Lidl-Trek were on the defensive early on Stage 9 at the Tour de France after a dangerous duo went up the road.
It was a messy end to the 174.1-kilometer-long stage with Mathieu van der Poel, who went on the attack with his Alpecin-Deceininck teammate, Jonas Rickaert, early into the race, caught just shy of 700 meters to go with the finish line in sight.
It was only then that the stage with set for another head-to-head between Tim Merlier [Soudal Quick-Step] and Milan with the European Champion prevailing this time.
In Jonny’s words 🎤
It was a really tough stage. It was windy and nervous a lot of the day but we tried immediately to keep control but I think we made a mistake to let two strong riders like Mathieu & Jonas go up the road like that. It was not easy to bring them back. We used the whole team to make sure we kept a good position in the final kilometers, because we knew that we needed to be together for the crosswind sections to keep me and Skjelly out of trouble.
It was a difficult sprint, and, to be honest I was expecting more than second place today, but we learn and sometimes sport is like this. I was worried as, for me, letting go someone like MVDP go is not the best, but we did take the early responsibility and in the end, we caught him so there was a sprint like we wanted but we had used up our lead out. I tried to give my best as I wasn't super fresh in the but we will keep fighting for stage wins and for this jersey. It will be a good battle to the end and I try to give my best. Tomorrow, for the sprint, it will be a bit tough to take the bonus points but then we, luckily, have a rest day to recovery a bit more before the next week.
