Pogačar's quest for a fourth Tour de France title backed by strong UAE Team Emirates squad
FILE - Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar of the UAE Team Emirates URG team crosses the finish line to win the Belgian cycling classic and UCI World Tour race Liege Bastogne Liege, in Liege, Belgium, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, file)
PARIS (AP) — Tadej Pogačar will be supported by an impressive squad in his quest for a fourth Tour de France title.
The UAE Team Emirates leader will be surrounded by excellent all-rounders and climbers with the experience required to answer the demands of the most grueling of three-week races.
Advertisement
The 26-year-old Pogačar is once again the main favorite after yet another dominant season that recently saw him win the Critérium du Dauphiné, the traditional curtain riser before the Tour that generally indicates the form of the moment.
The Tour de France starts on July 5 from the northern city of Lille.
Pogačar's team said on Friday that he will be supported by five teammates from the Critérium du Dauphiné — Jhonatan Narváez, Nils Politt, Pavel Sivakov, Marc Soler and Tim Wellens — with João Almeida and Adam Yates rounding out the squad.
Pogačar is an extremely versatile rider capable of winning on all terrains.
Advertisement
This year, the reigning world champion from Slovenia also won the Tour of Flanders, Strade Bianche, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Flèche Wallonne. His appetite for victory has drawn comparisons with the greatest cyclist of all time, Eddy Merckx.
'I'm excited for the Tour to start. I'm lucky to have had close to the perfect preparation this year — everything has gone really smoothly, especially coming off a great altitude camp with my teammates,' Pogačar said. 'The vibes in the team are amazing right now, and that gives me a lot of confidence.'
If Pogačar wins the Tour, he will draw level with Chris Froome for the fifth most Tour wins of all time. Four riders — Jacques Anquetil, Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain — have won cycling's biggest race five times.
Pogačar's main rival through July is expected to be Jonas Vingegaard, a two-time Tour champion who will lead the Visma-Lease a Bike team.
Advertisement
'Of course, you can never be fully prepared for something like the Tour de France — it's unpredictable, and that's part of what makes it so special," Pogačar said. 'I'm expecting a very high level from all the other top riders."
The race features six mountain stages with five mountain finishes, and two time trials.
'The first few days should be really exciting for the fans with some open, aggressive stages, and the last week is very climbing-heavy with some iconic stages,' Pogačar said. "It's going to be a big fight all the way to Paris, but I'm ready to give everything."
___
AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Plan backed to encourage more walking and cycling
Worcester City Council has approved a plan to encourage more people to walk and cycle rather than use their cars. The place and economic development committee gave the Active Travel Action Plan the green light on Monday, which will be implemented over the coming three years. The local authority's previous plan introduced the Beryl bike scheme, which saw about 52,000 cycle journeys in the city in the past year. "This plan is about making walking, wheeling, and cycling viable and attractive travel choices in Worcester, particularly for shorter journeys," said councillor Robyn Norfolk, chair of the committee. "The previous Active Travel Plan has shown how a project like the Beryl bikes can encourage active travel across our city." She said it would form part of a wider plan for Worcester, with the aim of making it a "healthy and active city". Proposals include a mobility hub being set up in the Arches walkway at Foregate Street. It would be home to a range of sustainable transport options, the council said. The new walkway links the train station, the Hive and the Riverside, and would have secure parking, as well as a Beryl bike bay. The aim is to provide links between different modes of travel in the city centre. Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. More than 50,000 miles covered in bike hire scheme Cycling and walking schemes get £7m Worcester City Council
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Canadian Michael Woods headed to his fifth Tour de France, looking for stage wins
Canadian Michael Woods is headed to his fifth Tour de France, looking for a repeat of 2023 when he won a stage in the storied Grand Tour race. The 38-year-old from Ottawa will ride alongside fellow Canadian Guillaume Boivin in Israel-Premier Tech's eight-man team for the 3,320-kilometre Tour, which runs from July 5 to 27. Advertisement Team sporting director Steve Bauer, who rode in 11 editions of the Tour de France and was the first Canadian to win a stage (in 1988), has high hopes for the team but is realistic about the challenge that lies ahead. "It's simply said, yet difficult to achieve — we want to win a stage," Bauer said in a statement. "We've assembled the best team from our current healthy roster with the aim of achieving this goal. 