Latest news with #BahrainVictorious
BBC News
14-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Tour de France - Favourites to battle in the Massif Central on stage 10
Update: Date: 160km to go Title: Post Content: Julian Alaphilippe zips away from the front. He would be a very popular winner of this stage. Update: Date: 163km to go Title: Post Content: Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) immediately accelerates from the flag drop as does Matej Mohoric and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious). Nobody can quite get away yet mind. Update: Date: 165.3km to go Title: Post Content: Racing is under way. Update: Date: 12:26 BST Title: Stage 10 profile Content: Normally, this would almost certainly be a rest day but it is Bastille Day so a big day of climbing is incoming instead. The 4,400m of elevation gain across seven category-two climbs and a category-three ascent is likely to put the sprinters in trouble almost from the start on a stage that looks made for the breakaway specialists. There will likely be a strong posse of home riders trying to get in any group heading up the road with the objective of becoming the first French stage winner on the national holiday since Warren Barguil in 2017. The first trip into the mountains should provide a decent shake up of the GC standings although it unlikely to cause any of the main favourites issues. Update: Date: 12:24 BST Title: Post Content: The roll out is under way and a huge chunk of riders look primed behind the race director's car waiting for the flag drop and a chance to zip off up the road. Update: Date: 12:20 BST Title: Bonjour Content: Welcome to our coverage of stage 10 of the Tour de France as the race heads 165.3 km from Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy. It's Bastille Day, we're in the mountains, it should be the first big showdown in the battle for the yellow jersey and a breakaway will try to get up the road. What's not to like? This should be a cracker.
News.com.au
12-07-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Aussie hopes battered by crashes as Tadej Pogacar dominates Tour de France Stage 7
After Michael Storer's heroics the day before, Stage 7 of the Tour de France proved a tough one for the Aussies. A serious crash seven kilometres from the finish on the challenging Mur-de-Bretagne saw 10 riders hit the tarmac, including Jack Haig who could not continue and had to retire with head trauma. His team leader, Santiago Buitrago, also lost valuable time. The Australian was one of two GC options for Bahrain Victorious in the race, but now the Colombian has dropped 13 minutes, meaning his aspirations for a top-10 finish lie in tatters. Slovenian superstar Tadej Pogacar was too strong on the steep final climb but only attacked in the final 150 metres. His main rival, Jonas Vingegaard, bounced back from his disappointing time trial to finish right on the wheel for second place, with Belgian Remco Evenepoel just behind them and still holding on to second overall. Australian Team Jayco AlUla also battled today, with leader Ben O'Connor still not recovered from his spectacular crash on day one. 'It's disappointing and frustrating,' O'Connor said. 'Just when I seem to be coming good it comes back and bites me. I can't do anything about what has happened, I just need to grit the teeth and get on with it. 'Hopefully I can recover when we get to the high mountains and show some of the form that I know is there.' His teammate Eddie Dunbar, who rode to a spectacular fourth place on Stage 6, went down in the group on Stage 7. Also teammate Luke Plapp struggled and admitted to a stomach upset that disrupted his night's sleep and caused him to lose a few kilograms. He did well to get through. Stage 10 on Monday looks, on paper, as the toughest stage so far with more than 4000 metres of climbing and seven category 2 climbs. But Pogacar looks so in control. He has not wasted any energy and looks to have his name pencilled onto the trophy already. On the positive side, there was the brilliant ride by Michael Storer in Stage 6 riding for the fledgling Tudor Pro Cycling team. His aggressive third place is the best by an Aussie in this year's Tour.
