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Qatar Tribune
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Qatar Tribune
Abrahamsen holds on for ‘dream' Tour de France stage 11 win
PA Media/DPA London Jonas Abrahamsen held on at the end of stage 11 for his first Tour de France win after edging out Mauro Schmid in a two-up sprint to the line in Toulouse. A late bid to catch the front two by Mathieu van der Poel in the final 5km fell just short by seven seconds, whilst a fall towards the end by Tadej Pogacar in the peloton proved not to be costly as the group allowed the 2024 winner to catch up. Ben Healy, who on Monday rode himself into the yellow jersey with an outstanding display of grit on the Massif Central, held on to pole position by 29 seconds from Pogacar. Third in the overall standings Remco Evenepoel is now a minute and 29 seconds behind, with fourth-placed Jonas Vingegaard another 17 seconds back. But the day belonged to Abrahamsen, who had been unsure whether he would even make the Tour - having broken his collarbone last month - after the Norwegian clung on for an epic finish. 'I broke my collarbone four weeks ago at the Baloise Belgium Tour and I cried in the hospital thinking I wouldn't make the Tour,' said Abrahamsen. 'I was thinking 'I have to win this stage, I have to win this stage'. It was my dream to win a stage of the Tour de France. 'I know I have a pretty good sprint and we had been out for a long time, so I had to be smart and not go over the limit. 'We were working so hard to get the gap all day so it's great to get the victory. I'm so, so happy.' The final finish was almost disrupted by a spectator who ran on to the road before being tackled into the barriers by one of the race organisers. It did not contribute to Pogacar's fall which came when he was cut off from his left as the peloton descended from the climb, and afterwards the Slovenian expressed his gratitude towards the riders who sat up and allowed him back in. 'I'm OK, a bit beaten up but we've been through worse days,' he said. 'It's been a hectic day from start to finish - then I had a crash. 'Thanks to the peloton in front, they actually waited. Big respect to everybody in front, thanks for your support guys. 'We came down from the climb. There was attacks from Mateo and Jonas, they really put everyone on the limit. People want to take any seconds on a final like this and they start to attack and people start to follow. 'Unfortunately one rider decided to follow from left to right side of the road and he didn't see me. He just completely cut me off from my front wheel. Luckily I just have a little bit of skin off.'
Straits Times
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
Jonas Abrahamsen wins Tour de France Stage 11 as Tadej Pogacar crashes
Find out what's new on ST website and app. Uno-X Mobility's Jonas Abrahamsen celebrating winning Stage 11 of the Tour de France in Toulouse on July 16, 2025. – Norway's Jonas Abrahamsen won Stage 11 of the Tour de France in Toulouse on July 16 while defending champion Tadej Pogacar crashed 4km from the line. Pogacar fell after hitting the back wheel of another rider but his rivals Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel sportingly waited for the Slovenian to catch up after he got back on his bike. Ireland's Ben Healy retained the leader's jersey. The thrilling stage over 156km from Toulouse and back was unexpectedly won by Abrahamsen as a long range breakaway foiled the ambitions of the sprinters. Abrahamsen contested a two-way cat-and-mouse war of nerves down the home straight with Swiss Mauro Schmid as the cunning Mathieu van der Poel crept up on them and finished third seven seconds adrift. Said Abrahamsen: 'I broke my collarbone four weeks ago at the Baloise Belgium Tour and I cried in the hospital thinking I wouldn't make the Tour. 'I was thinking 'I have to win this stage, I have to win this stage'... It was my dream to win a stage of the Tour de France. I know I have a pretty good sprint and we had been out for a long time, so I had to be smart and not go over the limit.' Healy retained the overall lead on his first day in the fabled yellow jersey, while Pogacar remains second and Evenepoel third. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Over 600 Telegram groups in Singapore selling, advertising vapes removed by HSA Singapore 2 weeks' jail for man caught smuggling over 1,800 vapes and pods into Singapore Singapore Jail for man who fatally hit his daughter, 2, while driving van without licence Sport 'Like being in a washing machine with 40 deg C water': Open water swimmers brave challenging conditions Singapore Primary 1 registration: 38 primary schools to conduct ballot in Phase 2A Singapore ComfortDelGro to introduce new taxi cancellation, waiting fee policy Business Cathay Cineplexes gets fresh demands to pay up $3.3m debt for Century Square, Causeway Point outlets Singapore Countering misinformation requires both laws and access to trusted news sources: Josephine Teo Following the July 15 rest day, July 16 was billed as a likely sprint finish with 70 points at stake in the sprint points