{"id":795408,"date":"2026-07-12T11:41:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T11:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/795408\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T11:41:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T11:41:21","slug":"concerns-about-stage-9-of-the-tour-de-france-lidl-trek-reconnaissance-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/795408\/","title":{"rendered":"Concerns About Stage 9 of the Tour de France; Lidl-Trek Reconnaissance Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stage 9 of the Tour de France promises to deliver a major spectacle. The 185.5-kilometre stage from Malemort to Ussel features four categorised climbs, while the road will rise and fall throughout the day. Among the Dutch riders in the peloton, there is plenty of respect for just how difficult it will be to compete for victory on terrain like this.<\/p>\n

The breakaway specialists have not received many opportunities at this Tour de France so far. Mads Pedersen was the only rider to win after spending the day in the break, taking victory on Stage 4, but that was as good as it got for the attackers during the opening eight days. The general classification contenders have already taken centre stage several times, including in the team time trial on the opening day, while the sprinters have been given three chances.<\/p>\n

However, the attackers can dream on both the day before and the day after the first rest day. Their chances of success appear even greater on Stage 9 than on Stage 10, where a particularly demanding finale towards Le Lioran awaits on Tuesday. With a little bad luck for the breakaway, a team such as UAE Team Emirates-XRG could decide to take control again for Tadej Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"etappe-9-tour-de-france-2026\"\/<\/p>\n

Stage 9 of the Tour de France on Sunday\u2014a perfect opportunity for the breakaway riders!<\/p>\n

Lidl-Trek fully focused on Tour de France Stages 9 and 10Lidl-Trek sports director Steven de Jongh<\/a> has therefore done his homework. \u201cI drove the entire Stage 9 route in the car, so that tells you enough,\u201d the Dutchman told IDLProCycling.com with a laugh. De Jongh also reconnoitred the whole of Stage 4, when his team placed Quinn Simmons and Mathias Vacek in the break alongside eventual winner Pedersen.<\/p>\n

The same three riders can be expected to go on the offensive again on Sunday and Tuesday. \u201cSimmons and Vacek are riding very strongly at the moment, and Stages 9 and 10 are certainly stages where they can be part of the move,\u201d De Jongh said. However, the sports director believes Simmons and Vacek may need to remain patient. \u201cStage 10 will definitely be too hard for Mads, but Quinn and Mathias can handle it when they are in the right group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"etappe-10-tour-de-france-2026\"\/<\/p>\n

Stage 10 of the Tour de France is on the schedule for Tuesday, following the first rest day.<\/p>\n

Van Baarle expects an extremely hard fight for the Tour de France breakawayThe downside of there having been so few opportunities for breakaway riders is that the battle to make the front group on Sunday and Tuesday is likely to be enormous. That intense fight could prove costly even for riders who appear perfectly suited to the stages on paper. \u201cIt is a beautiful stage, but after two relatively easier days, it might be just a little too difficult for me,\u201d Dylan van Baarle<\/a> said on behalf of Soudal Quick-Step.<\/p>\n

The Dutchman told us on Saturday that he would normally wait until the rest day before studying the route book in detail. \u201cI really take it day by day, and on Monday I will look at where the opportunities are during the second week. I have not studied those stages closely yet, but I hope I can grab some of those opportunities with both hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"dylan-van-baarle\"\/<\/p>\n

Dylan van Baarle<\/p>\n

Artz must manage his energy carefully on Tour de France Stage 9Huub Artz<\/a> is another Dutch rider whose chances in the upcoming breakaway stages are difficult to judge. The young Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9 rider made his biggest impression during the opening week in the sprints, but he had already highlighted a stage such as Sunday\u2019s before the Tour began. \u201cIt is one of those stages where, in this peloton, you have to be extremely strong to compete for the victory.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Sunday, we will find out who the strongest riders really are,\u201d Artz predicted. \u201cThe level is so incredibly high that, even on a very good day, I will have to ride intelligently. It is very easy to blow yourself up in the heat, and I cannot put myself in the same category as someone like Mathieu van der Poel. I will see what is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Baarle and Artz both admitted that they had not yet spoken to their fellow Dutch riders about potentially joining forces during Stage 9. \u201cMaybe that is something I should do on the rest day,\u201d Van Baarle concluded with a laugh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stage 9 of the Tour de France promises to deliver a major spectacle. The 185.5-kilometre stage from Malemort…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,208172,374042,172195,85,231814,346968],"class_list":["post-795408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-dylan-van-baarle","tag-huub-artz","tag-idl-productions","tag-sports","tag-steven-de-jongh","tag-tour-de-france-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}