New Straits Times
11-07-2025
- Sport
- New Straits Times
Pogacar pounces to reclaim Tour de France lead
MÛR-DE-BRETAGNE, France: Tadej Pogacar won stage seven of the Tour de France on Friday to regain the overall lead with a trademark burst up the short, steep slope of the Mur de Bretagne. Visma's Jonas Vingegaard was second, doggedly staying right on Pogacar's wheel to the line with Briton Oscar Onley third after a late nine-rider pile-up marred the finale. On his 19th career Tour de France stage win the 26-year-old Pogacar gained four seconds on Vingegaard with 10 bonus seconds to the Dane's six. "It was super hot today, and super fast but we had a plan and we stuck to it," said the Team UAE rider who was champion in 2020, 2021 and 2024. In the overall standings, Remco Evenepoel is second overall at 54 seconds after coming in sixth on the day, two seconds adrift. "The Tour de France isn't over yet," said Evenepoel, who lost time in a crosswind on the opening day before winning the stage five individual time-trial. French starlet Kevin Vauquelin continues his bright run in third at 1min 11sec while two-time champion Vingegaard is fourth at 1min 17. Fans cheered for Vauquelin along much of the route. On Thursday a hot-air balloon flew over the peloton with his face on it. "All you could hear was 'Kevin, Kevin' all along the road, it's so good to have a new face competing with us," said Pogacar. The overnight leader Mathieu van der Poel rounds out the top five at 1min 29sec after wilting on the final climb, scene of his 2021 coming of age win and his first yellow jersey. "I kind of knew I was going to lose the yellow jersey here, but it was a special occasion for me coming back here. It was a great day," said the Dutch rider who climbed top of the overall rankings Thursday. The day's action revolved around two ascents of the Mur de Bretagne, a 2km climb at an average of six percent, that has been written into Tour de France folklore. With the Tour returning to Brittany after a four-year gap, huge festive crowds packed the villages and pretty country lanes as the temperature hit 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). The 179 remaining riders left Saint Malo on the north-west coast passing the magnificent Sillon beach with its granite sea wall and chic seafront buildings. Fewer of them will take the start line for Saturday's flat run to Laval, with doubts over key Pogacar teammate Joao Almeida and the Colombian Santiago Buitrago. "I really hope he's okay, he's on his way for an x-ray. I'm proud of how he's been riding. He's done an amazing job. It would have been a perfect day," Pogacar said of Almeida's fall ahead of the second climb of the Mur de Bretagne. "I dedicate this victory to him." In the best form of his career Almeida had been a candidate for a place on the podium in Paris, but has slipped to 12min 21sec off the pace in the overall standings. For Bahrain Victorious their Tour de France appears massively compromised. Not only did the Australian rider Jack Haig leave the Tour after the fall 6km from the line, their leader Buitrago finished 13min down on the day and left the medical centre holding his right arm to his side. One man who negotiated the crash well was Ireland's Ben Healy. The sixth stage winner managed to fall sideways into the heap and roll over it, before remounting immediately to finish a respectable 26th. - AFP
New Straits Times
07-07-2025
- Sport
- New Straits Times
Belgium's Merlier edges Milan in photo finish after crash-marred stage
FRANCE: Tim Merlier won the third stage of the Tour de France on Monday after a sprint finish that resulted in a number of riders crashing saw the Belgian edge just ahead of Jonathan Milan. The Soudal Quick-Step rider needed a photo finish to confirm he ended narrowly in front of Italian Milan at the finish line in the coastal city of Dunkirk. Germany's Phil Bauhaus of Bahrain Victorious was third, while Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel kept the yellow leader jersey after finishing in 23rd place. The stage took a dramatic turn 60km from the end when Belgian rider Jasper Philipsen withdrew from the Tour following a heavy crash. The peloton rode closely together for most of the 178.3 km flat stage from Valenciennes to Dunkirk. Seemingly cautious, the riders held back from making any decisive moves, with nearly the entire group staying in the peloton until the final stretch, setting up a mass sprint finish that ended with several riders crashing in the closing metres. "It was a really hard battle. It was difficult to be in position," Merlier said. "I think from two kilometres I fought back from behind to come back in position, and I was in the wind all the time, and only with 500 metres to go I found a bit of slipstream. I know next to Milan is always difficult." The messy finale saw two separate crashes within the last 3km with the first one bringing down several riders, including Geraint Thomas, Jordi Meeus and Remco Evenepoel. Just ahead of the final corner, several riders lost control and went down, including Alexis Renard, Cees Bol, and Paul Penhoet, who chose to walk his bike across the finish line. "I lost Bert (Van Lerberghe) before the last corner, but I must say the team did an incredible job in the last 5km, but then the real chaos started and it was really difficult to find position," Merlier added.
Reuters
07-07-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Belgium's Merlier edges Milan in photo finish after crash-marred stage
FRANCE, July 7 (Reuters) - Tim Merlier won the third stage of the Tour de France on Monday after a sprint finish that resulted in a number of riders crashing saw the Belgian edge just ahead of Jonathan Milan. The Soudal Quick-Step rider needed a photo finish to confirm he ended narrowly in front of Italian Milan at the finish line in the coastal city of Dunkirk. The stage took a dramatic turn 60km from the end when Belgian rider Jasper Philipsen withdrew from the Tour following a heavy crash. The peloton rode closely together for most of the 178.3 km flat stage from Valenciennes to Dunkirk. Seemingly cautious, the riders held back from making any decisive moves, with nearly the entire group staying in the peloton until the final stretch, setting up a mass sprint finish that ended with several riders crashing in the closing metres. Germany's Phil Bauhaus of Bahrain Victorious was third.
