Thomas set for Welsh farewell on Tour of Britain
The Tour of Britain, which begins on 2 September, will start with two stages in Suffolk. There will also be legs in Bedfordshire and Warwickshire before the race arrives in Wales.
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The Guardian
35 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘Enjoy this moment': Pogacar fights off fatigue to savour Tour de France glory
Tadej Pogacar admitted that his own creeping fatigue was perhaps his biggest threat during the Tour de France this year, particularly after he had built a four-minute lead on Jonas Vingegaard following the race's three stages in the Pyrenees. Speaking in a brief press conference after his fourth Tour win, Pogacar said: 'We were in the lead and we had quite a big gap, so we were comfortably in yellow, but yeah, I was tired in the last week. 'For now, I don't want to speak about what went wrong,' he added, 'but for now I want to enjoy this moment with the yellow jersey in Paris.' Although his rivalry with Vingegaard was less intense during this year's Tour than it has been in the past, Pogacar admitted that the pair now have renewed respect for each other. 'Jonas opened up a bit more this year,' he said. 'He comes [over] and we talk about stuff, general stuff. I quite like the guy and I like to race against him. 'Today we were speaking at the start line about how incredible it was, the last five years, battling each other and pushing each other to the next level. We spoke about how we can be privileged to have this competition between each other and how it makes us grow even more.' Vingegaard admitted that his own performance had not been as consistent as he had hoped. 'I can agree that on some stages I have had the highest level that I have ever had,' he said, 'and in other stages I have had the lowest level for many years for me. 'It was a bit more that I had a few bad days. I am better than I ever have been, but it's shown me that I can still have a few bad days.' If he had suffered from ennui, Pogacar managed to hide it for most of the race and certainly in the final stage in Paris, even if his visible weariness during the Alpine stages had drawn criticism from some parts of the French media. 'Burnouts happen in a lot of sports, mental burnout, physical burnout,' he said. 'I think cyclists are a bit too obsessed with training. We always try the hardest and everybody wants to train more and more. 'You see riders with fatigue too early in the season, the team needs you to race, race, race and you keep going and you never really recover. Burnouts happen all the time and it can happen to me as well.' While the four-time champion is looking ahead to a rumoured Grand Depart in Slovenia in 2029, his rival is already turning his attention to trying to win this year's Vuelta a España, the final Grand Tour of the year and one that Pogacar seems unlikely to ride. 'I think first of all, I will do an easy week and from there, you can start training again,' Vingegaard said. 'It's more when you feel fresh and able to train again. There's not a lot of time, but I did it two years ago and it worked out pretty well.'
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Tadej Pogacar reigns in Paris after winning Tour de France for fourth time
Tadej Pogacar ignited an explosive final stage of the Tour de France in Paris, from Mantes-la-Ville to the Champs Élysées, while sealing his fourth overall victory in the race since 2020. Despite a downpour on the treacherous cobbles of Montmartre, Pogacar put in a daredevil performance, attacking on each of the three climbs to the Sacré Coeur, only to be finally distanced by the stage winner Wout van Aert, of the Visma Lease a Bike team. Pogacar had effectively confirmed his fourth Tour de France win during the final stage, after the cobbled climbs and descents over the Côte de la Butte Montmartre were neutralised because of the wet conditions, ensuring there would be no more changes to the overall standings. With the Tour won, there was no incentive for the Slovene to attack, but a prestigious stage victory was still at stake and on the first climb of Montmartre he and Van Aert led a group in pursuit of Julian Alaphilippe, who had made the first move on the steep cobbles of Rue Lepic. Despite the torrential rain, Pogacar and five others moved clear. Another devastating acceleration on the final climb of Rue Lepic blew the lead group apart, but Van Aert clung on and his explosive power eventually took him past the Slovene and ahead to victory. Pogacar, whose previous wins came in 2020, 2021 and 2024, comfortably beat his closest rival, Jonas Vingegaard, by almost four and half minutes, in what both riders acknowledged was the hardest edition of the race they have competed in. Germany's Florian Lipowitz, in his Tour debut, finished third, while Scotland's Oscar Onley, riding only his second, placed fourth overall. Stage wins in Rouen, Mûr-de-Bretagne, Hautacam and Peyragudes, further confirmed Pogacar as the most accomplished rider of his generation. He also won the 2024 Giro d'Italia, the 2024 World Road Race championship, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders and multiple other stage races including Paris-Nice, Critérium du Dauphiné and the Tour of Catalunya. In his wake, the hapless Vingegaard has every reason to feel hard done by, although his pledge to risk all in pursuit of the yellow jersey, even if it meant losing second place, never truly materialised, save for on Mont Ventoux. It is the Dane's misfortune that he is racing in the era of Pogacar. He would almost certainly have added to his tally of two Tour wins if the Slovene was not his contemporary. At the same time, his Visma Lease a Bike team never had the measure of the task facing them and internal politics, cited by his wife Trine Vingegaard Hansen even before the race began, have also played their part. 