Dutch rider Arensman wins Tour stage 14
Slovenian Tadej Pogacar retained the overall leader's yellow jersey.
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The Guardian
2 hours 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.'
Powys County Times
5 hours ago
- Powys County Times
Sarina Wiegman to keep on dancing after ‘chaotic and ridiculous' Euro 2025 win
England boss Sarina Wiegman promised to 'do some more dancing' after the Lionesses completed their third successive comeback to defend their European crown with a 3-1 penalty shootout victory over Spain in Basel. Substitute Chloe Kelly, whose extra-time winner at Wembley secured the Lionesses their first major trophy three summers ago, was once again the hero, coolly converting in the shootout with the World Cup holders following a 1-1 extra-time stalemate. Wiegman has now led teams – first the Netherlands, now England – to the trophy at the last three European Championships, though none, admitted the Dutchwoman, was more 'chaotic' and 'ridiculous' as this. "England are crowned queens of European football again!" 😍 Re-live it all! 👇🍿 — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 27, 2025 'I'm very happy,' said Wiegman. 'I actually can't believe it myself. It was like, 'how can it happen?' but it happened. I am so incredibly proud of the team and the staff.' Wiegman was spotted busting a move after Kelly once again rose to the highest occasion, and plans to keep letting loose – perhaps to the chagrin of her phone, which twice reminded the England boss during her post-match press conference that she was due a workout. 'I'll do some more dancing,' said Wiegman. 'And I'll have a drink, but I don't think I will drink as much as the players.' Though the Lionesses insisted they had moved on, Sunday's triumph also avenged the 2023 World Cup final, where England were beaten by Spain 1-0 in Sydney in their first global showpiece final. Spain were first-time finalists in this competition but the favourites, and came one step closer to the title when Arsenal's Mariona Caldentey nodded home a 25th-minute opener. But Kelly teed up Russo for a header of her own and 57th-minute equaliser, while two spectacular saves by Hannah Hampton in the shootout opened the door for Kelly to write more history as the Lionesses became the first senior English football team to lift a major trophy on foreign soil. 'I must admit that this is the most chaotic and ridiculous tournament we have played,' Wiegman added. 'Every time we could come back, in the quarter-final and the semi-final and the final, we came from behind. Of course we have players that have talents, and the togetherness of this team is really, really incredible, but also the belief that we can come back. 'The players say we can win by any means, and we just never, ever give up.' England's title defence was hanging by a thread following their 2-1 opening defeat to France, but group stage victories over the Netherlands then Wales kept their title defence alive. Lucy Bronze and Michelle Agyemang scored late in their Sweden quarter-final, ultimately setting up a chaotic, error-strewn shootout, won by Bronze with England's seventh try. It took Kelly's extra-time winner from off the bench in their Italy semi-final to book their place in the Spain showdown – after 19-year-old standout Michelle Agyemang had netted another incredible equaliser. Even before her heroics in Basel, Kelly, at these Euros, had come in with the joint-most chances created (eight) and most successful crosses (10) of any substitute in a single tournament since Opta started analysing major women's tournaments in 2011. And while Wiegman conceded there had been moments in this campaign – and particularly the Sweden and Italy matches – Sunday's comeback was never in doubt. Asked if there was a moment her belief had wavered, Wiegman replied: 'To be honest, tonight, I didn't.'
The Guardian
6 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.'
