Highlights: 2025 Tour de France, Stage 9
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RNZ News
21 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Tour de France: George Bennett impressed with fellow Kiwi Laurence Pithie
FROM FIRST UP IV - ON AIR WED 0550AM New Zealand cyclist Laurence Pithie. Photo: Red Bull Content Pool / Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe / Oriol Castello Kiwi cyclist George Bennett wasn't able to make it to the start line for the 2025 Tour de France, but he's been closely following 'La Grande Boucle' from his training base in Andorra as he prepares for another of cycling's grand tours, the Vuelta a Espana. The efforts of fellow Kiwi Laurence Pithie have made an impression on Bennett. The 22-year-old is riding in his first Tour de France campaign and while he's back in 105th place after 10 stages, it's not his job to chase the yellow jersey. His role is to support Red Bull - Bora - Hansgrohe teammate Primoz Roglic. "He's a he's a big, strong boy from Canterbury." Bennett told RNZ's First Up . "He's definitely not scared to get his elbows out. He's a guy that likes to throw his weight around, and to have a guy like that on your team is really valuable. I love racing with guys like Laurence, but I hate racing against guys like Laurence. And that's why he's there for Primoz, and he's had a busy week protecting him." This year marks 50 years since the Tour first finished on the Champs circuit . To celebrate the occasion, organisers have altered the route of the final stage to include three laps of the Champs and three climbs up the Butte Montmartre. Normally the 21st stage is a largely ceremonial affair with the leaders sipping champagne on the road into Paris before a sprint finish. Bennett isn't a fan, and feels even without the changes, the final stage into Paris is a lot tougher than people realise. George Bennett in 2023. Photo: PHOTOSPORT "I hate it." he said. "On TV it kind of looks just like they cruise around and have a bunch sprint. The reality is that's one of the most horrific stages as it is, the cobbles are rough, it's uphill. It's it's such a horrific stage. If you win the Champ sprint then it's the biggest sprint of the year. But to make it another general classification day where suddenly you finish in the Alps, you take the charter flight to Paris and then you have to do this extremely dangerous (stage). Crashing on the cobbles is the worst, you don't get road rash, it takes big chunks out of you. It just, it just makes the whole last day so horrible." Although not having to ride it has altered his perspective a little. "When I was originally going on the tour and I saw that last stage, I wasn't very happy, but now that I'm sitting on my couch watching it, I think, yeah, cool." Once recent change Bennett is more positive about is the introduction of a punishment system for dangerous riding, first trialled during 2024. "In the past it was the wild west, and there weren't really consequences, but they've produced a bit of a yellow card system for dangerous riding. They've already handed out a few cards this year, and if you get two cards, you're out, so I don't know if it's making things safer, but it's probably adding a little bit of sort of justice for a few rogue operators that are repeat offenders." The tour resumes on Wednesday night New Zealand time with the 181 kilometre stage 12 from Auch to Hautacam. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Onley and Blackmore lead the charge of young Britons at Tour de France
For more than a decade, the interest in British riders racing in the Tour de France was focused on familiar names – Mark Cavendish, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas – but now a new generation of English-speaking talent is making its mark on the world's biggest race. Ben Healy, West Midlands-born but with Irish heritage, has been the revelation of the Tour so far, and was fully rewarded for his unrelenting efforts with the yellow jersey of race leadership on the Bastille Day stage to Puy de Sancy. Healy was briefly a teammate to Tom Pidcock as a teenager before shining as an under-23 rider. Success in the 'Baby Giro' in Italy drew him to the attention of the American team, EF Education-EasyPost. More than his results, Healy's approach to racing, free of the risk-averse tactics of some predecessors, is refreshing and exciting. Unafraid to fail, his attacking style has sometimes fallen short, with a stage win in the 2023 Giro d'Italia the notable exception. In this Tour, however, with victory in Vire and a yellow jersey just four days later, he has finally fulfilled his promise. His success has been Ineos Grenadiers' loss, as he is understood to have rejected an opportunity to move to the British team. For Oscar Onley, currently seventh overall, his second Tour has been a world apart from his debut, in 2024, when he finished 39th. The 22-year-old from Kelso admitted that he was overwhelmed on his first appearance in the race. 'I really struggled during the first week,' he recalled. 'I was wondering: 'What am I doing here?'' This year, Onley is seventh overall as the race looks towards the Pyrenees. So far, he has coped much better, holding on to a high overall placing through one of the toughest and fastest opening weeks in Tour history. 'Once you're racing, it's just another bike race,' he said, 'but it's the scale of everything around it, the expectations, the media.' His steady progression has been marked by stage wins in the 2025 Tour of Switzerland, second place overall in the Tour of Britain and third place overall in this year's Swiss national tour. Onley's team expects there may be a drop-off in his performances as he goes deeper into the Tour, the longest race he has ever ridden, but he is already looking further ahead. 'I rode Mont Ventoux recently for the first time, which may not be a good thing, but I'm looking forward to going there in the Tour.' The Tour debutant Joe Blackmore cut his teeth at Herne Hill velodrome and, at 22, is another of those riding the longest race of his career. His breakthrough win came in last year's Tour de l'Avenir, where his climbing skills came to the fore with a stage win at La Rosière and then a race-clinching performance on the Colle delle Finestre, coincidentally the platform for Simon Yates's race-winning coup in this year's Giro d'Italia. Blackmore, currently 31st overall, lost some time after racing in the breakaway on stage 10, but may yet bounce back in the high mountains. 'It's a big, hard, fast race, but once you get going and focused and on the bike, you're just in the routine,' Blackmore said. 'I've had a few rough days, but enough days when I have felt fine. I haven't crashed yet, so I've been lucky.' With Thursday's Pyrenean stage from Auch to Hautacam expected to live up to its billing, Blackmore is entering his preferred terrain. 'I'm looking forward to pushing on the climbs,' he said. 'It should be a different way of racing.'
