Tour de France Tour de France 2025 Stage 9: Chinon – Châteauroux (174.1k)

[Izzyeviel]

And there‘s even a stage on Monday! Mindblowing!

wait wha... oh Bastille day. Viva la France!

 

[ashhutch1997]

And as usual, there's pundits all gushing on social media about how it's been one of the greatest opening weeks in history, all while we get served one of the worst second weekends in the history of the sport, let alone the Tour.

I think given the part of France they were in during the first week, I actually think they did a pretty good job and the racing has been good. It's only this weekend that was trash.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Most will likely focus on stage 10, sprinters the only one having a blast. Unfortunately that is a perfect recipe for a crash fest. So lets hope for another snooze fest, just perfect for Sunday.

 

[CyclistAbi]

The first week has been OK, the stages have more or less delivered as expected, but I don't really feel "in" the race yet, it's like we're still in the preamble, yet we're almost halfway through.

You will feel this one, deep boredom, borderline painful. AFAIK only a few places left to experience that on planet Earth.

 

[SHAD0W93]

5/5 what?

It’d be 5/5 times M.C. won in Châteauroux.

 

[tourmabet]

What to expect from Merlier tomorrow?

 

[movingtarget]

Another extremely tough day for commentators.........

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I was going to post a garbage meme, but this stage doesn't even deserve one.

 

[houtdffan]

Not sure about the first week in 2023 but the first weekend of 2023 was much better than this year. Sunday in 2023 finished at Puy de Dôme.

first week in 2023 had the Pyrenees

 

[Hugh Januss]

I feel like if it was 21 straight stages of MT finishes and a few of them were not that hard/not raced flat out people on here would complain about that.

 

[Cookster15]

first week in 2023 had the Pyrenees

Yes. Red Rick implied 2023 was more boring but that we have already forgotten?

 

[scribers]

We need another bottle/gate to get through this

 

[Rob5091]

UAE will like a nice calm day with Almeida suffering and Soler crashing yesterday. So, it's time to ramp up the tempo! WvA's sprint attempt was also a bit of mind games toward UAE as well as an attempt to win.
So while the Jolly Green Giant does his bit, the "destabilization" of Pogi and his team carry on.
No break probably until after the intermediate sprint again, so which lucky guys will go for the 2,000 euros?!

 

[Rob5091]

We need another bottle/gate to get through this

What's really needed is another good police raid. It's been a long time since the last one.

 

[movingtarget]

Pray for crosswinds.........

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Looking at the placements of stage 8:

1 Milan Jonathan Lidl - Trek 210 100 10″-10″ 3:50:26 2 van Aert Wout Team Visma | Lease a Bike 150 70 6″ ,, 3 Groves Kaden Alpecin - Deceuninck 110 50 4″ ,, 4 Ackermann Pascal Israel - Premier Tech 90 40 ,, 5 De Lie Arnaud Lotto 70 32 ,, 6 Andresen Tobias Lund Team Picnic PostNL 55 26 ,, 7 Coquard Bryan Cofidis 45 22 ,, 8 Dainese Alberto Tudor Pro Cycling Team 40 18 ,, 9 Albanese Vincenzo EF Education - EasyPost 35 14 ,, 10 Fredheim Stian Uno-X Mobility 30 10 ,, 11 van Poppel Danny Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe 25 8 ,, 12 Bauhaus Phil Bahrain - Victorious 20 6 ,, 13 Askey Lewis Groupama - FDJ 15 4 ,, 14 Tronchon Bastien Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 10 2 ,, 15 Watson Samuel INEOS Grenadiers 5 1 ,, 16 Groenewegen Dylan Team Jayco AlUla ,, 17 Turgis Anthony Team TotalEnergies ,, 18 Bol Cees XDS Astana Team ,, 19 Girmay Biniam Intermarché - Wanty ,,

Add a couple of riders who were hit by bad luck etc and we have20 odd teams who believe they can get a result from a bunchsprint. Perfect recipe for a yawnfest given a sprinter friendly stage.
Anyway, Merlier ftw

 

[Rob5091]

Magnus Cort for the win and to make it 5/5.

Had n't the UNO-X team gone down with some bug?

 

[SHAD0W93]

Had n't the UNO-X team gone down with some bug?

The winning bug maybe, 100% sounds a whole lot better than 80% and Cort can’t rely on Cattaneo to help get the win.

 

[Rob5091]

UNO-X problems with "sjukdom" (illness) from the Norwegian media - from Thursday 10th July -
https://www.langrenn.com/other/sjukdomsdrama-i-tour-de-france-jeg-er-bekymret/
translation -

Now the sports director Gabriel Rasch says that they have got illness in the squad, and that the team captain Magnus Cort who is having a particularly hard time. "I'm a little worried about Magnus," sports director Gabriel Rasch told Eurosport and NRK after the stage. Now the team is taking action to save the rest of the Tour. "We have to do what we can in the next few days. We isolate him, wear face masks and all that. Today is probably the most critical day, then we'll see how he is throughout the evening and tomorrow," says Rasch.

 

[Mayomaniac]

UNO-X problems with "sjukdom" (illness) from the Norwegian media - from Thursday 10th July -
https://www.langrenn.com/other/sjukdomsdrama-i-tour-de-france-jeg-er-bekymret/
translation -

I read Skunksdom first...

 

[Cycling111]

It looks like there will be echelons.

Let's hope there are no accidents because all the teams will be fighting for position.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1944298769115148772

View: https://x.com/lucasaganronald/status/1944298769115148772

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

It looks like there will be echelons.

Let's hope there are no accidents because all the teams will be fighting for position.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1944298769115148772

View: https://x.com/lucasaganronald/status/1944298769115148772

Another welcome opportunity for Bora to loose time!

 

[Rackham]

It looks like there will be echelons.

Let's hope there are no accidents because all the teams will be fighting for position.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1944298769115148772

View: https://x.com/lucasaganronald/status/1944298769115148772

Let's see just how much Red Bull and Rog care here because anyone lingering at the back will find themselves on the wrong side of the inevitable split.

 

[ashhutch1997]

Yes. Red Rick implied 2023 was more boring but that we have already forgotten?

2023 Pyrenees stages were brilliant.

 

[KZD]

Hopefully the echelons materialise.

Merlier to take this one.