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Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Sport
- 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
The Guardian
12-06-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Jake Stewart sprints to Dauphiné win on stage five as Evenepoel holds lead despite fall
The British rider Jake Stewart won a sprint finish to triumph in the fifth stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné on Thursday as Remco Evenepoel held on to the race lead. Stewart claimed his first career victory in a World Tour race, edging the bunched finale ahead of Axel Laurance and Søren Waerenskjold after the hilly 183km run from Saint-Priest to Macon. 'That one feels good,' said the 25-year-old who finished fifth in Sunday's opening stage in Montlucon. 'The boys backed me … and the team backed me, they did an awesome job, so I'm just so happy that I could finish it off for them.' The Israel Premier Tech team managed to win despite the race retirement of their German sprinter Pascal Ackermann, who fell during the stage. 'It's such a shame with Ackermann, he crashed again today, and it was handed over to me there for the final, but it was also a really good day for him, so I'm gutted that he didn't get to contest the finish,' added Stewart. Evenepoel, who took the yellow jersey in Wednesday's time-trial, crashed in the final kilometre but was able to resume without difficulty and lost no time in the overall standings. 'There are no major injuries, just small scratches,' said the Belgian. 'I was coming out of the roundabout, I wanted to accelerate, and I slipped. My hands were slippery from the wet weather, so maybe I slipped off the handlebars or started pedalling too early.' Evenepoel is expected to battle with Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar for the overall victory in the Alps. Jonathan Milan, winner of the second stage in Issoire on Monday, was the favourite in the event of a bunch sprint. On the Côte des Quatre Vents – the final climb of the stage over 5.4km at a 4.6% gradient – the towering Italian resisted the acceleration of Mathieu van der Poel's Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates. But he paid for his efforts afterwards, only finishing fifth in the sprint, despite having been ideally placed by his Lidl-Trek team. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Friday's sixth stage is a hilly 126.7km run from Valserhône to Combloux near the border with Switzerland.
France 24
12-06-2025
- Sport
- France 24
Stewart sprints to Dauphine fifth stage win, Evenepoel holds lead
Israel Premier Tech rider Stewart claimed his first career victory in a World Tour race, edging the bunched finale ahead of Frenchman Axel Laurance and Norwegian Soren Waerenskjold after the hilly 183km run from Saint-Priest to Macon. "That one feels good," said the 25-year-old who finished fifth in Sunday's opening stage in Montlucon. "The boys backed me... and the team backed me, they did an awesome job, so I'm just so happy that I could finish it off for them." The Israel Premier Tech team managed to win despite the race retirement of its German sprinter Pascal Ackermann, who fell during the stage. "It's such a shame with Ackermann, he crashed again today, and it was handed over to me there for the final, but it was also a really good day for him, so I'm gutted that he didn't get to contest the finish," added Stewart. Evenepoel, who took the yellow jersey since Wednesday's time-trial, crashed in the final kilometre but was able to resume without difficulty and lost no time in the overall standings. "There are no major injuries, just small scratches," said the Belgian. "I was coming out of the roundabout, I wanted to accelerate, and I slipped. My hands were slippery from the wet weather, so maybe I slipped off the handlebars or started pedalling too early." Evenepoel is expected to battle with Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar for the overall victory in the Alps. Jonathan Milan, winner of the second stage in Issoire on Monday, was the favourite in the event of a bunch sprint. On the Cote des Quatre Vents -- the final climb of the stage over 5.4km at a 4.6 percent gradient -- the towering Italian resisted the acceleration of Mathieu van der Poel's Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates. But he paid for his efforts afterwards, only finishing fifth in the sprint, despite having been ideally placed by his Lidl-Trek teammates. Friday's sixth stage is a hilly 126.7km run from Valserhone to Combloux near the border with Switzerland.
