage to Le Mont-Dore, so expect Visma to ride aggressively.
Jacob Whitehead
A day that showed sprint stages still have their place in the Tour
On driving into the central French city of Châteauroux, every road sign has an extra appendage. “Cavendish City,” it reads, underneath the town’s name.
Approaching Châteauroux or Cavendish City, 30km to go 🔛
On s’approche de Châteauroux ou Cavendish City, encore 30km 👀#TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/tLtNiHXgfj
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 13, 2025
Mark Cavendish won on the Tour’s previous three visits here, including his first stage win in 2008, and his 32nd victory in 2021. On the Tour’s only other visit here, in 1998, Mario Cipollini won the stage. The only winners here have been the all-time Tour de France stage win record holder (Cavendish with 35) and the all-time Giro d’Italia stage win record holder (Cipollini with 42). With that in mind, it was gratifying to see Merlier win in the European champion’s jersey.
There was excitement throughout stage nine. (Marco Bertorello / AFP)
It is a town of some sprinting heritage, but the Tour entered it on a day when course designer Thierry Gouvenou warned that sprint stages may not have a place at future editions of the race. Examples this year have been marred by nasty crashes or investigations from the commissaires.
“The sprinters’ teams are cutting the branch they’re sitting on,” he said. “It won’t last, because in the long run, there will be no more stages for sprinters.”
But perhaps Thierry was too hasty. This was a classic sprint stage — the course designer might not be too upset to be proven wrong — featuring a nail-biting breakaway, fair racing, and two of the world’s fastest riders separated by inches. Sprint stages do have a place at the Tour de France — they just require careful management.
Jacob Whitehead
Stage nine top 10
Tim Merlier (3:28:52)
Jonathan Milan (same time)
Arnaud De Lie (same time)
Pavel Bittner (same time)
Paul Penhoet (same time)
Biniam Girmay (same time)
Phil Bauhaus (same time)
Jordi Meeus (same time)
Stian Fredheim (same time)
Kaden Groves (same time)
The peloton make their way past a field of sunflowers during stage nine. (Marco Bertorello / AFP via Getty Images)Overall top 10 after stage nine
Tadej Pogačar (33:17:22)
Remco Evenepoel (+54s)
Kévin Vauquelin (+1m 11s)
Jonas Vingegaard (+1m 17s)
Matteo Jorgenson (+1m 34s)
Mathieu van der Poel (+1m 46s)
Oscar Onley (+2m 49s)
Florian Lipowitz (+3m 2s)
Primož Roglič (+3m 6s)
Mattias Skjelmose (+3m 43s)
What’s coming up tomorrow?Stage 10, Monday, July 14: Ennezat — Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy, 164km, mountain
The second Monday of the Tour de France is ordinarily a rest day but this year it falls on July 14, Bastille Day. So, for France’s national holiday, the race organizers have cooked up a monster of a stage through the Massif Central.
Expect it to be baking hot and for multiple storylines to play out across the day. French riders, puncheurs, climbers and the race favorites will all have marked this stage down as potentially pivotal. Worth making time to watch the whole stage, if you can.
(Top photo: Getty Images)