Wales locked out of Lions as Curry named to start first Test
'We know how motivated the Wallabies will be and we know they are a well organised and dangerous side.
'It is a great occasion and a proud moment for Maro Itoje, who will captain the Test side, but also for those players who get the opportunity to represent the group on Saturday night.'
Lions Team: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 James Lowe, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 Joe McCarthy, 4 Maro Itoje (captain), 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Andrew Porter, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ollie Chessum, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Bundee Aki
Reuters
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Eyewitness News
3 hours ago
- Eyewitness News
Pogacar exits Alps with Tour stranglehold as Arensman edges white-knuckle win
LA PLAGNE TARENTAISE - Dutch rider Thymen Arensman picked up a second stage win at the Tour de France on Friday winning stage 19 at La Plagne ski resort as defending champion Tadej Pogacar closed in on a fourth title. Arensman crossed the finish line in the rain two seconds ahead of title contender Jonas Vingegaard and his great rival Pogacar. However, barring a collapse, Team UAE rider Pogacar should claim his fourth Tour de France title aged just 26 years in Paris on Sunday. The attack-minded Pogacar explained how he had played it safe with just two days left until the race finish on the Champs Elysees. "When Arensman attacked I let him go, setting my own rhythm. It was close, I did want to win, but I'm just glad it's over," Pogacar said. "It was a good win from Thymen, he deserved it." The Slovenian exits the Alps with a lead of four minutes and twenty-four seconds on second placed Vingegaard. Pogacar has dominated the 2025 Tour de France winning stages on rolling runs in the north and west at Rouen and the Mur de Bretagne in the first week, then on the mountain slopes of the Pyrenees on the Hautacam and Peyragudes in week two. As the Tour entered its end game Pogacar unexpectedly simply protected his lead through the Alps rather than go on his trademark all out attacks. The 2022 and 2023 champion Vingegaard had two off days, first on a time trial and secondly at Hautacam, leaving Pogacar to surge into a position of such strength he only needed to follow. German breakout star Florian Lipowitz strengthened his hold on overall third place and top spot in the under-25's section on his debut Tour de France as he tracked the title rivals all the way to the summit finish for an impressive Tour debut with Red Bull Bora. SHORTENED STAGE For Arensman and Ineos this was a symbolic victory as the British team begin their revival with the return to the helm of Dave Brailsford. Arensman slumped to the ground in tears at La Plagne as he just held on with a white-knuckle struggle over the final kilometres. He previously won stage 14 at another ski resort, at altitude in the Pyrenees at Superbagneres. Mirroring Ben O'Connor's winning tactic on the thrilling stage 18, climber Arensman attacked at the bottom of the final climb with the title rivals more concerned with tracking each other. But this time the breakaway stage winner had to sweat out the run in with the top trio closing fast. The 25-year-old Ineos man fell over into the barriers exhausted at the line and broke into sobs of relief. This final mountain stage was shortened overnight due to an outbreak of a cattle infection along the route, reduced to just 93km, which ran to a rowdy finish at 2050m altitude. The stage however was largely uncontested in comparison to Thursday's epic cat-and-mouse between Pogacar and Vingegaard, who attacked the champion 71km from the finish line without ever dislodging him. Stage 20 on Saturday is a hilly run through the Jura, while Sunday's run to the French capital also features a potentially chaotic run up the cobbled lanes of Montmartre.