BBC News
12-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Briton Stewart wins Dauphine stage five as Evenepoel crashes
Britain's Jake Stewart won his first World Tour race with victory on stage five of the Criterium du Dauphine after a bunch Tech's Stewart beat stage hot favourite Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek by launching his effort early and getting a jump on the huge power was not enough to claw back Stewart, whose timing was perfect for what was a tailwind ride to the finish line in Macon after a 183km race leader Remco Evenepoel of Belgium crashed in the peloton with 500m to go, ripping the material on the right shoulder of his leader's yellow jersey, but he appeared of Soudal-Quick Step, remains in the overall lead because of a new 5km rule introduced this season which awards all riders with the same time if there is a crash within the allocated is also a longstanding 3km rule which is applied, usually for the flattest sprint stages."That feels good," said Stewart. "It's such a shame Pascal [Ackermann, his team-mate] crashed [earlier in the stage and abandoned] and they handed over to me."The team and the boys backed me and I'm so happy I could finish it off for them."When asked about his new prototype bike which has caused interest in the paddock for its aerodynamic front fork design, Stewart replied: "I'm not allowed to say too much about that."Stewart is expected to take part in next month's Tour de Dauphine, which takes place across the region of the same name in south-east France, is the traditional warm-up for the four times in the past 10 editions has the overall winner gone on to be victorious in the eight-day stage race now moves into the high mountains in the French Alps, with Friday's 126.7km race to stage is likely to feature the most explosive action, with three hugely steep hors category climbs in the French Alps to Valmeinier. Stage five results1. Jake Stewart (GB/Israel-Premier Tech) 4hrs 3mins 46secs2. Axel Laurance (Fra/Ineos Grenadiers) Same time3. Soren Warenskjold (Nor/Uno-X Mobility) 4. Laurence Pithie (NZ/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) 5. Jonathan Milan (Ita/Lidl-Trek) 6. Paul Penhoet (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) 7. Emilien Jeanniere (Fra/TotalEnergies)8. Fred Wright (GB/Bahrain-Victorious) 9. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned/Alpecin-Deceuninck)10. Bastien Tronchon (Fra/Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) General classification after stage five1. Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal-Quick Step) 18hrs 34mins 54secs2. Florian Lipowitz (Ger/Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) +4secs3. Ivan Romeo (Spa/Movistar) +9secs4. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned/Alpecin-Deceuninck) +14secs5. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma-Lease a Bike) +16secs6. Eddie Dunbar (Irl/Jayco-AlUla) +30secs7. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +38secs8. Matteo Jorgenson (USA/Visma-Lease a Bike) +39secs9. Louis Barre (Fra/Intermarche-Wanty) +1min 03secs10. Paul Seixas (Fra/Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +1min 13secs
CBC
01-06-2025
- General
- CBC
Ottawa's Derek Gee cycles to Grand Tour-best 4th in Giro d'Italia
British rider Simon Yates cruised to overall victory in the Giro d'Italia on Sunday, finally winning the race that had eluded him so often. After attacking on the gravel-road climb to take the pink jersey in the penultimate stage on Saturday, Yates finished nearly four minutes ahead of runner-up Isaac Del Toro, the 21-year-old Mexican who wore pink for 10 days before Yates took control. It's the second Grand Tour title for Yates after he won the Spanish Vuelta in 2018. Ottawa's Derek Gee, the lead rider for the Israel-Premier Tech team, was fourth overall to earn his best result at a Grand Tour. He was ninth in last year's Tour de France. Gee entered this year's competition after becoming an overall multi-race stage champion for the first time in his career. He captured the O Gran Camino road race in Spain on March 2 for the first overall stage race victory of his career, a 35-second edge over Italy's Davide Piganzoli. Gee finished with three top-10 stage results, including a first, second and 10th. At the seven-stage Tirreno-Adriatico, he was fourth overall with two sixth-place results. The 27-year-old last led a race at the Criterium du Dauphine last June in France, spending one day in the yellow jersey coincided with an individual time trial. He finished third overall. At the Tour de France, Gee was ninth with four top-10 showings, including a third in Stage 9. He went on to finish 44th in last summer's Olympic road race in Paris and was the top Canadian in the individual time trial, placing 20th. Tough luck in previous Giro races Post-Olympics, Gee was 22nd in the individual time trial at the road world championships in Zurich. He did not finish the road race. Meanwhile, Yates wore pink for 13 days during the 2018 Giro before cracking on one of the final climbs. He also had to withdraw from the Italian race in 2020 and 2022 because of coronavirus and a knee injury, respectively. "I'm still in shock of what I've done," Yates said from Rome. "It's something that I've been working toward for a long time." Yates, who rides for Team Visma Lease a Bike, finished three minutes 56 seconds ahead of Del Toro and 4:43 ahead of Richard Carapaz, the 2019 champion from Ecuador. Gee, who was 11th in Sunday's final stage, was 6:23 behind Yates. Dutch rider Olav Kooij, Yates' teammate, won the final stage in a sprint finish. During the non-competitive neutralized period just before the mostly ceremonial final stage actually began, the peloton passed through the Vatican and was blessed by Pope Leo XIV. The 143-kilometre final stage concluded with a circuit of eight laps through downtown Rome and finished next to the Circus Maximus. At age 32, Yates already acknowledged this victory is "the peak" of his career. His best finish in the Tour de France was fourth in 2023.