'It's a common goal for every team, and that's where the challenge lies at the highest level of our sport. We have to be sharp from Day 1 and, in particular, through the first 10 days, we'll analyze how we can have a shot at nearly every stage, because we can't afford to let any opportunities go. We have the riders who can be in the mix to win. Our day-to-day tactics will be very important, along with how we manage the guys.' Woods returns to the race two years after becoming the third Canadian to win a stage on the Tour. Israel-Premier Tech teammate Hugo Houle was the second, winning the 16th stage of the 2022 edition. Advertisement Woods is also the last Israel-Premier Tech rider to win a Grand Tour stage — at the Spanish Vuelta last August. "It's a crazy race and it's the last race on the calendar that I do that scares me — in a good way, but it's such a challenging race," he said. "The level is so high. The risks are so big, but the rewards are so incredible. Winning a stage there in 2023 was the crowning achievement of my career. Given the level of excitement around that win and the support I've received since I achieved it, I can say it changed my life. For all of those reasons, I can say I'm looking forward to returning to the Tour." Woods, an accomplished climber, says he is not targeting the first week. 'Everything from Stage 6 onward I'm excited about," he said. "Don't expect to see me at all during those opening stages. I want to try and stay safe. The only Tour I've won a stage in was the only one I didn't crash in. If I can stay upright in the first week, then there are opportunities in the second and third weeks for stage wins.' Advertisement Woods' best general classification finish at the Tour was 32nd in 2-19. He did not finish the race in 2021 and '22 and was 48th in 2023. Fellow Canadian Derek Gee led Israel Premier-Tech at the Giro d'Italia in June, finishing fourth overall. The 27-year-old from Ottawa was ninth overall in last year's Tour de France but is not on this year's team. The other team members this year are Germany's Pascal Ackermann, Britain's Joe Blackmore and Jake Stewart, France's Matîs Louvel, Kazakhstan's Alexey Lutsenko and Latvia's Krists Neilands. "We have several guys who will have opportunities in the first week. Stages one, two, and three will be intense," said Bauer. "Certainly, Ackie and Jake will be key men, backed up by a solid support group. There could be a couple of potential breakaway stages before the first rest day, too, depending on how the peloton reacts and the race evolves. It will be important for our guys to be ready to go hunting for victories when these opportunities come. Advertisement 'In the high mountains, Mike is our best climber, and he's proven he can win Grand Tour stages. We'll look to keep him out of trouble in the first few days, and then we'll utilize his strengths as we go forward.' For the first time since 2020, the Tour will be held exclusively in France. The 21-stage race features seven flat stages, six hilly stages, six mountain stages (with five mountain finishes) and two time trials. The field includes 184 riders representing 23 teams. The race starts in Lille with a flat 184.9-kilometre stage. --- This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2025 Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Women's Euro 2025: Ranking the best and worst of the away kits
One 'evokes morning light over snowy landscapes', another is inspired by its nation's 'vibrant street art scene', while one brings to mind a disco ball. But which are the best and worst of this summer's Women's Euros away kits? Advertisement We've pored over the pictures, swallowed the marketing spiel and had a go at separating the brilliant from the banal. Let us know whether you agree in the comments. Belgium Yellow and purple is a pretty bold choice of contrasting colours. Is it a football shirt or an ice-lolly wrapper? Why not both? Adidas has clearly decided to go all-out with its away kits for this European Championship, to experiment a little, and while many of the bold designs you will read about on this list are gambles that have paid off, this isn't one of them. The design is fine, but the colours just don't work with each other. Finland The Finland home shirt is a lesson in how to artfully introduce smart and intricate design into a football shirt. This is… not. It's partly the same pattern, but rather than subtly incorporating it into a a slim panel down the middle, it's enlarged and expanded across the whole body of the shirt. Which essentially makes it look like an owl who is determined to offer some sort of ritual sacrifice to whatever deranged god wants it. Genuinely unsettling. The owl's eyes follow you around the room. The horror. Wales This resembles a version of the Portugal away shirt, without a real sense of conviction. It's like they're twins and one is dynamic, interesting and charismatic, while the other is safe, bland, and talks about mortgage rates a lot. It doesn't look bad in itself, but next to Portugal's, it's all a bit 'look what you could've won'. The Adidas blurb claims this shirt features 'bold graphics', but can something be bold if you can't really see it? Netherlands Here we have essentially the same design as the 2024 home shirt, just in this pleasant light blue. It's… well, it's fine, isn't it? Not a huge amount more to get excited about. The colour is fine. The collar is fine. The little Netherlands-flag coloured detail on the collar is fine. The cut is fine. It's… well, it's fine. If you're under the age of 25, replace every instance of the word 'fine' in the past few lines with 'mid', if that helps at all. Sweden It looks OK but feels slightly lazy, or at least a bit 'off the peg' given the originality of some of the other away shirts Adidas has produced for this tournament. It does look most definitely like a Sweden shirt, and there is a bit of variation with the blended colours and wave effects near the shoulders, but this is essentially just an Adidas template with traditional Swedish away shirt colours. Will anyone really care? Maybe