The 2025 Tour de France continued Sunday with stage 9 – a battle royale on a 174.1-kilometer route in flat terrain from Chinon to Chateauroux in central France. Our analysts were expecting riders to attempt to establish a long breakaway following Saturday’s relatively restful stage and the stage finale to be decided between the pure sprinters in the Tour, as many sprinters still were still hungering for success and podium fame in this year’s Tour.

Yesterday’s stage 8 had not caused any changes in the top of the general classification and Tadej Pogacar was still wearing the yellow race leader jersey in today’s stage 9. The Slovenian rider was 54 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), while Kevin Vauquelin had advanced to third, 01:11 minutes behind the Slovenian rider. Jonas Vingegaard was fourth.

The start zone was dominated by high spirits and always popular and smiling Julian Alaphilippe had to sign numerous autographs for his many fans. The Tour de France peloton started stage 9 as it travelled through the streets of Chinon, where Jeanne d’Arc influenced the future of France in 1429 when she explained her divine visions to King Charles VII and instilled hope of a French victory in the Hundred Years’ War after many years of suffering against the English. 17-year-old Jeanne d’Arc later led a crusade and won a very significant victory in Orleans – the first of many Historic victories to come for Jeanne d’Arc who is venerated as a patron saint of soldiers.

The bikes of the Tour de France peloton would be the weapons of today’s battle and stage 9 started in sunny and hot weather conditions with temperatures around 31 degrees Celsius. Tailwinds and sidewinds were expected and if stronger winds developed later in the day, they could be used to form echelons in the Tour peloton. Visma-Lease a Bike’s Wout van Aert had used Twitter to announce his intention to sprint in today’s stage finale after the Belgian rider finished second in yesterday’s sprint finish.

Perhaps to honor Jeanne d’Arc and the historic city of Chinon, Mathieu van der Poel attacked with Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Jonas Rickaert shortly after the stage start. Inspired by the courageous TotalEnergies breakaway duo of yesterday’s stage, Richaert and van der Poel established a lead of 02:30 minutes with 157 kilometers left of the stage. The duo was possibly on a mission to secure points for the points classification in today’s intermediate sprint in La Belle Indienne. The main peloton was spearheaded by riders from Lidl-Trek, UAE Team Emirates, and Visma-Lease a Bike.

Mathieu van der Poel secured the maximum points for the points classification in the intermediate sprint and was gaining interest in taking the overall win in the favorite classification of the fastest riders in the peloton. The main peloton reached the intermediate sprint almost four minutes later and yesterday’s stage winner Jonathan Milan proved the fastest man while wearing the green jersey. Biniam Girmay finished immediately behind him followed by Tim Merlier.

The beautiful yellow sunflowers in the fields were attentively observing the Tour de France riders as they traveled through the French countryside – with less attention deficit than at least some of the spectators along the route of today’s stage 9 of the 2025 Tour de France. Van der Poel and his teammate had fought their way to a lead of 04:30 minutes when 135 kilometers remained.

A crash occurred in the rear part of the main peloton with 133 kilometers left of the stage. Ion Izaguirre (Cofidis) crashed with Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL) and Soren Waerenskjold of Uno-X Mobility. 

The front duo had increased its lead to more than 05:30 minutes with 120 kilometers left despite a strong chase effort from several Lidl-Trek riders that were spearheading the main peloton. Meanwhile, Tadej Pogacar lieutenant Joao Almeida was finding it difficult to keep up with the fast speed in the peloton.

Georg Zimmermann crashed heavily 114 kilometers from the finish line and was seen sitting in the roadside ditch with his bibs torn. The Intermarche-Wanty team had suffered plenty of bad luck in this year’s Tour.

Uno-X Mobility sent riders to the front of the main peloton to aid the chase effort of USA national champion Quinn Simmons and his fellow Lidl-Trek riders.

Joao Almeida abandoned the race because of the injuries he sustained in a serious crash in stage 7. Almeida suffered multiple abrasions and a fractured rib. Almeida was an important lieutenant for defending Tour de France Champion Tadej Pogacar in this year’s Tour.

