Tobias Halland Johannessen fought two of cyclings biggest names for victory on Stage 9 of the 2026 Tour de France and came closer than either Tom Pidcock or Alex Baudin to denying Mathieu van der Poel in Ussel. The Uno-X Mobility leader survived an attritional day in temperatures around 37C before...

It looked like it was all over for Tom Pidcock. With 23km to go on stage nine of the Tour de France, the Pinarello Q36.5 rider sat up in his saddle, gestured down to his bike, and wafted his right arm in frustration. A mechanical at the cruellest time, on one of his best days appeared to have put him out of a four-up breakaway finale.He spun his pedals briskly, and still the gears would not kick in. Then, after a moment of panic, he was riding again, back into the lead group, and on to the finale in Ussel. Pidcock ultimately placed third in the sprint, behind the days winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility). But it wasnt a clean dash for the Briton. Afterwards, as he warmed down in the shade of his team bus, he explained what had gone wrong. In the final, my shifter stopped working, Pidcock said. I was out the back of the group on the last climb, and then I realised that the top button [the satellite shifter inside the hood] was working. Then once I got to the sprint, I was focused, and I was just instinctively on the drops and I couldnt change gear anymore. Then I had to go on the hoods. Its a shame. In previous near misses at the Tour namely on stage nine in 2024 when he placed second to Anthony Turgis in Troyes Pidcock has cut a dejected figure beyond the finish line. On Sunday, however, he returned to his team bus smiling, hitching a lift on the back of his team-mate Quinten Hermanss bike. The finale may not have played out how he wanted, but the performance showed his form is there. I think I was going super-well today, Pidcock said. I had really good legs, feeling strong. If I compare it to the last time I was in the breakaway at the Tour de France in the gravel stage, where I was second two years ago, today I was really in the game. That definitely shows that my level is higher.Pidcock had a stilted run-in to this year's Tour de France. He abandoned the Volta a Catalunya in March after crashing into a ravine and suffering ligament damage in his right knee. He then pulled out of June's Tour de Suisse, his final Tour tune-up, due to a viral infection, leaving him lacking in stage race preparation. All things considered, then, his third place on Sunday left him feeling "not so disappointed". I dont think I would have come round [Mathieu] anyway, he said. Im quite happy. Im just pleased that I could change gear in the end, and that I was not in the peloton. At least I was there sprinting for the win.

Tadej Pogacar reached the first rest day of the 2026 Tour de France with the Maillot Jaune and a commanding 2:42 advantage over Jonas Vingegaard. Despite already holding the race in a formidable position, the UAE Team Emirates XRG leader refused to commit to a purely defensive approach. Of course...

At the Tour de France, the racing does not always end at the finish line. Sprint deviations, sticky bottles, feeding breaches, littering fines, time penalties, yellow cards and relegations can all become part of the daily story, especially in a race where every stage result and jersey position is wa...

Tour de France race director, Christian Prudhomme has called for a salary cap in professional cycling to create a more level playing filed and reduce the domination of the biggest teams at the Tour de France.Prudhomme, who heads the Tour de France for organising company ASO, made the claim in an interview with The Athletic, and believes such a step would ensure more suspense in the race. The 2026 Tour de France may well have been won before Monday's first rest day, after Tadej Pogaar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) claimed victory in Thursday's Pyrenean stage between Pau and Gavarnie-Gdre. The Slovenian rider attacked on the ascent of the day's main climb, the Tourmalet, and soloed to victory, putting 2.38 into second placed Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).Pogaar will now start Tuesday's 10th stage leading his Danish rival by that margin, which is more than half his overall winning margin for last year's Tour. Pogaar's superiority means that, barring disaster or something truly extraordinary, the Tour may well have been decided as a competition with only six of the 21 stages ridden. Talk of a salary cap has long been spoken about in pro cycling, even when Team Sky reigned supreme, winning seven Tours in eight editions, some suggested the British squad, now riding as Netcompnay-Ineos), dominated because of the riders they were able to attract with big money contracts. However, while Sky may have dominated the Tour for many years, they were often less successful during other times of the season. We never saw Chris Froome bagging podium finishes at Paris-Roubaix after all, though we did see him crash out of the 2014 Tour on the cobbled stage. We have seen Pogaar finish second in the Queen of the Classics twice, he won the Tour of Flanders three times, Lige-Bastogne-Lige four times and Il Lombardia five times. He even won Milan-Sanremo, the so-called sprinters' classic this year.UAE Team Emirates-XRG, and Pogaar in particular, seem to dominate the entire season, the Slovenian rider only starting races he is able to win, and often doing so. This year, for example, prior to the Tour beginning, he has 13 wins from his 16 race days and the team 55 wins already this year.And that's before we begin to talk about Visma-Lease a Bike, with whom UAE have shared every Tour since 2020."Were clearly favourable [towards it], and it exists in French rugby. There are discussions in effect with the UCI, the riders, teams and us," Prudhome told The Athletic when asked about a salary cap."They have the means to buy the best riders every year, Prudhomme continued. "So it is necessary to rebalance that. But I cannot say whether a solution will be found in the coming years."At the moment, the three or four richest teams hoover up all the best young riders. So that there is real competition the most promising cyclists need to go to numerous, different teams. And then, private entrepreneurs in businesses need to be able to still invest; without that, its too expensive its very important for the future of cycling."While UAE are by far and away the strongest team in the sport at the moment, Pogaar's performance last week against an in-form Vingegaard is more proof, if it were needed, that he is an outlier, and arguably the best cyclist the world sport has seen. Prudhomme's suggestion is not about clipping Pogaar's wings, but about creating interest, excitement and jeopardy in the racing."We always want to have exceptional champions and at the same time, suspense. In fact, its not about the winner, its about the manner the Tour plays out and if there is this suspense."

