The most combative rider award that Jasper Stuyven ended up with on stage 9 of the Tour de France clearly wasn’t much of a consolation, the disappointment thick in the Lidl-Trek rider’s voice during his post-stage interviews. That first win at the Tour for a moment had seemed within reach but was snatched from his grasp once again.
Stuyven has made it into the top ten of a Tour de France stage 25 times, four times stepping up to the podium with his best result being a second place on stage 7 in 2021, the year he won Milan-San Remo. That time he was out front with eventual winner Matej Mohorič, but ended up being dropped on Signal d’Uchon, but in this year's gravel-heavy stage, Stuyven was the one who tried to drop all his rivals instead.
