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Pogacar "sad" over Evenepoel's departure from Tour De France

Pogacar "sad" over Evenepoel's departure from Tour De France

SBS Australia3 days ago
It's one of the world's most popular professional cycling races. The Tour de France not only tests the strength of individual elite athletes, but also their capacity to work as a team. This year, over 180 riders from 23 teams have joined the 21-day tour. By the end of the race they're expected to have travel around 3,300 kilometres across 11 regions in France. The Tour attracts ten million spectators each year and now as it reaches its midpoint, there have been some surprising moments. One is the withdrawal of Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel on the 14th day of the 21-day race on Saturday, after struggling with difficult mountain routes two days ago. The Olympian said he was already in a poor training condition before entering the Tour, with fatigue a factor. Evenepoel was seen as one of the big challengers for Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar who won his third Tour last year. Pogacar says he's disappointed that Evenepoel has had to leave the race. " In cycling you never know when it's your last day of riding, or riding the Tour or your career, so I'm really sad that he left the Tour." A few days earlier, the World No.1 cyclist also paid tribute to Samuele Privitera, a 19-year-old Italian cyclist who died after a crash in the Giro della Valle, another cycling race held at a similar time in Italy. "I was thinking in the last kilometre about him and yeah, how tough this sport can be - and how much pain it can cause." The Tour has also seen one spectator hit by a team car on Sunday. So why is the Tour de France this year so crash-prone? Adam Gill is a level-two cycling coach and owner of Bikestyle Tours, which organises holiday tours for fans. He says accidents are not uncommon in any given year. "It's, you know, the largest global bike race in the world to be successful at the Tour de France. It's unbelievably important for the teams and sponsors. So when you have 180 cycles on a small bit of road all trying to get to the front and when, sadly, accidents happen." He also says the improvements in technology also allow riders to compete at much faster speeds than even ten years ago. " So obviously, they're riding consistently at 50 and 60km an hour. You know, the margins of error are so small that it doesn't take much for someone to, touch the brakes and next, 30 or 40 cycles are hitting ground. And I think the speeds that they're going now are exceptional compared to what they used to a couple years ago." For elite cyclists, technology also means the intensity of their training has increased, meaning they are starting their careers at an earlier age. "They used to say that the peak rider age for a Tour de France rider would be in the late 20s, early 30s. That's definitely changed. The younger riders are doing a lot better, and that comes down to the science and their preparation for the races, they feel a lot better now, like in terms they can get a lot more carbohydrates and calories into the system, where that never used to be the case. So Nutrition has definitely improved. But again, you know, they got full time scientists working on their preparation, from training, the altitude, strength and conditioning, flexibility, nutrition." In Australia cycling remains a popular form of exercise. But now, researchers are studying if the sport also has a dark side. Dr Daniel Wundersitz is a research fellow at La Trobe University's Holsworth Biomedical Research Centre. " In Bendigo, Australia, we've noticed there's been a higher proportion of people showing up at the cardiology department with heart abnormalities, and it turns out that a few of them were cyclists. So we've done some research looking at the effect of endurance exercise on the hearts of cyclists and expanding it to runners as well." Dr Wundersitz says they are still not sure why more cyclists are showing up with heart abnormalities, and whether the sport has any role to play. But he adds cycling is still a great hobby as long as moderation is practiced.
" So you don't want to go out and go, I'm going to now go and cycle for six hours in a day when you've never cycled like that before. For example, you want to slowly start, you know, go out for 30 minutes, say, hey, handle it. Make sure you recover especially if you're planning to go and do, say, a fun run or a charity event with friends from work or your high school friends, or whoever it is, you don't want to shock the system and do something you know, crazy, like what athletes in the Tour de France do without, you know, a long training background leading up to that."
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‘Just have a beer': Unexpected sight at Tomorrowland
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‘Just have a beer': Unexpected sight at Tomorrowland

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Atletico cash in on Real Madrid's Bernabeu concert woes
Atletico cash in on Real Madrid's Bernabeu concert woes

News.com.au

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Atletico cash in on Real Madrid's Bernabeu concert woes

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Graham Thorpe death: England star's wife reveals tragic details
Graham Thorpe death: England star's wife reveals tragic details

Daily Telegraph

time5 hours ago

  • Daily Telegraph

Graham Thorpe death: England star's wife reveals tragic details

Don't miss out on the headlines from Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News. England cricket star Graham Thorpe asked his wife to help him end his life in a Swiss clinic before he was hit by a train, an inquest heard. The dad, 55, was found dead on August 4 after a heartbreaking battle with anxiety and depression for several years. His wife Amanda today told an inquest how Thorpe had begged her to help him die when his mental health 'spiralled'. She said: 'The weeks leading up to his death, he told me he doesn't want to be here any more. 'He asked me to help him end his life. 'He said he wants to go to Switzerland. I was in turmoil.' Former England cricketer Graham Thorpe died aged 55 last year. Picture: Getty The Surrey left-hander had previously tried to take his own life in 2022 after losing his coaching job with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Amanda told the court Thorpe had found Covid lockdown 'very difficult' and 'stressful'. His dad Geoff agreed with the statement, saying: 'Everything was fine until Covid.' He said Thorpe was 'not a fella who likes to be cooped up' and also told how his son's life had come 'crashing down' when he lost his job with the ECB. Geoff continued: 'What you've got to realise is sometimes us chaps are a little bit macho – we can cope. 'In fact, we can't.' The inquest was told Thorpe was dismissed from his role following an 'incident' surrounding a viral video. Following his playing career, Thorpe had been involved with the England team in a coaching capacity. Picture: Getty According to reports at the time, the video was filmed after a dismal Ashes series which England lost 4-0. It showed Tasmanian police breaking up a drinking session involving both England and Australia players. The leak of the footage caused Thorpe to be dismissed from ECB and he ended up in hospital for eight weeks due to a suicide attempt in 2022. Assistant coroner Jonathan Stevens said: 'Things continued to go downhill, he was really struggling, had anxiety and insomnia and it was all really dark.' Thorpe made repeated threats to kill himself and by June 2024, he lost interest in food and 'wanted to hide away, totally isolated, in real crisis and despair', the court heard. Graham Thorpe (R) played 100 Tests for England, scoring 16 centuries. Picture: Getty On August 4 that year, he left home and was never seen alive again. Amanda believed he had gone out to walk the dog but saw the pet at home still so tried to call her husband. The court heard she then received a call from Thorpe's dad telling her: 'He's gone'. Amanda added: 'He never really recovered from (his first suicide) attempt. 'He came back from the tour of Australia in a terrible state – lots of things, the video, the environment, the set-up. 'To be sacked after that I think it was foreseeable that it would be really really hard on him.' Thorpe made his international debut in 1993 and scored a century on his first Ashes appearance, becoming the first England player to do so in 20 years. He was an England regular and went on to play 100 Tests, scoring 16 centuries and featuring 82 times for the ODI side, as well as enjoying a 17-year career with Surrey. His final Test appearance came in June 2005 before he was omitted from that summer's victorious Ashes series and called time on his international career. The inquest continues. This story originally appeared in the Sun and has been republished with permission. Originally published as The widow of England cricketer Graham Thorpe reveals tragic details leading up to star's death

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