{"id":199105,"date":"2025-07-14T09:52:53","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T09:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=199105"},"modified":"2025-07-14T09:54:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T09:54:04","slug":"jonathan-milan-holds-skoda-green-jersey-in-tight-sprint-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2025\/07\/14\/jonathan-milan-holds-skoda-green-jersey-in-tight-sprint-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Van der Poel Escapes, Milan Holds \u0160koda Green Jersey in Tight Sprint Battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Mathieu van der Poel and his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Jonas Rickaert took off on their 173.4 km breakaway on Sunday\u2019s stage 9 of the Tour de France, everyone assumed that it was to amass \u0160koda Green Jersey points at the intermediate sprint for the cyclo-cross and gravel world champion and that the duo would then slow down and rejoin the peloton.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The puzzling breakaway<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But they didn\u2019t. They kept going and eventually had a lead of up to 5:30 over the pack, which didn\u2019t seem to care that it was van der Poel in front, a rider who loves long solo breakaways and has one of the biggest engines on the planet. As it turned out the reason they didn\u2019t slow down, as the two explained on TNT Sports afterwards, is that they weren\u2019t interested in the points \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m not going for the green jersey,\u201d van der Poel said \u2013 but because Rickaert had said before the stage, as a joke, how much he would love being on a Tour de France podium.<\/p>\n

The problem for the duo is that the stage from Chinon to Ch\u00e2teauroux was 174.1 km long, not 173.4 km. The 31-year-old Rickaert, who had done most of the work in front, finally tired with about 6 km left to ride, and van der Poel was caught by the peloton just 700 m from the finish line. But the pair had accomplished their mission because after the stage, Rickaert was called to the podium to receive his award for being the most combative rider of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I’ll go home tomorrow; my Tour is done,\u201d Rickaert joked after the stage. \u201cI always wanted to be on the Tour podium, so I made a joke of it that we’d go with two [riders] from the start. But it seems [van der Poel] was serious, so we just continued, and I was slowly dying. We tried, and too bad that we didn’t succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van der Poel explained that the plan had been to help Rickaert win the combativity award. \u201cI discussed with Jonas that we wanted to go for it today,\u201d he said. \u201cHis dream is to be on the Tour de France podium, so I was happy to help him get combativity\u2026 That was one of his dreams. In the end, we came really close [to winning the stage], but I think we were both just on the limit. It was a very hard day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merlier nips Milan again<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The two also made it a hard day for their pursuers. Because most of the teams interested in the sprint had used up most of their lead-out riders on the long pursuit, the bunch sprint was something of a mess. But no one was hurt, and the outcome was decided between the two best sprinters in the race, Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek).<\/p>\n

In what was a replay of the stage 3 sprint, Milan took off first and was caught by the hard-charging Merlier. Lotto\u2019s Arnaud de Lie finished fast for a close third. As a result, Milan still leads the race for the \u0160koda Green Jersey with 227 points, with race leader Tadej Poga\u010dar (UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG) sitting second, at 156, and last year\u2019s green jersey winner Biniam Girmay (Intermarch\u00e9-Wanty<\/a>) in third with 151, one point ahead of Merlier, who is the only sprinter to have won two stages. Van der Poel is in fifth at 128 points and seems truly not to be interested in winning the \u0160koda Green Jersey.<\/p>\n

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P\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek sd\u00edlen\u00fd Tour de France\u2122 (@letourdefrance)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n