Tour de France 2025: stage one sets battle for yellow jersey around Lille
Date: 2025-07-05T10:11:05.000Z
Title: Preamble
Content: Hello and welcome to the Guardian's live coverage of the Tour de France 2025, starting with stage one in Lille.
Today, the peloton will roll out from the northern French city at 1.10pm CEST (12.10pm BST) and tackle 184.9km on a flat stage that will loop back into Lille for what will most likely end in a bunch sprint. So, all eyes will be on sprinters such as Jasper Philipsen, Jonathan Milan and Tim Merlier. I'd love to hear your predictions though, so please email them over.
While we wait for the live TV coverage to kick off, here's some reading from our sports team who have been previewing this year's Tour:
Tadej Pogačar v Jonas Vingegaard – The battle for the yellow jersey
Who's who?
Your stage-by-stage guide
The Tour de France's version of VAR?
Fifty years of finishes on Champs-Élysées
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We caused our own problems, says England boss Sarina Wiegman after France defeat
The Lionesses were forced to regroup after Alessia Russo had an early goal chalked off following a VAR review for offside in the build-up and needed to dig deep after Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Sandy Baltimore scored within four first-half minutes. But England struggled to get a shot on target, ending the contest with just two, and, while late substitutions sparked the Lionesses into life in the closing stages, Keira Walsh's 87th-minute goal proved mere consolation. Sarina Wiegman's #WEURO2025 opening Group D game assessment ⬇️ — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 5, 2025 'Of course, I'm very disappointed,' said Wiegman. 'I think we started well. After that, of course we know France are very good, but we created chances (for France) by playing short passes all the time. We were a bit sloppy too.' It was a first major tournament group-stage defeat for the Dutch head coach, who won the Euros with the Netherlands in 2017 before leading England to a maiden major trophy three summers ago. She added: 'When we built, we chose to do short passes and they were aiming for that. 'They were pretty good in midfield, so I think we had to go around at moments. On the right side, we had overloads where we could find that, but then you have to skip players and not play the short passes, but when you receive them you have to be tighter on the ball and be quicker. 'We played out of that press that developed too, so I think we caused a bit of our own problems, knowing that when you don't do these things right against France, it's a very good team so they can harm you.' How things stand after Matchday 1 📈#WEURO2025 — UEFA Women's EURO 2025 (@WEURO2025) July 5, 2025 The Lionesses' task does not get any easier, with the Netherlands on Wednesday now looking even more like a must-win game to avoid the genuine possibility of an early exit. Lauren James, who returned from a three-month hamstring injury absence in a 30-minute cameo in their Jamaica send-off friendly on Sunday, was deemed fit to start and played an hour. The Chelsea forward looked a threat on the ball, missing a good chance in the first minute before her attempt to tee up a team-mate with a cross evaded several English heads. Asked if it was an error to start the 23-year-old, Wiegman said: 'No. I don't see it as a mistake. It's a choice and I think if she'd scored in the first minute and if the cross she made, we just couldn't get a head on, I think it would have been a different conversation.' Captain Leah Williamson told ITV she felt the Lionesses 'defended cheaply in one-on-ones' and also lost the ball 'cheaply, (so) you're defending in an emergency'. Fellow defender Jess Carter said: 'I think we played like we were a little bit scared today, maybe we weren't aggressive enough, we maybe were worrying about their threats in behind and what they can do rather than doing what we can do.' But Carter shrugged off the suggestion England now have a big uphill battle, adding: 'I don't really think it's any different, before the tournament even started we knew we had to win games and we set out to win every single game and that doesn't change now.'
