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Tadej Pogacar urges radical overhaul of Tour de France amid stifling heatwave
Tadej Pogacar called for radical change to the professional racing calendar after another day of stifling temperatures, as Mathieu van der Poel won the shortened ninth stage of the Tour de France from Malemort to Ussel, with Tom Pidcock finishing third.
“If I had the power I would change all the calendar and not race in July and August in hot places,” Pogacar said. “I’d do a completely different calendar, but it’s not something I can do.”
The Slovenian rider, a four‑time Tour de France winner, said: “Maybe the next step is to start the stages earlier. Yesterday there was a proposal to start at 10, but it doesn’t change anything because then you finish in the heat.
Tour de France 2026: Mathieu van der Poel wins shortened ninth stage
Mathieu van der Poel won his third career Tour de France stage in a sprint finish on stage nine, which was shortened due to temperatures approaching 40C.
The 31-year-old Dutchman finished ahead of Denmark's Tobias Johannessen and Great Britain's Tom Pidcock in a breakaway pack.
Pidcock was going for a second Tour stage win of his career, but was hampered by a mechanical problem with his chain cassette or derailleur.
Sunday's ninth stage from Malemort to Ussel was around 30km shorter than planned because of a "red alert" from the French authorities.
Defending champion Tadej Pogacar finished in the chasing peloton six seconds behind the winner to keep the leader's yellow jersey heading into Monday's first rest day.
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A stone in Tom Pidcock's shifter and a stage 9 podium
Please note that this is an automated translation and it will not be perfect. All articles have been written in English and if anything appears to not make sense, please double check in English.
A tiny rock nearly ended Tom Pidcock's stage 9, but a spare button kept him in the mix.
Tom Pidcock kicking the everloving s— out of his rear derailleur was probably not the image that drivetrain sponsor SRAM was hoping for out of stage 9, but the American component brand can rest easy: This was an act of God, or at least freak physics, according to Q36.5 team management. And in fact, a key attribute of SRAM's shifters ended up saving the day.
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