The Tour de France is often shaped as much by survival as by strength. Across three weeks of racing from the Grand Dpart in Barcelona on 4 July to the final stage in Paris on 26 July, crashes, illness, heat, fatigue and withdrawals can quickly reshape the peloton, from nervous sprint stages and exp...

"Sometimes, it looks really easy," Mathieu van der Poel drolly explained in his press conference after he had won stage nine of the 2026 Tour de France in Ussel. It's true, when the Dutchman has powered away to victory at at Monuments, at umpteen Classics, at the Tour before, it has looked simple.However, on a sweltering day in the Corrze dpartement on Sunday, it looked anything but easy. This wasn't Playstation cycling but riders at their limit on a brutal course which never seemed flat. For Alpecin-Premier Tech, too, this Tour has not looked to date no stage win for their star sprinter Jasper Philipsen, and frustration at his lack of form. It was not a day to be putting your body in this much stress, really, but that's what the 176 riders left in the race are paid to do.Alpecin's mood changed on stage nine, as Van der Poel made it into the break, which was never allowed much of a lead by the peloton, and then survived to the finish. In a group of four that made it to the finish, alongside Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5 and Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Van der Poel was always going to be the favourite, especially after the chasing peloton had forced them to ride hard. He delivered. "Like I said this morning the most difficult part is to get into the breakaway on a day like this," he said post-race. "In the first hour of the race I didnt feel so great, but then the legs became better and better, and then when I was in the break I became more confident because in the end, the heat wasn't affecting me that much. It was a very difficult day, because the gap was never big to the bunch."Despite his sparkling palmars, the Tour hasn't always been a happy hunting ground for Van der Poel, who has expressed his dislike of the giant July jamboree; coincidentally, his break companion Pidcock has said similar things before.To stave off the boredom perhaps, then, Van der Poel forced his way into the group of 16 riders who made it up the road before being the protagonist of the final split, on the climb of Mont Bessou, 25km from the finish. According to the Dutchman, none of this was planned out.(Image credit: Getty Images)"I dont really do it, Im more a guy who looks day by day to the profile and also how I feel," he said. "You make a plan before the Tour, but if you saw a stage like [Mads] Pedersen won [stage four to Foix], you can try and make a plan but if you don't have the legs it's really difficult to execute. I just see it day by day and try to take my chances when I get it."The 31-year-old has hardly had a bad season, with five wins so far, but there has not been the usual Flanders or Roubaix, and Alpecin have gone empty-handed at this year's Tour so far."Its only my third victory so it shows how hard it is for me to win a stage at the Tour," Van der Poel argued. "Its always special to win one. Sometimes, it looks really easy because we always succeeded in winning a Monument or winning sprints at the Tour, but we know it will not always come that easy. Keep working, keep believing in it. We do our best, and thats all we can do."As for the team, they are "not panicking". "We have a very nice group here. Its always nice at the dinner table in the evening, and when youre in this race you cannot change that much anymore you just need to be patient and keep going everything right hopefully things turn our way. It did today and hopefully we can win another stage with Jasper in the coming weeks."No panic, all power is the way forward for Van der Poel, and it worked on a lumpy stage nine. One could see it working again at this Tour, now he knows his form is there.

Team Visma | Lease a Bike have refused to view the opening nine stages of the 2026 Tour de France through the damage inflicted by Tadej Pogacar alone, insisting Jonas Vingegaard reached the first rest day looking fresh and with the team still confident in its position. Vingegaard sits second overall...