Observer
an hour ago
- Observer
Healy leads, Yates wins Tour de France 10th stage
PUY DE SANCY, France: Ben Healy became the first Irishman since Stephen Roche in 1987 to take the overall lead on the Tour de France on Monday with a relentless attack across eight gruelling hills in the Massif Central. The 24-year-old EF rider had already won stage six in Normandy, but here the smiley Healy confirmed his promise with a career-defining ride claiming the fabled yellow jersey. He becomes just the fourth Irishman to wear it following Shay Elliott, back in 1963, Sean Kelly in 1983 and Roche who went on to win an epic race 38 years ago. Healy's performance even overshadowed that of stage winner Simon Yates, who sat on his wheel all afternoon as they crossed the ancient volcanoes that mark the region. Such was the Irishman's effort as the escapees rushed through the grey-black volcanic rock villages that he was also awarded the combativity award for the most attacking rider of the day. "Hats off to him, he's the one that dropped everyone," Yates said of Healy as the escape group was gradually whittled down from 30 to five. The 2025 Giro d'Italia winner Yates attacked on the last of the day's climbs, with Thymen Arensman of Ineos second and Healy coming third at the line 31sec adrift and having never relented on a punishing day. Healy was born in Birmingham but chose to represent Ireland in his youth. He is also in the white jersey for the best young rider. "The stage win I got and the yellow today both mean a lot to me," said Healy, who had a tense wait at the line for Pogacar to cross 4min 51sec adrift and ceding the overall lead, likely for several days. "This yellow is more for the team who worked so hard to put me here but the stage win possibly means more as it came first," he said. - French mountain joy - Race favourites Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard crossed the line together after eight climbs in the Massif Central where they were rarely a wheel's length from each other. Cycling - Tour de France - Stage 10 - Ennezat to Mont-Dore - Ennezat, France - July 14, 2025 Team Visma | Lease a Bike's Simon Yates celebrates on the podium after winning stage 10 REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier Healy leads the Tour itself by 29sec from defending champion Pogacar, with Belgian Remco Evenepoel in third at 1min 29sec. Denmark's double Tour de France champion Vingegaard is fourth overall at 1min 46sec, and his Visma teammate Matteo Jorgenson sits fifth. Third placed overnight, promising young French rider Kevin Vauquelin dropped a minute to finish the day in sixth place overall. Recompense for the home nation on the national Bastille Day holiday came in the form of Lenny Martinez as he earned the King of the Mountains polka dot jersey with 27 points garnered on the day's stage. His grandfather Mariano Martinez won the polka dot jersey outright on the 1978 Tour. Successive escape bids ensued from the off on Monday as the 164 remaining riders raced out of Ennezat with top guns Pogacar and Evenepoel finally allowing one to get away over the ever-rolling terrain Once they did, a gap over five minutes was established by a motivated group that rode so hard over the cattle dotted hills the sprinters were dropped to over 30 minutes at the finish line. While Tuesday is a rest day, Wednesday's stage 11 is another flat run with a sprinter expected to take the honours in Toulouse. — AFP TOUR DE FRANCE RESULTS AND STANDINGS: Stage 10 1. Simon Yates (GBR/TVL) 4hr 20min 05sec, 2. Thymen Arensman (NED/IGD) at 9sec, 3. Ben Healy (IRL/EFE) 31, 4. Ben O'Connor (AUS/JAY) 49, 5. Michael Storer (AUS/TUD) 1min 23sec, 6. Joe Blackmore (GBR/IPT) 3:57, 7. Anders Johannessen (NOR/UXT) 4:38, 8. Lenny Martinez (FRA/TBV) 4:51, 9. Tadej Pogacar (SLO/UAD) 4:51, 10. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN/TVL) 4:51. Overall standings 1. Ben Healy (IRL/EFE) 37hr 41min 49sec, 2. Tadej Pogacar (SLO/UAD) at 29sec, 3. Remco Evenepoel (BEL/SOQ) 1min 29sec, 4. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN/TVL) 1:46, 5. Matteo Jorgenson (USA/TVL) 2:06, 6. Kevin Vauquelin (FRA/ARK) 2:26. 7. Oscar Onley (GBR/DFP) 3:24, 8. Florian Lipowitz (GER/RBH) 3:34, 9. Primoz Roglic (SLO/RBH) 3:41, 10. Tobias Johannessen (NOR/UXT) 5:03.
