Tim Merlier beat green jersey Jonathan Milan for his second victory of the 112th Tour de France, Sunday’s ninth stage liberally spiced by crosswinds and a kilometre-zero breakaway by Mathieu van der Poel and a teammate that almost survived the full 175 km. Tadej Pogačar retained the yellow jersey.
The Course
It was the second consecutive day of bunch sprint-eliciting routes. An early intermediate sprint point invited earl action. It was the only road stage of the 112th edition with no classified climbs. Wind direction changed regularly.
After winning both Stage 8 and the day’s intermediate sprint, Jonathan Milan owned the green jersey outright, not just keeping it warm for Pogačar.
Van der Poel and teammate Jonas Rickaert buzzed off early, hitting the intermediate sprint with a 3:00 gap. Van der Poel was viturally back in yellow. Milan snagged the third-most points. The Alpecin-Deceuninck duo–possibly emulating the two Total Energies fellows who comprised Saturday’s escape–forced a 5:30 lead.
The sunflowers were back.
🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻#TDF2025 | #TDFLive
— Tour de France (@letourfr.bsky.social) 2025-07-13T12:15:06.604Z
With 73 km to go, just after Stage 7 crash victim João Almeida abandoned the Tour, a split occured in the peloton, which put seventh place Oscar Only on the wrong side for five kilometres and made Wout van Aert dig deep to catch up. Another call for echelons came with 32 km remaining. This time Michael Woods and the Yates twins missed out on the split. With 28 km to race the lead was under a minute.
Six kilometers from the line, van der Poel went solo. The sprinters’ teams struggled to haul back the Dutchman, but he was captured with 750 metres remaining.
Milan powered along the right hand barrier, but Merlier beat him on the left. Milan also came runner-up to Merlier on Stage 3. Arnaud De Lie finished third.
Monday precedes the first rest day. It packs seven Cat. 2 ascents and a Cat. 3 into 165 km, with a summit finish on Le Mont-Dore and 37 KOM points on offer.
2025 Tour de France Stage 9
1) Tim Merlier…
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