standings in Toulouse. Stage 11 did however feature five small climbs along a 156.8km route making sure it was constantly fast and nerve-wracking. Pogacar fell after hitting the back wheel of another rider but his rivals two-time winner Vingegaard and Evenepoel sportingly waited for the Slovenian. UAE Team Emirates rider Pogacar struggled to put his chain on after sliding across several metres of tarmac and had looked as if he would lose 30 to 40 seconds. Healy will lead the peloton into the Pyrenees on July 17, where the first real mountains will test his and everyone's legs on the legendary beyond category Hautacam climb. Meanwhile, a protester wearing a 'Israel out of the Tour' t-shirt ran onto the final strait of Stage 11 before being restrained by a security officer. The protester, who was also waving a keffiyeh, was about 50 metres from the finishing line as Abrahamsen beat Schmid for victory. Israel are represented on the Tour through the Israel-Premier Tech team, but no Israeli riders are on the race. Israel's military operations in Gaza have killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attack, by Israeli tallies. Some other protests are planned on the Tour route, Reuters has learned from sources with a direct knowledge of the matter. Tour organisers and the Israel-Premier Tech team were not immediately reachable for comment. REUTERS, AFP
Straits Times
30-06-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
‘Starvation' days over as cyclists prepare to gorge on Tour de France
Soudal Quick-Step British rider Ethan Hayter, competes during the third stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour cycling race, on June 20. PHOTO: AFP 'Starvation' days over as cyclists prepare to gorge on Tour de France PARIS - Not so long ago, cyclists heading into the Tour de France were skinny string beans weighing and measuring every grain of rice that entered their body but that image has not just gone, it's taken a seismic shift in the other direction. This year's riders will be gorging themselves like never before, taking on board the equivalent of a large plate of pasta per hour and even training their stomachs to cope with this influx of food. 'Intake has doubled,' Julien Louis, nutritionist for the Decathlon-AG2R team, told AFP. In fact, it's a 180-degree turnaround from the 2010s and the 'low carb' fad popularised by four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome's Sky team. This method consisted of depriving the body of sugars during training in order to lose weight and encourage the body to use fat for energy. 'Two eggs for breakfast and we were off for five-six hours of training, with water in the bottles. We were exhausted the whole time,' recalls British veteran Simon Yates, winner of the last Giro. Climber Pavel Sivakov paints an even more dramatic picture. 'Mentally, it was very hard,' he says. 'We were starving, with no energy, tapping into our fat.' Those days are gone. 'When there's nothing left in the tank the runner switches to using fat,' explains Louis who used to work for English Premier League side Liverpool. 'It works but it's much less effective than carbohydrates.' - 'Never eaten so much' - One look at the map for the Tour de France which runs 3,338 kilometres over three weeks from Lille, all the way down south and back up to Paris for the finish, is a giveaway when it comes to a rider's nutritional needs. He will burn through roughly 7,000 calories on one of the lung-busting, muscle-crunching mountain stages. 'You have to eat four times as much as a normal person,' says Cofidis rider Simon Carr. 'We've never eaten so much on a bike.' Most riders now take in up to 120 grammes of carbohydrates per hour while racing, in some cases even more, which is enormous. 'It's the equivalent of six bananas or around 200 grammes of dried pasta per hour,' says Louis. Until recently, eating such large quantities, mainly in the form of gels and energy drinks, was unimaginable, as it would lead to too much intestinal distress. 'Up until five years ago, 120g of carbohydrates per hour was impossible,' Tadej Pogacar explained in a podcast in September, adding such an intake would have had him in dire need of a trip to the toilet. - Intestinal training - Since then, great progress has been made with energy products, which now contain a combination of two types of carbohydrate. 'For a long time, we thought there was only one kind of carbohydrate transporter in the intestine,' explains Louis. 'Then we discovered that there was a second type that could transport fructose. As a result, by using these two pathways at the same time, we can push through twice as much sugar.' According to all the parties interviewed by AFP, these advances in nutrition, along with developments in equipment and training methods, help to explain the increasingly high levels of performance in cycling, a sport which has often been associated with doping. Although products are now better tolerated by the body, making this revolution possible, riders still have to train their stomachs to cope with such quantities. 'Otherwise you can't digest when you're asked to eat six gels an hour. Your body just can't cope,' says Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, this year's winner of the women's Paris-Roubaix and gold medallist in the cross-country mountain bike at the Paris Olympics. She found this out the hard way when she gave up, ill, during the World Championships in September, unused to the longer distances after her switch from mountain bikes. During winter training, the riders now do 'at least one session a week of intestinal training, or 'gut training'', says Louis. 'At the very beginning, there may be a little discomfort,' he adds. 'But without it, you're at a huge disadvantage. It's as if you're not running on the same fuel.' jk/ig/bsp/nf SKY Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
