Latest news with #Soudal
2 days ago
- Sport
Paret-Peintre wins Tour de France stage on Mont Ventoux, where Pogačar deals Vingegaard another blow
MONT VENTOUX, France -- Valentin Paret-Peintre triumphed on Mont Ventoux to become the first home rider to win a stage at this year's Tour de France, while Tadej Pogačar consolidated his overall lead Tuesday. Paret-Peintre finished just ahead of former leader Ben Healy in a sprint for the line at the top of the famed mountain known as the 'Beast of Provence.' Santiago Buitrago was third, 4 seconds behind, ahead of Paret-Peintre's teammate Ilan Van Wilder and fifth-placed Pogačar, who withstood repeated attacks from Jonas Vingegaard to cross the line 2 seconds before his main rival. Pogačar stretched his overall lead to 4 minutes, 15 seconds over the Danish rider. Vingegaard won the Tour in 2022 and 2023 but seems powerless to stop Pogačar from achieving his fourth win when the race finishes next weekend in Paris. After the Tour's second rest day Monday, Stage 16 took the riders 171.5 kilometers from Montpellier in the south of France on a long flat course until they reached the brutal climb up Ventoux. Mathieu van der Poel, who had been third in the points classification, withdrew before Tuesday's stage with pneumonia. Wout van Aert, the last winner when the route went through Ventoux in 2021, attacked from the off, prompting responses from Jonathan Milan, Ivan Romeo and others. Six were in the lead by the time they got to Bedoin at the bottom. Only 22 kilometers remained, but they were to get increasingly tough with 15.7 kilometers at an 8.8% incline from Saint-Esteve to the finish. Healy, in a group of chasers, overtook Julian Alaphilippe while Vingegaard made his initial move. He attacked again, then again, but Pogačar stayed doggedly on his wheel. The gap was closing on Spanish rider Enric Mas in the lead. Vingegaard got support when he caught up with Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Victor Campenaerts, but Healy was moving fast in front of them and took the lead from Mas with 3.7 kilometers to go. Paret-Peintre followed and was helped by Soudal–Quick-Step teammate Van Wilder to finish just ahead of Healy. Vingegaard attacked again but could not shake off Pogačar, who attacked with 2 kilometers to go to deal his rival another demoralizing blow.
Japan Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- Japan Today
Arensman climbs to Tour de France win as Pogacar extends lead
cycling By Damian MCCALL Dutch rider Thymen Arensman climbed to victory on the gruelling stage 14 of the Tour de France in the Pyrenees on Saturday as defending champion Tadej Pogacar extended his overall race lead. Double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, who had been third overall, pulled out of the race on the day's first climb, the daunting 2.180-meter altitude Tourmalet. As the disappointed Belgian Soudal Quick-Step rider left the race Arensman attacked on the third of four mountains on a colossal climb day while Slovenian Pogacar outsprinted Jonas Vingegaard for second just over a minute behind the winner. Crossing the line in the mist at 1840m altitude, Arensman flung himself to the ground exhausted after taking a first win on this Tour for British team Ineos. "After all that effort it was beautiful to win. "I was focussed on trying to get in the breakaway and luckily I had good legs today," Arensman said. The 25-year-old produced a virtuoso climb amidst suffocating packs of near hysterical fans who had waited all day for the peloton to pass. Behind him Pogacar fought off a string of attacks from his arch rival Vingegaard on a day the Slovenian never looked like attacking for the win. Winner of the past two stages Pogacar pounced for the line from 50 meters with his trademark kick gaining another six seconds on the Dane. Pogacar, overall race winner in 2020, 2021 and 2024, now leads Vingegaard by 4min 13sec with Florian Lipowitz moving into third place at 7min 53sec. Pogacar praised Arensman as "the strongest of the breakaway and strongest of the race". "That was one hell of a ride from him. You could only see 20m ahead," said the race leader. "I was quite scared racing down the Tourmalet, I was behind Arensman and he just disappeared into the fog," said Pogacar. Lipovitz rode on Pogacar's wheel until Dane Vingegaard, who won Tour titles in 2022 and 2023, had attacked late on. The 25-year-old Red Bull rider Lipowitz took the best young rider's white jersey and is a rising force in cycling, which he came to late after switching from the winter sport biathlon, a mixture of shooting and cross-country skiing. "When I came here I had