Van der Poel stays calm in the heat to win Tour de France stage nine

Cobbled classics specialist Mathieu van der Poel claimed his third Tour de France win on Sunday with victory in the ninth stage, which was shortened due to intense heat.

The 31-year-old Dutchman, a former world champion, won a sprint amongst his three breakaway companions with Tobias Johannessen taking second and Tom Pidcock third.

“It was a super hard day. The start of the Tour was not great for our team, but I think, like always, we stayed calm,” he said.

“We have a really nice group here and we kept believing that it will turn around… but it’s really nice to go to the first rest day with a win.”

Having worked as a sprint lead-out man for his Alpecin Premier Tech team-mate Jasper Philipsen — who had finished fourth and fifth in the sprint stages — in the previous two days, Van der Poel finally had a chance to go for a stage win for himself.

Reigning champion Tadej Pogacar came home in the chasing peloton six seconds behind the winner to maintain his lead in the overall standings ahead of Monday’s first rest day.