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

[Peyroteo94]

Congrats to Cofidis and FDJ for working to get a fantastic result!

 

[KZD]

Heroic ride from Van der Poel and Rickaert, unfortunately for them Arkea, Cofidis, Tudor and Uno-X are idiots that prefer to get a top10 rather than let the fastest sprinters teams do their work.

Amazing sprint from Merlier, he confirms being the fastest sprinter in the world. Great to see De Lie back on the podium, he is on the right track.

 

[Kwaremonster]

Damn it, I did what I told myself not to do: have hope.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

So from the teams doing heavy workload in the end:

Uno-X 9th
Arkea 13th
Visma 27th

*** losers…

Visma had Pog mostly isolated, so their riding was for a completely different reason than the other two. I don't think for a second that a win today was their goal.

 

[tobydawq]

Is merlier the greatest sprinter ever in the history of the sport?

No.

 

[Netserk]

This stage was probably more exciting than any of the mountain stages is going to be.

I'll take the under on that.

 

[Sciatic]

How’s that 9th place Uno-X 🙄

Adding to the weirdness, they could just as easily gotten 9th (or a little better) if they didn't contribute to the chase and MDVP stayed away.

 

[proffate]

Benji naesen said the uci needs to give points for being in the breakaway.

I think the uci needs to give zero points for 4th or worse on sprint stages.

 

[dobrien]

Damn it, I did what I told myself not to do: have hope.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Well done Simon no stress today and another 10 minutes lost job done.

 

[tobydawq]

This last 5km alone is why this sport deserves to die.

Or maybe just why you should stop watching. It certainly doesn't seem to bring you much joy.

 

[Kedjan]

Rickaert is loyal as hell and he wanted to get on the podium and MVDP was happy to help. Chapeau to both!

 

[awavey]

yay Rickaert got the combativity award

 

[Tanakka]

So from the teams doing heavy workload in the end:

Uno-X 9th
Arkea 13th
Visma 27th

*** losers…

Some people are blaming teams who worked in spite of only having a 2nd tier sprinters in their line-ups, but what was actually Visma doing pulling in front even after there was no trace of any kind of wind that would require to echelon?

 

[Red Rick]

Or maybe just why you should stop watching. It certainly doesn't seem to bring you much joy.

Same reason you should maybe put me on the ignore list.

Yet here we are.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

The one good thing about the stage is that it finished in time before the Wimbledon final starts.
Apart from that there's not much to say about this intriguing TdF weekend.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Hoping Uno-X, FDJ, Isreal and the likes see no sucess at all this race

Pathetic racing! Why not throw Jonas Abrahamsen out there instead?

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Same reason you should maybe put me on the ignore list.

Yet here we are.

NOOOOOO!!! We watch Real Housewives for the fights, the same as we watch these forums!!

* I don't actually watch Real Housewives, but I've seen the promos, and they all seem to show people yelling and pointing fingers and stuff, so I assume that the entire draw is watching for the catiness.

 

[postmanhat]

That might be the most enjoyable MVDP stage I can remember in The Tour. It was a big FU to modern cycling.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Some people are blaming teams who worked in spite of only having a 2nd tier sprinter in their line-ups, but what was actually Visma doing pulling in front even after there was no trace of any kind of wind that would require to echelon?

Also that, completely frying their team for fun it seemed. MVDP would have made it without them, but it is what it is

 

[Krzysztof_O]

What a legendary breakaway by Van der Poel and Rickaert. Doing 50 kph for 170 km. Unfortunately VdP was caught just 800 m before the line. Had Visma not attacked during crosswinds maybe he would've made it. Merlier won again convincingly beating Milan, well done.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

So, what are the odds that if teams like Uno-X would have tried for the breakaway today that we get more than three riders with a gap of more than two minutes? I think that would have actually lowered the chances of Lidl-Trek and Soudal-Quickstep messing up considerably instead of giving the breakaway a better chance. I think this very strong two-man break where they thought they would stop early on regardless was the only chance. Lidl-Trek haven‘t allowed even really small groups so far this year.
If Van der Poel hadn‘t attacked, nobody would have probably, yet I don‘t think anyone would have said that the riders of teams like Uno-X would have missed out on anything.

 

[Netserk]

Or maybe just why you should stop watching. It certainly doesn't seem to bring you much joy.

You are not a fellow masochist?

 

[willbick]

Is Milan the least aero sprinter ever??

 

[movingtarget]

Gutsy ride by VDP and Rickaert. Well taken win by Merlier.