USSEL, France (AP) — Mathieu van der Poel timed his attack perfectly to win the hilly ninth stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish, while defending champion Tadej Pogacar kept the race leader’s yellow jersey on Sunday.

Van der Poel was in a group of four contesting the victory. He accelerated with about 200 meters to go, then held off Norwegian rider Tobias Johannessen and Britain’s Tom Pidcock before spreading his arms as he crossed the line. All three were timed at 3 hours, 27 minutes, 51 seconds.

“It was a really hard stage after a hard week for the team,” said Van der Poel, who rides for Alpecin-Premier Tech.

Van der Poel said the brutally hot start of the Tour sapped his strength.

“The heat takes away a lot of energy and I had the feeling that I wasn’t recovering properly in the first few days,” he said. “Today was the first stage when I felt I had the legs (to win).”

It was a third career Tour stage win for the 31-year-old Dutchman, whose vast pedigree includes multiple victories in one day classics and Cyclo-cross world championship titles. He is also a former world road race champion, and cycling runs through his veins.

His maternal grandfather was French cyclist Raymond Poulidor, who raced in the 1960s and ’70s, finishing second on the Tour three times and third five times. Nicknamed “Poupou” and “The Eternal Runner-up” he was adored by French fans.

Van der Poel was asked if he had thought about Poulidor, who died in 2019, during the stage.

“Always,” he told French television, “every day on the Tour is special.”

Four-time Tour champion Pogacar finished six seconds behind Van der Poel in a group including two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard.

Pogacar maintained his overall lead of 2 minutes, 42 seconds over second-placed Vingegaard, his main rival. Pogačar’s teammate Isaac del Toro is 3:27 back in third.

Stage 9 shortened

The 154.6-kilometer trek (96-mile) from Malemort to Ussel in central France was shortened by about 30 kilometers due to extreme heat. Organizers took the decision because the local department was placed on red alert by French weather forecasters.

The undulating stage favored allrounders, known in cycling jargon as “baroudeurs” (scrappers) because of their hard-riding, yet versatile, style. An early breakaway group of five featured French veteran Julian Alaphilippe — a two-time world road race champion — but they were soon caught.

Some of the best “baroudeurs” are also strong in the classics, such as Van der Poel and Filippo Ganna.

Van der Poel, two-time Olympic mountain bike champion Tom Pidcock and Ganna formed part of a eight-strong breakaway group with 80 kilometers left.

Lurking behind was Pogacar, whose renowned ability to attack from anywhere made him a threat even though he had no need to contest the stage win given none of the breakaway group were considered contenders for overall victory.

But it was Van der Poel who attacked with 25 kilometers remaining and the lead group was quickly slashed to four, with Ganna among those dropped.

Van der Poel’s superior power told in the dash to the line.

Rest day

Monday is the first of two rest days in the three-week race.

It resumes Tuesday with a hard mountain trek on stage 10, and concludes with its traditional finish in Paris on July 26. ___

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