Tour de France 2025: Tim Merlier claims stage nine as Van der Poel bid falls short
Another sweltering stage – also the second fastest in the history of the Tour – drew out a two-man breakaway, with Mathieu van der Poel and his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Jonas Rickaert joining forces immediately after the start only for Van der Poel to eventually be caught in the final kilometre.
But it was a stage too many for João Almeida, Tadej Pogacar's key Team Emirates teammate who, as the Slovenian had feared, abandoned the Tour because of the injuries sustained after crashing on Friday at Mûr-de-Bretagne. Pogacar, the race leader, said: 'There are still two weeks to go and losing a rider today is a little bit to our disadvantage, but I'm pretty confident in my team.'
The high temperatures that have settled on the race are to continue on Monday and the first mountain stage, from Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy, which takes in eight classified climbs through the Auvergne.
For Oscar Onley the first lengthy climbs will be a sterling test of his resilience as the 22-year-old Scot arrives in the Massif Central in seventh, less than three minutes behind Pogacar. His Picnic–PostNL sports director, Matt Winston, said: 'We want to take Oscar as far as we can in the race, but we also want to do that with no pressure.
'Oscar is one of six riders in this race that have come from our development team and he's done really well in a lot of one-week races. A three-week race is a little bit of an unknown, and maybe in week two or week three we'll see a bit of a drop off, but for now we keep fighting.'
Steve Cummings is a past stage winner in the Tour's furnace conditions. The 44-year-old, now sports director at the Jayco AlUla team, won a baking mountain stage to Mende in 2015. 'I rode well in the heat, which is odd because I'm from the Wirral,' Cummings said.
'There's two things: preparation, to make sure you're ready and managing your core temperature in the race. There's 'ice socks'' – tights stuffed with ice cubes, placed between the shoulder blades – 'which is more perceptual than cooling the core temperature, but it makes a difference because it's psychologically beneficial. The theory is that cooling from the inside out is quite beneficial. The challenge operationally is getting a regular flow of cool drinks to the riders.'
Cummings also cited ice baths, but added that they do not attract universal approval. 'When I was a rider, there was an ice bath following us around at the Vuelta a España one year, but nobody ever used the thing. Other teams use them every day. We have the ice socks and the vehicles will have fridges with more drinks. Right now, I don't think any team would dare run out of drinks.'
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The Guardian
42 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Tour de France 2025: Ben Healy rides into yellow as Simon Yates storms to stage 10 win
The Bastille Day stage of the 2025 Tour de France ended with an Englishman winning in the Auvergne, an Irishman in yellow, and a French hope falling by the wayside, as Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard called a truce on the eve of the first rest day. Simon Yates took a third career stage win in the Tour, only a few weeks after his unexpected success in the Giro d'Italia, dropping the last of his breakaway companions on the uphill finish to Puy de Sancy, while Ireland's Ben Healy claimed the first yellow jersey of his career. Healy, stage winner in Vire, had started the day almost four minutes behind the race leader, Pogacar, but as the defending champion and Vingegaard rode steadily to the finish line, the 24-year-old leapfrogged the Slovenian in the standings and became the first Irishman to wear the yellow jersey since Stephen Roche in 1987. 'It was such a tough stage today and I'm really tired, so I think this is only going to sink in tomorrow,' he said. 'I gave everything in the last 40 kilometres to give myself the best possible chance of taking the yellow jersey.' Healy's success was wholly deserved after he and his team had forced the pace to ensure the day's breakaway stayed clear to contest the finish, with the main peloton, containing Pogacar, almost six minutes distant. 'This is more for the team,' Healy said. 'They had to work hard today to put me in this position. Winning a stage was the first dream, but don't get me wrong, this yellow jersey is unbelievable.' Yates, winner of two stages in 2019, attacked at the foot of the final climb to Puy de Sancy, with only the Australian rider Ben O'Connor able to follow. As O'Connor faded, he was pursued into the final kilometre by Thymen Arensman of Ineos Grenadiers, but the Dutchman was unable to close the gap. As the race began in Lille, Yates had admitted needing to 'blow out the cobwebs' after his Giro win, but added that it had been a bigger challenge to reboot his motivation. 'It was a tough start for me,' he said of the Tour's Grand Départ, 'and not my forte. I was still quite tired after the Giro. Mentally, that was the hardest part.' Yates was among those in the day's breakaway who had admired Healy's unrelenting efforts to keep the pace high. 'It's really impressive how strong he is. It's not the first day I have felt his strength. I was also in the breakaway a few days ago when he won the stage and I was quite blown away with how much time he took.' The still air of the Auvergne was thick with the smell of roadside barbecues as the peloton tackled a sawtooth profile from Ennezat to Le Puy Sancy. But despite the Bastille Day celebrations there were mixed fortunes for the home nation with Kévin Vauquelin, third overall before the first real climbs, losing ground in the classification and dropping to sixth place. Meanwhile Lenny Martinez, whose grandfather Mariano Martinez won on the Bastille Day stage to Morzine in 1980, was the agent provocateur on the day's eight climbs. Martinez's accelerations on each ascent gradually reduced the initial break of 29 down to a final group of five and he was rewarded with the King of the Mountains jersey. As the stage entered the final 10km, a select group that included Healy, Yates and Martinez moved clear. While Yates rode to victory, the limpet-like Healy clung on to ensure he retained his time advantage over Pogacar. The Irishman gets a well-earned rest day in Toulouse on Tuesday as his EF Education-Easy Post team now look ahead to defending the race lead into the Pyrenees.
