Latest news with #JonasRickaert
Independent Singapore
2 days ago
- Sport
- Independent Singapore
Heartbreaking Stage 9 finish for Van der Poel as his challenge fades in final moments of the race
Photo: FRANCE: Mathieu van der Poel led the race almost all the way through Stage 9 of the Tour de France, but in the last 700 metres, his breakaway with teammate Jonas Rickaert faltered, leaving him without a win. Rickaert began to get away with only 6 kilometres remaining, and it left Van der Poel to battle for the stage win alone. Van der Poel, who recently secured a victory in Boulogne-sur-Mer, fought hard until the very end, setting up an exciting sprint finish for the peloton. Although Van der Poel had a 30-second lead, the peloton kept up with him. As he got closer to the finish line, he was still in front but only by a little, as the main group was too fast. In the end, Van der Poel was caught just before the finish. Tim Merlier from Soudal-QuickStep won the sprint. Van der Poel and his teammate Jasper Philipsen had already won both stages during the weekend. However, winning the third stage was just too hard. After the stage, Rickaert shared that his goal was to stand on the Tour de France podium. He had discussed this with Van der Poel before the race. With this, he stated: 'I always wanted to be on the Tour podium, so I made a joke of it that we'd go with two from the start, but it seems he was serious, so we just continued, and I was slowly dying. We tried, and too bad that we didn't succeed.' He added: 'I think we did [put on a show]. I think every sports director who passed me gave the thumbs up, so it seems like we did a good effort.' Van der Poel then confirmed that their strategy was to support Rickaert in securing his goal. He admitted, ' I discussed with Jonas that we wanted to go for it today. His dream is to be on the Tour de France podium, so I was happy to help him get combativity. I hope they give it to him.' 'I'm really happy. That was one of his dreams. In the end, we came really close, but I think we were both just on the limit. It was a very hard day… The roads were not really helping with two riders in front, and of course, with the wind, we knew the GC teams would come back at certain moments. It's hard to not be able to finish it off, but we put on a good show today,' the athlete said. On social media, Rickaert expressed: 'What a day. What a ride. Thank you @mathieuvanderpoel for being part of this. Thank you @alpecindeceuninck for the opportunity. This means so much to me. Too bad we missed the win in the end, but we can be proud of what we did.' Netizens commented on the post and said: 'Seeing you riding in the front for MVDP is crazy my friend, but today made history and we are proud of you both despite not winning. 👏,' 'An incredible power, bravo guys, you are legends, you have officially gone down in history.🙏🤩👏', and 'Nice try men! What a stage!!! 🔥🔥👏👏👏👏.' () => { const trigger = if ('IntersectionObserver' in window && trigger) { const observer = new IntersectionObserver((entries, observer) => { => { if ( { lazyLoader(); // You should define lazyLoader() elsewhere or inline here // Run once } }); }, { rootMargin: '800px', threshold: 0.1 }); } else { // Fallback setTimeout(lazyLoader, 3000); } });
BBC News
3 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Merlier wins sprint finish as Van der Poel denied epic breakaway triumph
Tim Merlier won stage nine of the Tour de France in a sprint finish after Mathieu van der Poel's hopes of an audacious breakaway victory were dashed inside the final der Poel and team-mate Jonas Rickaert attacked at the start of the 174.1km run from Chinon to Chateauroux and the Dutch former world champion produced a gutsy effort that just fell short of delivering his second win in this year's race. Instead, Belgium's Merlier was able to celebrate again, having also won stage three, as he came past Jonathan Milan and held off fast-finishing compatriot Arnaud de Lie."Five minutes [to Van der Poel in the break] is a lot but we tried to chase and also the other teams started to help. The pacing was quite high at the front, but it was hard for all the guys - the bunch was nervous," said Merlier."In the end we just went all in and I'm happy I can win my second stage here."There has been debate in recent days about the long-term value of flat sprint stages in the Tour, which can unfold in predictable fashion, with the interest confined to the final which was dubbed 'Cavendish City' in honour of Sir Mark, who took the first of his Tour-record 35 career stage victories here in 2008, has long been the preserve of Van der Poel's valiant attempt to end that streak and the race for position in the wind broke the race the Dutchman revealed afterwards that he had embarked on the two-man expedition because team-mate Rickaert had a dream that he has now achieved after winning the day's combativity award."We wanted to go for it today because it's his dream to be on the podium of a Tour de France," Van der Poel said. "It's hard not to be able to finish it off but we put up a good show today."There was no change at the top of the general classification, with defending champion Tadej Pogacar remaining 54 seconds clear of Remco Evenepoel. Two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard is fourth, one minute 17 seconds off there was a blow for Pogacar as key lieutenant Joao Almeida abandoned the race as a result of injuries suffered on stage Monday, the race takes in eight categorised climbs on Bastille Day as it travels 165.3km from Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy in the Massif Central.
NBC Sports
3 days ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Milan sprints to line ahead of Girmay, Merlier
With Mathieu van der Poel and Jonas Rickaert leading the charge in a breakaway during the ninth stage of the Tour de France, Jonathan Milan sprinted to the line ahead of Biniam Girmay and Tim Merlier to earn 15 points.