no pretensions of taking the white jersey, so I'm really happy," said the quietly spoken 6ft 4in (1.93m) German. "The crowds were so encouraging, it makes you want to ride faster." Evenepoel's premature exit meanwhile came following Friday's stamina-sapping uphill time trial. "Today in the morning I could feel I was empty and on the climb the legs just weren't there," said Evenepoel, a fan favourite. "It's a pity, but you need to be 110 percent to win this race." Evenepoel had won the stage five time trial and but for a blunder on day 1 would likely have at least worn the yellow jersey at some stage of the first week. "It really sucks for the Tour to lose someone like him," Pogacar said. Ireland's Ben Healy, who did wear yellow for two days, climbed back up to ninth as the EF rider who arrived in the Pyrenees in the lead but suffered badly on the first climb, rode all day on stage 14 with the Pogacar clique. Frenchman Lenny Martinez led over the first three mountains and has the polka dot King of the Mountains jersey. After three days in the Pyrenees the riders next have a hilly stage 15 over 169.3km from Muret to the medieval fortified town of Carcassonne. © 2025 AFP
Irish Independent
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Tour de France stage 11 preview: How Ireland's Ben Healy can retain yellow jersey in Toulouse
Not many predicted Ireland's breakaway artist Ben Healy would own the famous yellow jersey on the first rest day of this Tour, but that's exactly what has unfolded after some tactical brilliance on Monday's stage 10 helped him gain more than three minutes on Tadej Pogacar to depose the reigning champion at the top of the GC standings, while Simon Yates won the stage itself. Not that Pogacar – who enjoyed coffees and a giant burger on Tuesday's rest day – plans on lending Healy the maillot jaune for long. 'We will see if Ben can hold on to the yellow jersey for a couple of stages,' Pogacar said. 'I think that he spent a lot of time in the breakaway already, so I hope he feels tired and we can fight again for the yellow in the next coming stages, maybe not [ stage 11 around Toulouse] but Hautacam and then the time trial [at Peyragudes] and Superbagneres – it's going to be three really nice climbing days.' That's all to come later in the week but Ireland's Healy has a strong chance to still be wearing yellow by the end of the day, as the Tour resumes in Toulouse with a 154km route to and from the city. The stage is officially categorised as 'flat' by race organisers, but it is hilly enough to scupper some of the sprinters' hopes if the pace is high, which it may well be – stage 9 was the second fastest stage ever recorded, and stage 10 never let up either. Each had their own unique set of circumstances driving the peloton's high pace, but there's every reason to suspect another breakaway will form early here on stage 11, with the sprinters' teams forced to give chase if they want to set up their rider. Tim Merlier (Soudal–Quick-Step), Kaden Groves (Alpecin–Deceuninck), Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Biniam Girmay (Intermarche–Wanty) and Arnaud de Lie (Lotto) will all be hoping for a bunch sprint to the line. But that is no foregone conclusion, with five categorised climbs to clear including four in the 50km, and power riders might be put off by the finale: a loop around the city with a few short, sharp climbs such as the Cote de Pech David (800m at 12.4%) with 9km to go. The final 6km is flat, so will we see the sprinters there for a showdown or will it be a puncheur breaking clear over the hills who steals the stage? Start time Stage 11 starts at 12.45pm BST with an expected finish time of around 4.10pm. Prediction This is a tricky stage to predict, with the sprinters' teams desperate for a calm day followed by a dash to the line, but facing the prospect of having to chase down a determined breakaway looking for the stage win themselves. It could even be a day for a solo artist to escape clear, just as Ben Healy so expertly triumphed on stage 6. I would like to go for something of a romantic option – Julian Alaphilippe is one of the greatest one-day riders of his generation but has not triumphed at the Tour de France since 2021. If he gets into a strong breakaway then he has the racing nous to time a decisive launch to the line. But more realistic is a rider with the legs to crest the hills and a sprint to outgun their rivals down the home straight. Jonathan Milan and Kaden Groves both have the firepower to do just that, but I fancy Wout van Aert to take an opportunistic win, either by getting himself in the breakaway or by taking a messy sprint.
