"Sometimes, it looks really easy," Mathieu van der Poel drolly explained in his press conference after he had won stage nine of the 2026 Tour de France in Ussel. It's true, when the Dutchman has powered away to victory at at Monuments, at umpteen Classics, at the Tour before, it has looked simple.
However, on a sweltering day in the Corrèze département on Sunday, it looked anything but easy. This wasn't Playstation cycling but riders at their limit on a brutal course which never seemed flat. For Alpecin-Premier Tech, too, this Tour has not looked to date – no stage win for their star sprinter Jasper Philipsen, and frustration at his lack of form. It was not a day to be putting your body in this much stress, really, but that's what the 176 riders left in the race are paid to do.
