The break gets its day
The last stage before the rest day rolled across the rugged Corrèze plateau — Suc au May, Côte de la Croix de Pey, Mont Bessou — and this time the peloton's generosity was rewarded properly. A 16-rider breakaway went clear with about 100 km remaining and stayed away.
Over the climbs the front group whittled itself down to four: Mathieu van der Poel, Tobias Halland Johannessen, Tom Pidcock and Alex Baudin. On the rising finish in Ussel, Van der Poel — dropped on Montjuïc a week earlier — launched inside the final 200 metres. Johannessen tried to answer. There was no answer.
Into the rest day
Pidcock took third from the group, and behind them Tadej Pogačar rolled in 11th, carrying his 2:42 lead over Jonas Vingegaard into the first rest day. Nine stages down: three winners named Pogačar, two named Merlier, and a first week that delivered a different story every single day.
Stage details on the stage 9 page — the race so far, including our first-week onboard highlights story, is on the Tour tracker.