Daily Maverick
10 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Prodigy Pogačar set to secure fourth Tour de France title, cementing legacy in cycling history
Slovenian cyclist finds himself in elite company as he notches up more victories. When the 2025 Tour de France set off in Normandy nearly three weeks ago, consensus was that by the time the race reached Paris, 21 stages and 3,300km later, Slovenian Tadej Pogačar would be in the leader's yellow jersey. And so it has come to pass. Barring a race-ending crash in the final two stages, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader will claim his fourth Tour de France title at the age of 26 when the flag comes down on the Champs-Élysées on Saturday, 26 July. Pogačar all but confirmed his victory on an epic stage 16 that ended with the mythical climb up the steep slopes of Mont Ventoux — the 'Giant of Provence'. He finished fifth on the road that day, but showed he was unbreakable. He fended off main rival Jonas Vingegaard (26) in a battle for the ages on the 21.5km climb at a 7.5% gradient up the mountain that had crushed Pogačar's hopes in 2021. 'I'm definitely not Superman, I was born in Ljubljana, not wherever Superman was born, I forget. But today was an epic climb to do, all the same,' Pogačar said afterwards. That might be news to his rivals, though, because the Slovenian is the closest thing to Superman in professional sport, let alone cycling. He is stacking up records and titles at a similar speed as rides down the slopes of a high mountain. No one in the peloton can touch him. Vingegaard, the dour Dane, has been in good form this year. On the Ventoux stage, he and his Visma-Lease a Bike team had a great plan, which they executed to perfection to try to break Pogačar on the slopes of the giant. Vingegaard had teammates around him in the main peloton as they approached Ventoux and he had allies in the breakaway several minutes ahead. The plan was for his lieutenants to give him vital support at various stages during the climb when he attacked Pogačar. The plan was excellent. The only problem was that Pogačar could not and would not be shaken. He covered every Vingegaard attack and then launched an audacious counterattack himself. They were like two Velcro-clad boxers slugging it out. In the end the Slovenian took another two seconds from Vingegaard to extend his lead to 4:15 at the end of the stage. Threat nullified, yellow jersey secured. It was the defining stage of the tour. It was a success for both Visma and Vingegaard, proving that the 2022 and 2023 Tour de France winner is still a great rider capable of stressing Pogačar. It was also a day that France celebrated as Valentin Paret-Peintre (24) won the iconic stage 45 seconds ahead of the Tour's two heads of state. And it was a day that Pogačar confirmed his iron grip on the race specifically and on road cycling more broadly. For Pogačar, the only slight — and it was slight — negative was not winning on Ventoux. 'I was coming up quite fast, I could see the winners ahead in the last 800m, but not even Superman could have caught them there,' Pogačar said. 'In the end, I was actually quite close to the breakaway. Chapeau (hats off) to Paret-Peintre, he deserved the victory. It was a super-nice win.' The new Cannibal When Pogačar won his second Tour de France in 2021, Belgium's great Eddy Merckx, considered the finest cyclist to don a pair of cleats, anointed the Slovenian as the future of the sport. 'I see him as the new Cannibal,' said five-time Tour champion Merckx, who earned the nickname because of his insatiable appetite for victory and won his first Tour in 1969 at the age of 23. 'He is extremely strong. I see him winning several editions of the Tour in the years to come. If nothing happens to him, he can certainly win the Tour de France more than five times.' Merckx was spot on. In addition to the three, soon to be four Tour de France titles, Pogačar won the Giro d'Italia and World Championship road race in 2024, becoming only the third man in history after Merckx to win the Triple Crown in the same year. The Belgian did it in 1974 and Ireland's Stephen Roche in 1987. In addition, the Slovenian has amassed dozens of other titles (see box) as well as 21 stage wins (at the time of writing) at the Tour de France. Up Ventoux, he and Vingegaard smashed the record for the climb. Pogačar was timed at 54:41 — one minute 10 seconds faster than the previous best mark set by Spain's Iban Mayo in 2004. Given cycling's uncomfortable history with performance-enhancing drugs, these performances do raise eyebrows. Pogačar, though, has never failed a doping test or the latest 'mechanical doping' tests. Considering how much he's won, he must be the most tested athlete on the planet. Things have also changed. For one, bicycles are lighter and more aerodynamic, training methods and diets have improved and there is greater science in terms of recovery and training methods. Also, Pogačar has been a prodigy from a young age and his performance levels have been on a stratospherically high level since his teenage years. Dopers are often good cyclists who at some point in their career become great riders. Pogačar has always been exceptional. In 2017, while riding for the Slovenian Continental squad ROG-Ljubljana, he was fifth overall in the Tour of Slovenia and third in the Tour de Hongarie. He also finished 20th in the U23 World Championships Road Race while still a teenager. In 2019, at the age of 20, he became the youngest cyclist to win a UCI World Tour race at the Tour of California. He also made his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a España that year, where he won three stages, finished third overall and secured the young rider classification. And of course he won the 2020 Tour de France, taking three stages along the way, including a 36.2km mountain time trial to La Planche des Belles Filles to pip countryman Primoz Roglic. Like Lionel Messi, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, Pogačar is a once-in-a-generation athlete who is changing a sport. DM Major wins Grand Tours: Tour de France: 2020, 2021, 2024 (also mountains classification 2020, 2021; Young Rider classification 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023). On course for 2025 title. Giro d'Italia: 2024 (also mountains classification 2024). Numerous individual stages in the Tour de France (21 stages from 2020–2025), Giro d'Italia (6 stages in 2024), and Vuelta a España (3 stages in 2019). One-day Monuments: Tour of Flanders: 2023, 2025; Liège–Bastogne–Liège: 2021, 2024, 2025; Giro di Lombardia: 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024. One-day races: Strade Bianche: 2022, 2024, 2025; La Flèche Wallonne: 2023, 2025; Amstel Gold Race: 2023.
