Tour de France stage 9 LIVE: Van der Poel and Pidcock lead a large breakaway on a chaotic day in the Massif Central
On the eve of the first rest day, a possible breakaway stage into Ussel
These front groups have now all come together, making a strong lead group of eight. It's a perfect size for collaboration.
Going over the top of the Suc a May, the leaders have just over a minute.
You are the strongest rider in this group
Alex Sans Vega, Pinarello-Q36.5 Sports Director
Some encouragement for Pidcock from the Pinarello-Q36.5 car.
This is a key moment in the race, as Johannessen and Simmons looked to be getting away. Pidcock is using the sections that suit him best and he can now see the leading pair just ahead of him.
Bridging over to the Pidcock group now is Van der Poel, along with Castrillo and Baudin.
Suc au May
Onto the second classified climb of the day, which seems unfair given the amount of climbing already tackled by the riders.
The leaders are now over a minute ahead of Pogačar's group, but the intermediary group is losing significant time.
Pidcock has attacked from the chasing pack, hoping not to see the stage slip out of his fingers. Gee-West and Van Eetvelt are sitting on the Pinarello-Q36.5 rider's wheel.
He is making inroads on the steep sections.
Simmons and Halland Johannessen lead
Simmons and Halland Johannessen have chipped off the front of the breakaway, which looks to be struggling to collaborate well.
The leaders now have 50 seconds over the yellow jersey, with the group 20 seconds behind in between.
Pidcock at the front
Pidcock cruises over to the front group.
Now there are 16 riders up ahead. The best placed on GC is Tobias Halland Johannessen, who is sitting 13th, 9:42 down. Pidcock is 15th at 9:50. Other big names include Jegat, Van Eetvelt, Van der Poel and Gee-West.
The leaders have 20 seconds on the bunch.
Tim Wellens and Felix Großschartner are now posted on the front of the bunch setting tempo.
But just as things look to settle, Tom Pidcock attacks. He has a small gap on the group of Pogačar. It's going to be tough for the Brit to make it all the way across to the front.
A group breaks clear
Things change once again at the front.
Derek Gee-West instigates another move and around ten others have gone with him including Van der Poel and Simmons. They have around 20 seconds on the chasing group, being led by Adam Yates. This is the biggest lead any break has built since the opening stages.
Lennart van Eetvelt is up there as is Jordan Jegat. They are a touch under 11 minutes down on GC.
Finally, UAE Team Emirates-XRG look happy to see things settle down, but will anyone else look to chase this one down having missed it?
Another move goes up the road, led by two Americans, Matteo Jorgenson and Quinn Simmons. 2020 Olympic champion Richard Carapaz is there too as is Einer Rubio as more attempt to bridge.
Remarkably, Mads Pedersen is still latched onto the back of this ever-more select group.
100km to go
Van der Poel and Carapaz join Ganna up ahead, but the peloton makes contact with the front, with Pogačar not far from the head.
Bruno Amirail and Michal Kwiatkowski are among the latest dropped from the peloton.
Mathias Vacek, sitting 10th overall coming into the stage, is also distanced.
When will the breakaway establish?
This is a classic Tour de France breakaway day. There is absolutely no let up.
The quantity of teams wanting to get up the road is strangling the race's progress. Every move that goes away will be without a team that wants to be in it, meaning that there is always someone motivated to chase.
At some point, the elastic will snap, but when that point is, no one knows. As the legs tire over the coming sections, more opportunities will come.
And the longer this goes on, the stronger a rider has to be to get into the move, which is why we are seeing such decorated riders towards the front.
The latest move is fronted once more by Filippo Ganna, who looks in good form today.
Daan Hoole is done, so that's one rider fewer for Paul Seixas to depend on.
Vauquelin and Jorgenson have been brought back now. More riders are trying to get up the road now.
Valentin Paret-Peintre takes over and takes the points over the top. Now splits off the front, but dozens of riders are off the back now. The front group is down to around 70 riders.
Vauquelin attacks with Matteo Jorgenson over the top. Carapaz pursuing.
The have a couple more kilometres of plateau before a short descent. Then it's a long drag leading into a second category ascent.
Côte de Naves
Onto the first climb of the day now and it's Pinarello-Q36.5 taking it up at the front.
Pidcock takes over in an attempt to split things up. He's not going all-in, he's just trying to take a few riders with him.