Japan Today
13-07-2025
- Sport
- Japan Today
Merlier doubles up as Van der Poel denied epic win at Tour de France
cycling By Damian McCALL Tim Merlier won stage nine of the Tour de France at Chateauroux on Sunday after a heroic long-range escape from Mathieu van der Poel was caught in the final kilometer. There was no change atop the overall standings with Tadej Pogacar now holding a 54-second advantage over Remco Evenepoel in second with French starlet Kevin Vauquelin third. This was a second Tour win for Soudal Quick-Step sprinter Merlier this year, who was first across the line on stage three at Dunkirk. Merlier was led in by team leader Evenepoel. "It's mad, we are supposed to be helping him (Evenepoel) but he's helping us," Merlier said. "I need to make it through the mountains now, I won't be any use to Remco there, but I want to help him in the other ones," said the 32-year-old. On a sun drenched slog from the Chinon vineyards, Van der Poel and a teammate broke early and built up a lead of 5 minutes, 30 seconds on the flat roads to Chateauroux. Jonas Rickaert won the combativity award for accompanying Van der Poel to within 10km of the line before slumping over his handlebars. "I'm really happy. That was one of his (Rickaert) dreams, to win the combativity award and that's why we went," Van der Poel explained. "In the end we nearly made it but we hadn't expected to get that far," he said of his 173km breakaway at an average speed on 49.9kph. As with many heroic exploits, their epic escape was ultimately doomed to a gut wrenching narrow failure. But with his gung-ho all-in style Van der Poel grew his Tour de France legend here despite being caught with 700m to go, the plaudits will be both his and Merlier's. "It's hard to not be able to finish it off, but we put on a good show," said the Dutch rider. As Van der Poel was reeled in, it looked as though Jonathan Milan would win a second consecutive stage but Merlier got ahead with 30m remaining as Milan finished second with Arnaud De Lie completing the podium. Road signs in honor of British cycling great Mark Cavendish had been placed at entry points to Chateauroux -- reading Cavendish City -- in homage to the now-retired 40-year-old, after he won three stages there in 2008, 2011 and 2021. Pogacar's Tour de France defense took a hit Sunday as his key teammate Joao Almeida threw in the towel two days after his nasty fall at the Mur de Bretagne, where he fractured a rib. "It's a big loss he was in good shape. He's our hero. I was suffering today so I understand how he must have felt. Every respect to him," the Slovenian said. Stage 10 should shake up the race with eight classified climbs in the Massif Central on the July 14 French national holiday. After finishing in the peloton on Sunday, Pogacar was already looking ahead to Monday's mountainous 165.3km slog. "Visma have a strong team for tomorrow and I think Jonas (Vingegaard) will be ready," Pogacar said of his great Danish rival. "There will be attacks from the main contenders, it's up and down all day. "I'm pretty confident in my team though. I'm looking forward to the hard stages," added the 26-year-old three-time champion. © 2025 AFP
The 42
13-07-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Merlier wins stage nine of Tour de France after heroic escape from Van der Poel
TIM MERLIER WON stage nine of the Tour de France at Chateauroux on Sunday after a heroic long-range escape from Mathieu van der Poel was caught in the final kilometre. There was no change atop the overall standings with Tadej Pogacar now holding a 54-second advantage over Remco Evenepoel in second with French starlet Kevin Vauquelin third. Ireland's Ben Healy remains in 11th in the general classification after taking 45th place. Eddie Dunbar was forced to retire from the Tour de France yesterday after he was involved in a crash towards the end of Friday's stage. Advertisement This was a second win for Soudal Quick-Step sprinter Merlier who was first across the line on stage three at Dunkirk as he racked up a 12th stage win this year. On a sun drenched slog from the Chinon vineyards, Van der Poel and a teammate broke early and built up a lead of 5min 30sec on the flat roads to Chateauroux. Jonas Rickaert won the combativity award for accompanying Van der Poel to within 10km of the line before slumping over his handlebars. With his gung-ho all-in style Van der Poel grew his Tour de France legend here despite being caught with 700m to go, the plaudits will be both his and Merlier's. As Van der Poel was reeled in, it looked as though Jonathan Milan would win a second consecutive stage but Merlier got ahead with 50m remaining as Milan finished second with Arnaud De Lie completing the podium. Pogacar's Tour de France defence took a hit Sunday as his key teammate Joao Almeida threw in the towel two days after his nasty fall at the Mur de Bretagne, where he fractured a rib. Monday's stage 10 should shake up the race with eight classified climbs in the Massif Central on the July 14 French national holiday. Road signs in honour of British cycling great Mark Cavendish had been placed at entry points to Chateauroux — reading Cavendish City — in homage to the now-retired 40-year-old, after he won three stages there in 2008, 2011 and 2021. – © AFP 2025