Stronger winds and sidewinds dominated the racing conditions later in the stage and echelons started forming in the peloton with 75 kilometers left. The fast riding caused the advantage of the front duo to be reduced to four minutes with 67 kilometers to the finish line. The splits in the peloton were annulled and the echelons cancelled.

Tudor Pro Cycling Team, Arkea B & B Hotels, and Soudal-QuickStep had sent riders to the front of the main peloton to contribute to the chase effort. 46 kilometers remained and Van der Poel and Richaert were still in front – now with a lead of 02:12 minutes. It was obvious teams and sprinters including Tim Merlier, Alberto Dainese, Arnaud Demare, Jonathan Milan, Kaden Groves, and Biniam Girmay were eager for the stage to conclude in a mass sprint.

Thirty-five kilometers remained and the peloton had entered strong sidewind conditions. The peloton split into multiple echelons and several riders were contributing to setting a fast pace. Remco Evenepoel, Wout van Aert and other riders were spotted near the front and the race situation required maximum attention from the general classification favorites.

Team Visma-Lease a Bike had taken control at the front of the first peloton group when 28 kilometers remained. There were still echelons and the splits in the peloton could cause changes in the GC if they were preserved all the way to the finish line in Chateauroux. Jonas Vingegaard joined the front part of the group.

Front riders Mathieu van der Poel and Jonas Rickaert of Alpecin-Deceuninck had a lead of 53 seconds over the first peloton group when twenty kilometers remained. Meanwhile, a second peloton group was 02:32 minutes behind.

The front duo increased its lead to 01:21 minutes in the following five kilometers and were starting to believe they had a chance of securing a stage victory instead of getting caught. Pogacar teammate Tim Wellens got dropped from the first peloton group in the strong sidewinds.

Victor Campenaerts was leading the first peloton group in the wind for team leader Jonas Vingegaard with 11 kilometers remaining. The front duo still had a gap of one minute to the first peloton group and almost four minutes to peloton group two.

Lidl-Trek riders moved to the front of the first peloton group. Geraint Thomas also joined the front for Ineos-Grenadiers. Vingegaard and Evenepoel were also spotted as was Tadej Pogacar.

Mathieu van der Poel went solo from the front duo. He was now chasing the stage victory without any further assistance from his loyal teammate.

Five kilometers remained and the riders were approaching the finish town of Chateauroux, also known as Cavendish City. Several teams were contributing to the chase effort in the first peloton group.

Van der Poel had a lead of just ten seconds when 2.8 kilometers remained to the finish line. His advantage was down to five seconds with 1.3 kilometers left.

Van der Poel got reeled in with 800 meters left. The sprinters were launching their sprints.

Van Poppel and Jake Stewart started their sprints. Tim Merlier launched his sprint and Jonathan Milan responded. Tim Merlier proved the strongest rider on the day and won the stage for Soudal-QuickStep ahead of Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), while Arnaud de Lie of Team Lotto-Caps completed the stage podium.

“It was really hard in the heat. I did well in the peloton but with the echelons I did not get any hydration,” stage winner and European champion Tim Merlier told Roadcycling.com after the stage.

“The racing was really nervous. Five minutes to van der Poel was a lot, so I tried to help. Remco Evenepoel helped me today and he was really strong. I thought I was boxed in, but I found a solution and I am very happy to be able to take my second stage victory here today,” Merlier added.

Tadej Pogacar remains general classification leader after today’s stage. Pogacar leads the 2025 Tour de France ahead of Remco Evenepoel, Kevin Vauquelin, and Jonas Vingegaard.

Monday’s stage 10 of Tour de France 2025 will be contested on Bastille Day. It will be the final stage before the first rest day of this year’s race. The Tour peloton will enter mountainous terrain in stage 10 and the 165.3-kilometer route from Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy will feature no less than eight categorized climbs of which seven are Category 2 climbs. Expect general classification favorites such as Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard to dominate the action.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from the 2025 Tour de France.