'A good opportunity' today for Matej Mohorič
The start looks pretty promising to allow a strong breakaway, and the last 30 kilometres are pretty straightforward. I'm not sure, once we are in that breakaway, it's going to be pretty challenging to get away and challenge for the win. It might be more likely to come down to a sprint of the breakaway, and that is uphill for the last 300 metres, so it's not one of my strong points, but I think it's still a good opportunity.
Matej Mohorič
Alaphilippe attacking
This is a twisting descent, perfect for Alaphilippe to take advantage, which is exactly what he is trying to do alongside Austrian team-mate Marco Haller.
Riders from Netcompany-Ineos and Movistar are attempting to bridge up to the front duo.
First job ticked-off for Lidl-Trek today, securing maximum points in the intermediate sprint after 13.9km.
Next, the team are looking to get into the crucial breakaway, perhaps even with Pedersen, to contest for the stage.
And once again, that group has been neutralised. The next proper opportunity for a breakaway could come on the Côte de Naves, the first categorised climb of the day.
Meanwhile, it could be worth keeping an eye on stage 7 and 8 winner Tim Merlier, who is now more than two minutes off the back in a small group. With the heat bearing down on the riders, it could be a long day for those struggling today.
A significant split off the front now, which looks much more promising for a moment, but again more riders are looking to get across.
Around 40 riders are dangling off the front. Surely this group is too large for UAE Team Emirates-XRG to be happy with it.
130km to go
A small move going away now including Julian Alaphilippe. Kirsch is on the move again, as is Engelhardt. They are on a tight leash for the moment, having turned onto this fast descent.
Almost every team wants to have a rider up the road today, so there are plenty of motivated chasers at the moment.
The riders are still on an unclassified climb which carried them through the intermediate sprint. Soon the road will dip towards the first classified climb of the day.
More attacks all the time, but nothing sticking just yet. Fred Wright is the man on the front of the bunch now.
Green jersey standings
With the peloton back together, here's a quick update on the green jersey after that sprint.
Pedersen extended his lead, he is now on 253 points. Girmay is now back in second place on 223. Merlier remains on 213 and slips to third ahead of Philipsen, now on 191.
There are already several big hitters on the move. Filippo Ganna and Mathieu van der Poel are in a counter move now alongside German champion Felix Engelhardt and a few others.
Behind, Merlier looks in some difficulty in this heat. He's already a minute behind the bunch with the toughest tests to come.
Pedersen wins the sprint
A comfortable win for the green jersey in Beynat. Pedersen takes 25 points ahead of Girmay with Philipsen in third.
And straight away as the riders come through the sprint point, the attacks begin. Maxim van Gils is the first to go, followed by Chris Harper and Kévin Vauquelin. Richard Carapaz is part of a group latching on.
The breakaway action begins now. How long until the final move goes away?
It's Vacek to do the final lead out for Pedersen as Merlier is dropped from the peloton along with a dozen others.
The unseen battle here is the riders positioning themselves to attack after the sprint, a perfect point to make a move for the breakaway. Healey is up there, so is Van der Poel.
1km to go.
2km to go to the sprint now and Lidl-Trek are going all in with four riders on the front.
Girmay has been brought up to the wheel of Pedersen by his NSN team-mates now and Philipsen is well positioned too. It's a tough drag to the sprint, this. Derek Gee-West is on the front making this as hard as possible.
Crash for Michael Storer
Just a small coming down for Australian Michael Storer of Tudor towards the back of the bunch. He's OK and chasing back to the bunch.
The break has been caught now and Lidl-Trek are leading the bunch into the sprint in Beynat.
The road drags up towards the line, which should suit Pedersen and also Girmay.
Girmay, Philipsen and Merlier are stalking the rear wheels of Lidl-Trek. There is now less than 10 seconds between the bunch and the front of the race as Kirsch attacks alone.
Sam Bewley's voice crackles over the radio from the NSN Cycling car to instruct his team to allow Lidl-Trek to take on the responsibility for the early pacing.
Quinn Simmons is on the front now and the gap is coming down quickly. The bunch is stretching out under the influence of the USA national champion. There's 8km until the sprint as the front three becomes a front five.
Stefano Oldani is up there with Kirsch and Hermans in a move 17 seconds ahead of the bunch with 10km to go until the sprint point. Georg Steinhauser from EF Education First-EasyPost is trying to get across alongside Ewen Costiou.
Lidl-Trek have moved almost their entire squad to the front of the bunch. They are just controlling things for the moment instead of burning matches to bring this back straight away.