The Citizen
11 hours ago
- The Citizen
Four rookie Boks who could be surprise picks against the Wallabies
A few inexperienced Springboks will be hoping for a chance against the Wallabies to push their claim for a spot in the team to face the All Blacks. Springbok utility forward Cobus Wiese could get a run against the Wallabies after making two appearances in the mid-year Tests against Italy and Georgia. Picture: Johann Meintjes/Gallo Images The Springbok squad for the first two games of the Rugby Championship at home against Australia was announced earlier this week, with very few surprises for the start of their title defence. A number of inexperienced players have, however, retained their places in the group and could be given a run against the Wallabies to strengthen their chances of being involved in the two Tests against the All Blacks in New Zealand. Here are four inexperienced Boks that could get a chance to impress at the start of the Rugby Champs: Edwill van der Merwe Unfortunately for the former Lions, and now Sharks flyer, he finds himself behind two of the best wings in world rugby, in Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse. Despite that he has been absolutely incredible with the chances he has been given. His debut against Wales last year ended with him being named man of the match, but an injury then scuppered any chance of him featuring for the Boks over the rest of 2024. Having recovered and put in another top season for the Lions, Van der Merwe was given another go, and his second appearance in the green and gold ended with another man of the match award, after he scored two tries in the second Italian Test against Italy in Gqeberha. His third cap didn't see a hattrick of man of the match awards, but he did add another two tries to his tally against Georgia in Mbombela. Due to Arendse playing the most minutes for the Boks in the incoming series, the door could open for Van der Merwe to feature against Australia. Edwill van der Merwe has made a huge impression at Test level. Picture: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images Cobus Wiese The Bulls utility forward has a golden opportunity to get a run during the Boks' opening two Rugby Champs games against the Wallabies, considering his older brother, Jasper, is out with a suspension, and his being preferred in the group to Salmaan Moerat and Even Roos. The Boks don't have a first choice number eight in the squad, especially since Kwagga Smith's impact off the bench is so highly valued. That means Wiese could get another shot at eight, despite an average first outing in the position against Georgia, or he could play off the bench due to him covering four positions. Where he could find some stiff opposition is in Jean-Luc du Preez who holds a similar utility value, however he is more of a loose forward that can cover lock. Du Preez has more experience in terms of the overall Bok setup, but only has 14 caps since making his debut in 2016. So it could be a shootout between the two to see who could feature in the match 23 as the utility cover. Morne van den Berg The Lions scrumhalf can now consider himself as one of the Boks; top number nines, after he was picked in the squad at the expense of the experienced Faf de Klerk. Coach Rassie Erasmus hasn't been afraid to pick a host of scrumhalves in his squads of late, with even five picked at a stage, while four have been backed in most of the groups recently. However, for the two Aussie Tests he has gone with just three in Van den Berg, Grant Williams and Cobus Reinach. Reinach at 35 is heading into the twilight of his career, and his experience is highly valued, but it seems that Van den Berg and Williams will be the two battling it out to become the Boks' first choice scrumhalf. De Klerk, who turns 34 in October, could force his way back into the mix though, and Sharks scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse is also on the fringes and could fight his way back if he improves his form. But it will be interesting to see who gets the nod to start in the two Aussie Tests. Morne van den Berg is now one of the Boks' preferred number nines. Picture: Gallo Images Boan Venter The Edinburgh-based loosehead prop has a stunning opportunity to establish himself in the Springbok squad, thanks to a surprising recent turn of events. Venter looked destined to become a Scottish international, after impressing for his franchise over the past four years, and with him set to be given residency in 2026, which would have made him eligible. However, an injury crisis in the Bok setup led to him being a late call-up to the squad for their first four games of the year. With Steven Kitshoff having been forced into an early retirement, and Gerhard Steenekamp and Ntuthuko Mchunu ruled out through injury, Venter was parachuted in to the squad and made his debut against Georgia over the past weekend. Thomas du Toit, who can play tighthead and loosehead, has been left out of the squad due to resting protocols, which means Venter and another inexperienced player in Jan-Hendrik Wessels are likely the two players who will be battling it out for the second loosehead spot behind Ox Nche.
