A Mathieu in full force (and on the front page) is a fitting tribute from L'Equipe to the Dutchman, as well as to the dynastic tradition that directly recalls a certain Raymond Poulidor. There is nothing anachronistic or forced in celebrating Van der Poel, honoring his grandfather. Gazzetta ("Victory with a kiss" with a dedication to Roxanne) captures and highlights the winner's enthusiastic statements, having lifted a weight: "the wheel has turned and I'm back to being myself".

What does Sinnermania have to do with cycling? Corriere della Sera sends the South Tyrolean not to the front pages but to the sports section, result: less prominence for Mathieu's great achievement. Marco Bonarrigo reports on a special stage: "Size doesn't matter: reduced to just 150 kilometers to avoid cooking the riders on the scorching hills of Corrèze, the ninth stage of the Tour de France thrilled from the very first meter thanks to a breakaway that stole the show from the sprinters and, for once, control from Tadej Pogacar's dictatorship".

Repubblica, with Cosimo Cito, instead hits the calendar issue, headlining: "Pogacar's crusade against the heat, let's start the stages at dawn". Then an emphasis: but how many big names among the stage winners? Not a single one. That it was an infernal day, not just because of the heat, is also explained by Pier Augusto Stagi on Il Giornale, referring to the stage shortening: "Pogacar and company thank the organization for a measure never granted in the Tour's ultra-centennial history, but after the thanks, the riders take off like rockets as if there were no tomorrow (by the way, today is the first rest day). To hell with pleasantries: 'It's war like war'."

GAZZETTA DELLO SPORT
VICTORY WITH A KISS
In almost three and a half hours, not a second of boredom. Cycling in its purest form—despite the forty-degree heat—on the roads of the Tour de France, sensational agonism sublimated by an arm-wrestling match between the peloton and the breakaway riders that rewarded the latter and above all—on the unprecedented finish line of Ussel—a world-class rider like Mathieu Van der Poel. "I've found myself again, finally," said VdP, who with a devastating acceleration of his own on a slightly uphill finish beat Tobias Halland Johannessen, Pidcock and Baudin. And then he enjoyed the kiss from his partner Roxanne, who will make him a father for the first time in January. (Ciro Scognamiglio)

CORRIERE DELLA SERA
VAN DER POEL UNLEASHES HIMSELF AND ENDS THE DROUGHT. GANNA ALSO SURRENDERS, POGACAR STAYS TO WATCH
Size doesn't matter: reduced to just 150 kilometers to avoid cooking the riders on the scorching hills of Corrèze, the ninth stage of the Tour de France thrilled from the very first meter thanks to a breakaway that stole the show from the sprinters and, for once, control from Tadej Pogacar's dictatorship. The Malemort-Ussel stage was conceived, launched and relaunched when it could have fizzled out by Mathieu Van der Poel, tired of being away from the spotlight and starved of success for nearly four months. The Dutch phenomenon, taking advantage of the continuous ups and downs of the course, kept the pursuit of UAE and Lidl-Trek at a distance with the help of Johannessen, Pidcock and Baudin, who then burned out in the finale, beating an excellent Filippo Ganna by 6 seconds. (Marco Bonarrigo)

REPUBBLICA
POGACAR'S CRUSADE AGAINST THE HEAT
LET'S START THE STAGES AT DAWN
The race is made by the (great) riders who are there, and that's why at the 2026 Tour de France only champions win: Pogacar, Vingegaard, Del Toro, Pedersen, Kooij, Merlier and yesterday, in Ussel, finally, Mathieu Van der Poel. "If my festival has started? Maybe it only lasts one day, in the meantime I'm enjoying the victory". The Dutchman chose the most difficult route, that of the long four-man breakaway, and the long sprint while the yellow jersey group came back. "Certainly it went better than the past few days, also because of the heat: I really struggled to recover even on the easier days". (Cosimo Cito)

IL GIORNALE
VAN DER POEL, SHOW OF STRENGTH: BREAKAWAY AND WINNING SPRINT
They shorten the stage to meet their needs, those of the riders, who must still cover 150 km at over 40 degrees. Pogacar and company thank the organization for a measure never granted in the Tour's ultra-centennial history, but after the thanks, the riders take off like rockets as if there were no tomorrow (by the way, today is the first rest day). To hell with pleasantries: "It's war like war".

The Tour treats itself to a high-speed Sunday (almost 45 km/h average). After all, this is a 21-stage race, each of which is tackled like a classic. (Pier Augusto Stagi)

L'EQUIPE
THE AWAKENING OF THE BEAST
Thank goodness the breakaway made it to the end—to the joy of almost everyone—yet a first-class champion still triumphed; further confirmation that the Tour de France is now the exclusive domain of the absolute elite. It took a rider of exceptional class to manage to break away from the peloton, in the midst of the frenzy of a stage that proved even more chaotic than expected. On the false flat leading to the Ussel finish line, Mathieu van der Poel proved to be the most combative of a quartet that also included Tobias Johannessen, Tom Pidcock and Alex Baudin. (Alexandre Roos)