Reuters
an hour ago
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Healy gives Ireland rare yellow jersey as Simon Yates wins Tour de France 10th stage
MONT-DORE, France, July 14 (Reuters) - Ben Healy rode himself into the ground in a nail-biting finale to become the first Irishman in 38 years to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, as Britain's Simon Yates claimed victory in stage 10 on Monday with a perfectly timed attack. Giro d'Italia champion Yates emerged from the day's breakaway to secure his third career Tour stage win, pulling away on the final climb to beat Thymen Arensman of the Netherlands and Healy, who finished second and third, respectively. Heading into the first rest day, Healy leads defending champion Tadej Pogacar by 29 seconds in the general classification, after the Slovenian eased off on the final ascent. "It was insanely tough, it was a battle against myself really. I just had to dig deep. My teammates put in so much work today, Harry (Sweeny) and Alex (Baudin), I really, really wanted to pay them back and I'm happy I could do that in the end," Healy, who won stage six last week, told reporters. "I kind of gambled a bit. I had the stage win in the bank and how often do you get the opportunity to put yourself into yellow so I felt I had to take that and really go for it." Belgian Remco Evenepoel sits third, one minute further back, after losing six seconds in the closing kilometres when Pogacar briefly surged in an attempt to test Jonas Vingegaard, widely seen as his main rival for the overall title. Vingegaard stayed locked onto Pogacar's wheel and remains 1:17 behind the UAE Team Emirates leader. As Pogacar approached the finish, Healy smiled while watching the Slovenian on the giant screen. With Pogacar visibly backing off, the EF Education–EasyPost rider crossed the line to become the first Irishman to lead the Tour since Stephen Roche won the race in 1987. Healy had looked one of the strongest riders in the breakaway on the 165.3-km hilly route from Ennezat, but Yates timed his move to perfection, attacking solo on the final climb to seal a tactical victory. While Yates rode cleverly to win the stage, the Visma-Lease a Bike team strategy was somehow puzzling as the Briton is expected to ride in support of his leader, Vingegaard. "The plan was to be in a breakaway in case someone (from the team) would attack from behind, but the gap became too big," Yates explained, six years after winning his last Tour stage. "It's been a long time, I did not expect it. We're here for Jonas." After Tuesday's rest, and Wednesday's flat stage around Toulouse, the peloton will head into the Pyrenees, where the GC battle will heat up.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
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Chelsea show rest of Europe how to stop PSG in the Champions League
Paris Saint-Germain games often have a Groundhog Day feel: they start with a rugby punt into the corner, fall into a pattern of PSG domination and, invariably, end in victory for Luis Enrique's side. Be it in Ligue 1, the Champions League or at the Club World Cup, their opponents tend to deploy unambitious low blocks to break the inevitable pattern. But the tactic rarely stifles PSG's forwards. PSG have lost just three games in 2025; two of those defeats came in the league, after the title was already secured and attention had shifted towards a maiden European title. A low-block against a side so fluid, liberated and technically gifted is submission masquerading as resistance. Chelsea subverted the trend. So used to exerting territorial and possessional dominance, PSG were immediately put on the back foot. 'We won the game in the first 10 minutes. It set the tone,' said Enzo Maresca after his side lifted the trophy in New Jersey. Chelsea's aggressive, man-to-man, high-pressing approach produced a 3-0 win, but the English side did not dominate all phases of play. The new 'world champions' were limited to 33% possession, conceded eight shots and were reliant on Robert Sánchez to produce brilliant saves, notably from Ousmane Dembélé early in the second half. Chelsea lacked the in-possession structure to fully stifle Luis Enrique's side, but they kept the dangermen – Dembélé, Désiré Doué, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – out of the game. By pushing so many players deep into the PSG half, Chelsea managed to stifle the influence of the swashbuckling Vitinha and sever the production lines. Chelsea's persistent, intense and organised pressing did not limit PSG's possessional dominance, but it did prevent them from establishing territorial dominance. 