Breakaway attempts
Quinten Hermans and Alex Kirsch are among the first to launch attacks, but Toms Skujins is on the front of the bunch to keep things together for Mads Pedersen.
155.9km to go
Racing is underway on stage 9 of the 2026 Tour de France.
There are some notable names already towards the front, hunting either the break or the intermediate sprint. Lidl-Trek have numbers to control things for Mads Pedersen.
It shouldn't be a day for these two today, but Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard will need to remain vigilant throughout.
Tom Pidcock was in good form at the start today, popping a wheelie on the way to the stage.
He sits 15th overall coming into the stage today, 9:50 down. Might he be allowed to escape up the road today? Or will he be viewed as too much of a threat, if not to Pogačar, to the other overall contenders?
Neutral start
The riders are setting off for the ninth stage of this year's Tour de France.
There will be about fifteen minutes behind the race director's car before the racing gets underway proper.
Ice vest to protect from the blazing heat, and a face mask to protect against infection for the Tour's youngest rider Paul Seixas before the start in Malemort.
Early green jersey battle
Whatever happens today we are in for some action from the very beginning of the stage, with the intermediate sprint coming after just 13.9km in Beynat.
The competition for the points classification heated up yesterday, as several riders closed-in on leader Mads Pedersen, with the Lidl-Trek man finishing down in 12th place in the sprint.
Pulling in 70 points win his second win in as many days, Tim Merlier vaulted up to second place in the competition ahead of 2024 winner Biniam Girmay and Jasper Philipsen. Merlier batted away suggestions that he might now target the competition, due to the climbing prowess of his rivals in comparison to himself, allowing them to contest more finishes than him.
Just 56 points split the top-5 in the classification after eight stages. The overall classification may already be void of competition, but the fight for the green jersey is just hotting up. It's possible that there could be a new leader after today.
Here's the standings ahead of today's stage:
1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), 228 points
2. Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep), 213 points
3. Biniam Girmay (NSN), 203 points
4. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), 175 points
5. Max Kanter (XDS-Astana), 172 points
Contenders for the stage
Stage 9 is due to get going in around 20 minutes for the neutral roll out, and its a safe bet that today's battle to get in the breakaway will be a fierce one. Chances to win stages at the Tour this year are few for most teams, but this stage is one that many teams will have highlighted.
And what of race leader Tadej Pogačar? Is this an opportunity to give away the burden of carrying the yellow jersey for a couple of days? Perhaps he and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team will be happy to let a big break go up the road to hand the maillot jaune over to a rider who will not be able to hold onto it. It would give the team's domestiques a bit of relief from pulling the bunch around in this relentless heat.
There are really only two likely candidates for this; Mathias Vacek, who sits in 10th overall 7:10 behind the race leader, and Sean Quinn, in 12th place 9:35 down.
Other breakaway favourites today include the likes of Mathieu van der Poel, Romain Grégoire and Michael Valgren, who won a similar stage at the Giro d'Italia in May.
Stage shortened due to red weather warning
As the riders were climbing onto the team buses at the end of yesterday's sprint stage into Bergerac, news came through of an alteration to the route of today's stage 9.
The Corrèze department issued a red alert for heat, with forecasts suggesting that the temperature gauges could top 40 degrees Celsius this afternoon in the Massif Central.
The first section of the route has been altered, knocking exactly 30km off the stage distance and delaying the start slightly.
The heat has been a constant theme throughout the race so far this year, and it looks as though this will continue. Whether this modification makes an important difference to the safety of the riders is up for debate as the race will still take place during the hottest part of the day.
Stage 9 of Tour de France shortened amid 'red alert' heatwave warning in central France
Today's route
Today this year's Tour makes its one and only jaunt into the Massif Central region, which is famed for explosive breakaway stages due to its undulating topography.
There are four categorised climbs for the riders to deal with on a route that has been shortened due to dangerous heat (more on that in a moment). It's too hard for the sprinters and too easy for a serious general classification day - that usually equals a breakaway win.
Here is the break-down of the climbs:
- Côte de Naves (cat. 3, 2.3km at 7.4%)
- Suc au May (cat. 2, 3.8km at 7.7%)
- Côte de la Croix du Pey (cat. 3, 4.8km at 6%)
- Mont Bessou (cat. 4, 900m at 7.3%)
Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 9 of the 2026 Tour de France.