CairoScene
23-06-2025
- Sport
- CairoScene
Emirates-XRG Cycling Team Wins Tour de Suisse & Baloise Belgium Tour
UAE Team Emirates‑XRG triumphs in Europe as João Almeida won the Tour de Suisse overall while Filippo Baroncini secured the Baloise Belgium Tour, marking the team's 50th victory of 2025. Jun 23, 2025 UAE Team Emirates‑XRG has just achieved a double victory on the cycling world stage: João Almeida secured the overall title at the Tour de Suisse, while Filippo Baroncini earned his first General Classification win at the Baloise Belgium Tour. In Switzerland, Almeida delivered a clinical performance in Stage 8's uphill time trial, overcoming a 33‑second deficit to take the lead His effort secured three stage wins and the black points jersey. Meanwhile, Baroncini defended his lead through the final flat stage in Brussels to capture the overall title in Belgium. After donning the violet leader's jersey on Stage 4 in Durbuy with full team support, he held off his challengers to complete his breakthrough victory. These two wins also mark the 50th victory for the Emirates‑XRG team during the 2025 racing season, underlining their continued dominance on Europe's biggest stages.
Arabian Post
23-06-2025
- Sport
- Arabian Post
Almeida and Baroncini Elevate UAE Team Emirates‑XRG's Momentum
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai João Almeida secured the general classification at the Tour de Suisse on 22 June, overpowering Kevin Vauquelin in a commanding mountain time trial, while Filippo Baroncini clinched his first overall win at the Baloise Belgium Tour on the same day. The victories mark a milestone weekend for UAE Team Emirates‑XRG, pushing its season tally to a record-breaking 50 wins. Almeida, wearing the yellow jersey, staged a remarkable turnaround during the 10.1 km ascent from Beckenried to Stockhütte. Starting the final stage 33 seconds behind Vauquelin, he posted a blistering 27:33—beating the Frenchman by 1:40 and sealing the victory by a 1:07 margin. His performance ensured he not only claimed the overall title but also the points jersey. ADVERTISEMENT The Tour de Suisse had already seen Almeida recover from an early setback—losing over three minutes on stage one—by capturing stage four and seven victories, and grinding out bonus seconds during stage seven to stay within reach. The final time trial confirmed his status as one of the WorldTour's most consistent climber–time‑trial specialists. Baroncini's triumph at the Baloise Belgium Tour marked his debut general classification success. He topped the podium with a slender four-second lead over Ethan Hayter, after a tactically astute five‑stage campaign. Baroncini's consistency in the Ardennes-style terrain and strategic riding during the Golden Kilometre bonus sprints proved decisive. These wins reflect a broader surge in form across the Emirati team. With Almeida's mastery in time trials and mountain terrain, complemented by Baroncini's emergence in hilly classics, the squad demonstrates depth and versatility—especially crucial as attention now turns to the Tour de France. Analysts highlight that Almeida parlayed a challenging start into a commanding campaign by dominating critical stages and leveraging team support. He paid tribute to his riders and staff after stage seven, noting that every second counted and his boost in morale hinged on teamwork. Baroncini, meanwhile, operated quietly yet effectively—conserving energy and nabbing time bonuses without making headlines until the final standings were published. His victory signals maturity beyond a first-time winner; his profile suggests he could emerge as a versatile contender in mountainous races later this season. UAE Team Emirates‑XRG, under the stewardship of General Manager Mauro Gianetti and Team Manager Matxin Fernández, stands third in the UCI WorldTeam rankings this season, boasting eight overall stage‑race victories and seventeen individual stage wins. Tadej Pogačar has led the charge with seven wins, yet Almeida and Baroncini are edging into prominence. The team's momentum also offers tactical flexibility for the upcoming Tour de France, where Almeida is expected to support Pogačar, and Baroncini may be deployed in breakaways or mountain stages. Their successes in Switzerland and Belgium send a clear signal: UAE Team Emirates‑XRG will field a multi‑faceted and potent challenge in the Grand Départ.
