Key events
130km to go Kirsh, Anders Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-Alula), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) were in there too but that’s not stuck.
132km to go We’ve had more than 20km of racing but still no settled breakaway group but now we have Julian Alaphilippe in a group of five that might have a chance.
138km to go Merlier is in a group of strugglers out the back of the race now and they’re already a minute down. No breakaway has formed yet, but we’re seeing repeated efforts to make one stick.
Pedersen wins the intermediate sprint
That was a masterclass from Lidl-Trek. Pedersen barely seemed to up the pedal strokes as he moved off the front, Biniam Girmay got stuck and was well back in second for 20 points, with Jasper Philipsen finishing third to nab 16. Tim Merlier was back getting a bidon, so all of his rivals have gained some points back.
143km to go This intermediate sprint is on a bit of an uphill and you can see the effort levels increasing as we wind up. Lidl-Trek still pounding away on the front as they seek to give Mads Pedersen a platform to hoover up the 25 points on offer here.
147km to go There’s a very early intermediate sprint for the points chasers. We’ll be hitting that in little more than 6km. It seems we won’t be getting a proper breakaway until after that.
148km to go Lidl-Trek are doing the work on the front of the main bunch to bring this back.
150km to go We’ve had a few breakaway chancers speed off the front. Quinten Hermans (Pinarello-Q36.5), Alex Kirsch (Cofidis) and Stefano Oldani (Caja Rural) have about 25 seconds. Ewen Costiou (Groupama-FDJ United) and Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) are in pursuit.
We are off!
Christian Prudhomme pokes his head out of the sunroof and waves his little yellow flag. Stage nine is underway…
Countdown to kilometre zero
The riders are rolling out of Malemort, racing begins in earnest in 5km.
We have correspondence! Tim Buckley breaks the reader predictions duck: “Tom Pidcock and Ben Healey from the break. No threat on GC and handy at Ardennes style climbs.” Do we dare to dream of an England World Cup win and a British stage winner on the Tour in the same weekend? Keep ‘em coming.
Who do you think is taking today’s stage? My inbox is open to predictions via the link at the top of the page.
King of the mountains standings
Polka dot tabulations:
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 28
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) 19
3. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) 16
4. Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) 13
5. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) 12
6. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) 10
7. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 10
8. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) 10
9. Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) 9
10. Raúl García (Movistar Team) 7
Points standings
This is probably the real quiz today:
1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 228
2. Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) 213
3. Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team) 203
4. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) 175
5. Max Kanter (XDS Astana Team) 172
6. Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) 110
7. Søren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) 89
8. Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) 79
9. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 75
10. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) 61
General classification standings
Here is the top ten, ahead of stage nine:
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 28hrs 49mins 07secs
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike): +2mins 42secs
3. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): +3mins 27secs
4. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe): +3mins 30secs
5. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek): +3mins 34secs
6. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team): +3mins 55secs
7. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe): +4mins 00secs
8. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious): +4mins 21secs
9. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek): +4mins 57secs
10. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek): +7mins 10secs
More on the decision to shorten the ninth stage from Jeremy Whittle in Bergerac:
Undoubtedly the graphics team at ASO were a little gutted to have to fire up the file named ‘stage_9_route_V4_final’ and have to chop out 30km but here we are. This is what the riders will be working with today:
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Preamble
When Tadej Pogacar has an unassailable lead it is days like today that mean that the Tour de France never remains less than compelling.
Shortened by 30km because of the red heatwave alert in Corrèze département of central France, this lumpy 155.5km run from Malemort to Ussel comes on the eve of the first rest day, offering interest to the peloton’s lurkers, breakaway specialists and the bold.
The Suc au May is steep enough to entice a climber to have a dart but we are probably looking at a Mads Pedersen-type winner, if the Lidl-Trek rider does not fancy it himself. Maybe without the pains of saddle sores, Tom Pidcock would be a contender to add to his sole stage win at the Tour. Quinn Simmons and Mathias Vacek will also be eyeing this one up for sure.
