‘I finally did it’: Ottawa’s Michael Woods wins 9th stage Tour de France

Canadian Michael Woods put in an impressive solo effort to claim the biggest success of his career at the top of a legendary Tour de France climb on Sunday in Puy de Dome, France, as two-time champion Tadej Pogacar closed the gap to overall leader Jonas Vingegaard further reduced in size.

Woods, who rides for the Israel-Premier Tech team, has no general classification ambitions and was part of an early breakaway that allowed the main contenders to form early in stage nine. He managed to overtake American Matteo Jorgenson just 500 meters from the top after his 24-year-old rival jumped less than 50 kilometers from the leading group.

36-year-old Woods from Ottawa then dropped Jorgenson leisurely and reached the top of the Puy de Dome, a famous volcanic crater in the Massif Central region of south-central France that last hosted a stage 35 years ago.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and talked about, but it’s never something I’ve accomplished and I finally did it,” said Woods.

Fellow Canadian Hugo Houle, Woods’ Israel-Premier Tech teammate, won stage 16 of last year’s Tour. Woods finished third that day.

Bauer is now sporting director at Israel-Premier Tech.

Pogacar and Vingegaard rode well behind the breakaway and were again in a league of their own in the group of contenders. After another great collective effort from Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma teammates in the final incline that devastated the field, Pogacar launched his attack with 1.5 kilometers to go and accelerated again on the steepest of inclines.

Vingegaard lost ground but did not panic and was able to limit the gap to eight seconds to keep the yellow jersey.

Ahead of Monday’s first rest day, Vingegaard holds a 17-second lead over Pogacar in the overall standings, with Jai Hindley in third, 2 minutes 40 seconds off the pace.

Frenchman Pierre Latour finished the 182.5 kilometer stage second, with Matej Mohoric on the podium. Jorgenson finished fourth.