A late mechanical issue cost Tom Pidcock dearly as Mathieu van der Poel clinched victory in stage nine of the Tour de France from a breakaway. Pidcock, unable to change gears, finished third while Van der Poel outpaced Tobias Johannessen in a four-man sprint in Ussel.

The issue for Pidcock arose approximately 25km from the finish of a 155km stage through the Massif Central, which had been shortened by 30km due to a heatwave alert. Despite his mechanical setback, Pidcock managed to stay with the leading group but was unable to respond when Van der Poel surged for the line.

“My shifter stopped working,” Pidcock explained, reflecting on his disappointment. “I couldn’t change gear. I could only change on the top. I started sprinting and I couldn’t change gear, I had to go on to the hoods. My bike was perfect the whole race and then today when the win was there it doesn’t work.”

He acknowledged the challenge of beating Van der Poel in a sprint, expressing satisfaction with a solid day of racing heading into the rest day.

Van der Poel’s win marked his third career stage victory in the Tour, coming after a day of intense competition. The shortened course heightened the stakes as the UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad, led by race leader Tadej Pogacar, attempted to limit the breakaway's lead.

“It was a super hard day,” Van der Poel remarked. “The start of the Tour was not so great for our team but we stayed calm. We have a really nice group, we kept believing it will turn around.”

No changes occurred at the top of the general classification, with Pogacar maintaining a lead of two minutes 42 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard and Isaac del Toro in third, three minutes 27 seconds off the pace.