not, but this just feels quite safe. Switzerland Is this kit supposed to look so cold? Is it a tribute to the Swiss Alps? Are the swirls supposed to be a topographical reference, a nod to how those Alps might be displayed on a map? Actually, yes, that's all probably right, isn't it? I can't find any Puma marketing information, so it's difficult to ascertain for sure, but that's almost certainly it. Anyway, enough of all that: is this shirt any good? Well, yeah, sort of, it's fine. It does just look a bit… cold. Iceland Football shirts aren't necessarily supposed to make you relaxed, the sportswear equivalent of some scented candles and an album of panpipe music, but there's something extremely soothing about this one. Does it look like a T-shirt that someone who works in a shop selling bath salts would wear? Yes. Does it also make you want to buy some of those bath salts, fill up the tub, pour yourself a glass of wine and forget all of your worries? Also yes. Denmark There's often something quite nice about home and away kits that mirror each other, the same design but with the colours reversed. It's like they're 'of a piece', that someone has actually thought about how they might relate to each other, and in Denmark's case help create a consistent visual identity. This, like the home shirt, is a pretty basic design, and is perhaps made even more basic-looking due to it being white and red rather than red and white, but it still works. Poland Shiny! Part kit, part disco ball, this is the shirt you'd wear if you were trying to get into Studio 54 but had to come straight from your Thursday night five-a-side game. This is good, but there is a slight element of novelty to it, like someone at Nike had a design meeting and asked those present to come up with the wackiest idea they could think of. Does it have anything much to do with Poland? Probably not. Does that matter? Probably not. Norway The great debate that has already raged for centuries and surely will for centuries more: do pastel colours belong on a football shirt? The answer to which is, of course: maybe! Nike reports that this shirt's 'geometric lines celebrate the country's architecture, while the cool purples and icy turquoise evoke morning light over snowy landscapes'. Which does make it sound a bit like this shirt should come with a dream catcher, but that does it something of a disservice. At the very least it's different, and lord knows there are enough unimaginative designs around that you shouldn't dismiss something just because it's different. Italy Here's more sports company spiel that I am swallowing whole: the design on this Italy shirt is, we are reliably informed by Adidas, 'inspired by 15th century Italian Renaissance art', and I believe them. Because if we can't believe words cynically placed next to each other in an attempt to persuade us to part with our money, then what can we believe? It's also, setting apart the promotional bumf, just a nice shirt to look at, the pale green offset rather nicely by the bold red trim and details. Germany And some more marketing bull**** that I'm actually prepared to believe: according to the Adidas blurb, the design on this Germany away shirt is 'inspired by the nation's vibrant street art scene' — which actually makes sense! There IS a vibrant street art scene in Germany. These designs DO sort of look like they could belong in that. The pattern does sort of look like interlocking fingers, but if you can put that out of your mind, then this all looks really good. England The black football shirt is always a difficult one to pull off. You can easily end up with a glorified goalkeeper's jersey, and nobody wants that. The way to do it is with judicious use of strong contrast colours, and that's exactly what Nike has done here, with those pinks, blues and reds underneath the armpits and down the side of the shorts. Much, much better than the England home shirt. Which, admittedly, is the most damning of faint praise. Portugal Now, this is really smart. To design a shirt with this shade of green with those sort of graphics and not make it overwhelming and 'too much' requires a delicate touch. And whoever is in charge of these things at Puma seemingly has that delicate touch, because if the green was a slightly brighter shade, or the overlaying graphics slightly bolder, then it wouldn't have worked: too gaudy, too bright, too much. But as it is, they've got things just right. France This is really, really great. Nike is on the verge of being too clever for its own good with the slanted, asymmetric collar, but it falls down just on the right side of stylish. It helps that the colour scheme works perfectly, the red and blue trim paired splendidly with a sort of cream/off white. The main body colour is key when it comes to the use of a sort of salmon for the crest and Nike swoosh, which could be quite irritating, but it fits with the cream/off white in a way that it probably wouldn't with a traditional white. Tremendous. Spain Fantastic. A genuinely magnificent piece of kit design. Design generally, really. It's different, distinctive, original... and other words that essentially mean the same thing. The patterns fit together really well, the colours complement each other perfectly, the black Adidas stripes and logo offset it all nicely. If there's one gripe, it's that it doesn't necessarily look like a Spain shirt — maybe more of a deconstructed Argentina shirt — but that's nit-picking really. Advertisement This article originally appeared in The Athletic. England, Wales, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Iceland, Women's Soccer, Women's Euros 2025 The Athletic Media Company
