Merlier wins stage 9 after Van der Poel breakaway thriller
It was expected to be another day for the sprinters on stage 9, but the wind and a dangerous breakaway had something to say before the finish in Châteauroux.
Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) sprinted to his second stage win of the 2025 Tour de France on stage 9 into Châteauroux after a nail-biting finale.
The European champion outsprinted Jonathan Milan(Lidl-Trek) who was 2nd and Arnaud De Lie in 3rd after the peloton caught Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who had been in the day's breakaway with teammate Jonas Rickaert, inside the final kilometre.
There were nerves and tensions throughout the stage about the potential for echelons and the chase of the Alpecin-Deceuninck duo of Mathieu van der Poel and Jonas Rickaert. It was touch and go, but the flying Dutchman was caught inside the final kilometre, with Merlier proving to be the quickest in the sprint.
The general classification riders survived the chaos of echelon threats, and whilst there was a group of riders distanced, there were no significant GC contenders caught out.
How it unfolded
Unlike stage 8, there were attacks immediately after the flag drop, with the Alpecin-Deceuninck duo of Mathieu van der Poel and Jonas Rickaert attacking, in an interesting start with the intermediate sprint positioned within the early part of the stage.
Van der Poel rolled through the intermediate sprint first with Rickaert on his wheel to claim the maximum 20 points. Behind, in the peloton, Jonathan Milan claimed 15 points for 3rd place, Biniam Girmay with 13 for 4th and Tim Merlier taking 11 for 5th.
During the early portion of the stage, it was announced that João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) had abandoned the race after suffering from the effects of the nasty crash he was involved in on stage 7.
With 72km to go, there was a split in the bunch with a small group in the back and Wout van Aert (Vissma | Lease a Bike) was forced to jump across. Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL) was one of the GC riders caught out with his Picnic PostNL teammates, but all returned to the main peloton.
With 36.1km to go, Tim Wellens and Jonas Abrahamsen hit the front on a section where the race could potentially split in crosswinds. This eventually created a more significant split, with a group of riders caught out, including Ben O’Connor, the biggest name from the GC perspective, although the Australian was already 8:25 down at the start of the stage, and this group wouldn’t return.
Visma hit the front with Victor Campenaerts and Wout van Aert with 29km to go, and three kilometres later Tiesj Benoot, Jonas Vingegaard, and Matteo Jorgenson also hit the front, and they created another split in the first peloton, though this didn’t last as the majority in the group returned. The pace in the front peloton ‘calmed’ around 20 km to go, which saw the gap to the Alpecin duo increase from around 30 seconds to 1:20 with 17 km remaining.
With 7km to go, Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) created a short split of four riders, which included Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), but it was very short-lived and soon after, at the front of the race, Rickaert pulled off with 6km remaining, leaving Van der Poel to contest the final solo with a gap of just over 30 seconds.
Van der Poel put up a great battle, but on a stage that was destined for a bunch sprint, he was caught shortly after the flamme rouge.
Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) led the sprint from the front before Merlier and Milan simultaneously launched their sprints, with the European champion proving to be the quickest to the line. Arnaud de Lie rounded out the podium in 3rd.