'It can't be good for Jonas if you also focus on stage wins for others,' Hansen said. 'You can only have respect for how Pogacar does it. When he's at the start of a race, there's no doubt about who the leader is.' The uncertainty over Visma Lease a Bike's commitment to the cause became increasingly obvious as the race went on. As a contest, it was definitively over after the stage to Mont Ventoux, when Vingegaard's most determined attacks went unrewarded. After consecutive defeats in the Tour by Pogacar, the Dane's long‑term future with the Visma Lease a Bike team is now the subject of growing speculation. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Elsewhere, Ineos Grenadiers continue to look a spent force in terms of contending for the yellow jersey, but other Anglophone talents have come to the fore, with Onley and Ireland's Ben Healy, who placed ninth, both having excellent Tours. Onley's wholly unexpected performance, in a particularly gruelling Tour in which his own team manager, Matt Winston, had expected him to fall away, was one of the highlights of the race. Healy's stage win in Vire and his brief spell in the yellow jersey, allied to his top-10 finish, have reinforced his status as a team leader and fuelled his ambitions for future Grand Tours. But this was Pogacar's Tour, a race in which he never looked threatened and in which he maintained physical and psychological mastery of the peloton throughout. He has now won 21 stages in the Tour since winning the race overall on his debut in 2020. Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour, when asked on Sunday if Pogacar's domination was credible, said: 'Cycling has to live with the doubts, with suspicion, given the history of the sport.' He added: 'Pogacar was third in the Vuelta a España at just 20 years old and, when he won in 2020, he was the youngest winner of the Tour since 1904. He's a champion who wins from February to October, a champion who can win the Classics, challenge Mathieu Van der Poel in Paris‑Roubaix and dominate in the Pyrenean stages of the Tour, against Jonas Vingegaard. 'Yes, we hoped for more of a duel, but it wasn't to be.'
Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Telegraph
Tadej Pogacar wins Tour de France but is denied on final stage
Tadej Pogacar celebrated his fourth Tour de France title in Paris but was denied what would have been a stunning final stage victory as Wout van Aert rode away on the wet cobbles of Montmartre to win on the Champs-Elysees. Pogacar looked keen to take what could prove to be a unique opportunity to win in yellow in Paris as the introduction of three ascents of the climb to Montmartre reshaped the usual final-day procession, but Van Aert broke clear on the last time up to take the glory. Although the general classification times had been neutralised in the soggy conditions, Pogacar still had to finish to secure his title yet was willing to risk it all on the greasy cobbles in pursuit of a fifth stage win of this Tour. The Slovenian attacked each time up the narrow climb to whittle down a leading group to just a handful of riders, but had no response when Van Aert made his move 400 metres from the summit of the final ascent, winning solo by 19 seconds from Davide Ballerini. 'It was a special day out,' said Van Aert, who took his 10th career stage win and first since 2022. 'It is really special to win here on the Champs-Elysees once again and on the first occasion we climbed to Montmartre. 'The rain made it quite sketchy but I managed to stay upright. I had the full support of my team and I really have to thank them, to keep believing in me over and over again... 'Going into the last climb, to leave it all out there was our plan and it worked.' Pogacar draws level with Froome Pogacar sat up to safely bring home the yellow jersey and beat his rival Jonas Vingegaard by a final margin of four minutes and 24 seconds, moving level with Chris Froome on four titles, one shy of the record jointly held by Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain and Jacques Anquetil. 'I'm just speechless to win a fourth Tour de France, six years in a row on the podium,' the 26-year-old Pogacar said. 'This one feels especially amazing and I'm super proud I can wear this yellow jersey. 'I found myself in the front even though I didn't really have the energy to motivate myself to race today. I was really happy they neutralised the times in the GC, then it was more relaxed to race. I found myself in the front but hats off to Wout, he was incredibly strong.' German Florian Lipowitz finished third overall, some 11 minutes down on Pogacar and one minute 12 seconds ahead of 22-year-old Scot Oscar Onley who has enjoyed a breakout Tour. On the 50th anniversary of the first Champs-Elysees finish, the Tour returned to the French capital after last year's enforced absence due to the Olympics. Race organisers had been inspired by those Games to add the climb to this day and were rewarded with a dramatic finish.