'It was difficult for us from the opening minutes,' admitted Luis Enrique. 'I said that Chelsea are a good team. They showed it.' Chelsea unsettled PSG, giving them a taste of their own medicine. And for once, it was the Champions League winners who could not match that energy without the ball. Kvaratskhelia's lethargy in pressing and reluctance to recover down his flank was the source of Chelsea's third goal, a lovely dinked finish from João Pedro. Sánchez, sometimes shaky when pressed, had the time to sweep the ball out to Malo Gusto, who set up Cole Palmer for his first goal. Levi Colwill too had ample time to set up Palmer to get his second, a mirror-image of his opener as he switched the play out to his right. Luis Enrique's side lacked their characteristic verve and they were punished for it on three occasions as their chances of completing a clean sweep of trophies evaporated inside the first half. Weaknesses not previously perceived or recognised as such were exploited. Nuno Mendes has been the best left-back in Europe this season. As well as bombing forward, he has also stifled the likes of Mohamed Salah and Bukayo Saka in the Champions League. Against Chelsea he provided a reminder of his defensive fallibility and vulnerability to long balls played into his zone. Lucas Beraldo, positioned next to Mendes in the PSG defence, would have been perceived as a target before the game. He was only starting in the absence of Willian Pacho, whose red card against Bayern Munich ruled him out. The Brazilian, who has now reportedly made a transfer request, has struggled when given chances, and it was no different against Chelsea. All three goals happened within his zone, even if he was not always directly responsible. 'We used Cole and Malo on that side to create a little bit of an overload,' said Maresca. End-of-season fatigue has been cited as a factor, as have the searing temperatures and the fact Chelsea had an extra day to prepare for the final. The PSG players have expended a lot of physical and mental energy over this 65-game campaign, but Chelsea's season has lasted 64 games and they had to contend with the same conditions, described as 'dangerous' by Enzo Fernández before the match. Luis Enrique was not in search of excuses. 'Over the course of the match, they deserved the win,' admitted the Spaniard, who recognised his opponent's superiority on the day. 'We aren't losers. We didn't fail. There was a champion. We fell but the loser is the one who doesn't get up.' The Spaniard had, nonetheless, lost his cool moments earlier, involved in what he described as an 'avoidable' altercation with Pedro post-match. He, like his players – notably João Neves, who was sent off for a pull on Marc Cucurella's hair – were all suddenly bereft of the composure that characterised their serene run to the Champions League trophy – superhumans rendered human once more. So have Chelsea set the blueprint of how to beat PSG? Champions League-level sides may be wise to ditch the passive, defensive and submissive approach adopted by many last season. Fight quality with quality, if you can. But there is a quality imbalance in Ligue 1 and one that is only being widened. PSG are the only team truly immune to the financial problems gripping the domestic game and the €116m earned over their Club World Cup run only strengthens their financial situation. Ligue 1 sides have only spent €160m so far this summer and more than half of that has been on signing players who were already at clubs on loan last season. PSG are yet to make their move in the transfer window, but they soon will – Nasser Al-Khelaifi has confirmed as much. Ligue 1 sides cannot fight quality with quality; low blocks, the likes of which Les Parisiens face week-in-week-out, will still be seen as the way to attempt to level an uneven playing field. While their French rivals may not lick their lips at the flaws laid bare in New Jersey, their European rivals will. This is an article by Get French Football News
