USSEL, France, July 12 (Reuters) - Mathieu van der Poel triumphed in a scramble for the finish line on stage nine of the Tour de France on Sunday as the Alpecin-Premier Tech rider secured his first Grand Tour stage win of the year.
Tobias Johannessen and Tom Pidcock finished second and third, while Slovenian four-time champion Tadej Pogacar crossed the line soon after to maintain his overall lead.
It was the third Tour de France stage win in the career of 31-year-old Dutchman Van der Poel, who was forced to abandon last year's race due to pneumonia.
"I spent a lot of energy trying to keep the break alive with all the pressure from the bunch. The roads are horrible, head winds, and we fought for it and I’m happy to finish it off," Van der Poel told TNT Sports.
The ride from Malemort to Ussel, shortened by 30km due to heat risks, began with several attacks and when a breakaway group of five opened a gap, the peloton caught them before Cote de Naves.
The riders braved intense temperatures of 34 degrees Celsius, and sometimes more, as they covered 46.9km in the first hour with several teams jostling for the front.
VAN DER POEL PURSUES THE BREAKAWAYS
The peloton split in the 59th kilometre as 15 riders pulled ahead and Briton Pidcock (Q36.5) soon joined the breakaway group. When Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) looked to push further ahead from the leading group, Pidcock pursued them.
The peloton, more than a minute behind going into the last 30km, looked to reduce the gap as Van der Poel set the pace. But when he launched an attack during the climb to Mont Bessou, most of the peloton stayed back.
Pidcock ran into a mechanical issue but quickly recovered to join a leading group of four with Van der Poel, Johannessen and Alex Baudin (EF Education - Easypost) going into the last 10km, with the peloton still 42 seconds behind.
The four leaders pushed themselves to stay ahead and secure their first stage win at the race, although the peloton caught up in the last 300 metres, leading to a hectic scramble for the finish line.
But Van der Poel prevailed with a final push, crossing the finish line with his arms raised in celebration.
After a rest day, the race will continue on Tuesday with a mountainous 166.6-km ride from Aurillac to Le Lioran.
(Reporting by Vincent Daheron; Writing by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Clare Fallon)