South Wales Guardian
21 minutes ago
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We caused our own problems, says England boss Sarina Wiegman after France defeat
The Lionesses were forced to regroup after Alessia Russo had an early goal chalked off following a VAR review for offside in the build-up and needed to dig deep after Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Sandy Baltimore scored within four first-half minutes. But England struggled to get a shot on target, ending the contest with just two, and, while late substitutions sparked the Lionesses into life in the closing stages, Keira Walsh's 87th-minute goal proved mere consolation. Sarina Wiegman's #WEURO2025 opening Group D game assessment ⬇️ — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 5, 2025 'Of course, I'm very disappointed,' said Wiegman. 'I think we started well. After that, of course we know France are very good, but we created chances (for France) by playing short passes all the time. We were a bit sloppy too.' It was a first major tournament group-stage defeat for the Dutch head coach, who won the Euros with the Netherlands in 2017 before leading England to a maiden major trophy three summers ago. She added: 'When we built, we chose to do short passes and they were aiming for that. 'They were pretty good in midfield, so I think we had to go around at moments. On the right side, we had overloads where we could find that, but then you have to skip players and not play the short passes, but when you receive them you have to be tighter on the ball and be quicker. 'We played out of that press that developed too, so I think we caused a bit of our own problems, knowing that when you don't do these things right against France, it's a very good team so they can harm you.' How things stand after Matchday 1 📈#WEURO2025 — UEFA Women's EURO 2025 (@WEURO2025) July 5, 2025 The Lionesses' task does not get any easier, with the Netherlands on Wednesday now looking even more like a must-win game to avoid the genuine possibility of an early exit. Lauren James, who returned from a three-month hamstring injury absence in a 30-minute cameo in their Jamaica send-off friendly on Sunday, was deemed fit to start and played an hour. The Chelsea forward looked a threat on the ball, missing a good chance in the first minute before her attempt to tee up a team-mate with a cross evaded several English heads. Asked if it was an error to start the 23-year-old, Wiegman said: 'No. I don't see it as a mistake. It's a choice and I think if she'd scored in the first minute and if the cross she made, we just couldn't get a head on, I think it would have been a different conversation.' Captain Leah Williamson told ITV she felt the Lionesses 'defended cheaply in one-on-ones' and also lost the ball 'cheaply, (so) you're defending in an emergency'. Fellow defender Jess Carter said: 'I think we played like we were a little bit scared today, maybe we weren't aggressive enough, we maybe were worrying about their threats in behind and what they can do rather than doing what we can do.' But Carter shrugged off the suggestion England now have a big uphill battle, adding: 'I don't really think it's any different, before the tournament even started we knew we had to win games and we set out to win every single game and that doesn't change now.'
Glasgow Times
22 minutes ago
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We caused our own problems, says England boss Sarina Wiegman after France defeat
The Lionesses were forced to regroup after Alessia Russo had an early goal chalked off following a VAR review for offside in the build-up and needed to dig deep after Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Sandy Baltimore scored within four first-half minutes. But England struggled to get a shot on target, ending the contest with just two, and, while late substitutions sparked the Lionesses into life in the closing stages, Keira Walsh's 87th-minute goal proved mere consolation. Sarina Wiegman's #WEURO2025 opening Group D game assessment ⬇️ — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 5, 2025 'Of course, I'm very disappointed,' said Wiegman. 'I think we started well. After that, of course we know France are very good, but we created chances (for France) by playing short passes all the time. We were a bit sloppy too.' It was a first major tournament group-stage defeat for the Dutch head coach, who won the Euros with the Netherlands in 2017 before leading England to a maiden major trophy three summers ago. She added: 'When we built, we chose to do short passes and they were aiming for that. 'They were pretty good in midfield, so I think we had to go around at moments. On the right side, we had overloads where we could find that, but then you have to skip players and not play the short passes, but when you receive them you have to be tighter on the ball and be quicker. 'We played out of that press that developed too, so I think we caused a bit of our own problems, knowing that when you don't do these things right against France, it's a very good team so they can harm you.' How things stand after Matchday 1 📈#WEURO2025 — UEFA Women's EURO 2025 (@WEURO2025) July 5, 2025 The Lionesses' task does not get any easier, with the Netherlands on Wednesday now looking even more like a must-win game to avoid the genuine possibility of an early exit. Lauren James, who returned from a three-month hamstring injury absence in a 30-minute cameo in their Jamaica send-off friendly on Sunday, was deemed fit to start and played an hour. The Chelsea forward looked a threat on the ball, missing a good chance in the first minute before her attempt to tee up a team-mate with a cross evaded several English heads. Asked if it was an error to start the 23-year-old, Wiegman said: 'No. I don't see it as a mistake. It's a choice and I think if she'd scored in the first minute and if the cross she made, we just couldn't get a head on, I think it would have been a different conversation.' Alex Greenwood (left) and Leah Williamson reflect on the defeat (Nick Potts/PA). Captain Leah Williamson told ITV she felt the Lionesses 'defended cheaply in one-on-ones' and also lost the ball 'cheaply, (so) you're defending in an emergency'. Fellow defender Jess Carter said: 'I think we played like we were a little bit scared today, maybe we weren't aggressive enough, we maybe were worrying about their threats in behind and what they can do rather than doing what we can do.' But Carter shrugged off the suggestion England now have a big uphill battle, adding: 'I don't really think it's any different, before the tournament even started we knew we had to win games and we set out to win every single game and that doesn't change now.'
