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New York Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
The story of the 2025 Tour de France in 21 photographs
The Tour de France is made by its surroundings; a celebration of the nation's scenery as well as a celebration of elite bike-racing. We may one day remember this race as the midpoint of Tadej Pogačar's dominance, for Valentin Paret-Peintre's win on Mont Ventoux, but for many fans, their abiding memory will be the Tour as a slice of a French summer. These fragments and snapshots are powerful things — here, then, is the story of the race's 21 stages in pictures. Reduced bunch? Echelons played havoc on the Tour's first stage. Given the company, Philipsen had to win — he rolled right out to the right side of the road, beating last year's green jersey Biniam Girmay, and landing the considerable prize of the race's first yellow jersey. The start of stage two in Lauwin-Planque was a washout. The Tour is determined to visit smaller towns to keep its traditional rural heritage alive, but amid traffic chaos in the mud, the start had to be delayed. In many ways, the race is now outgrowing itself. There was a chicane and a curve in the final 500m of stage three in Dunkirk, with several directeur sportifs calling the finish unsafe. Emilien Jeanniere was vaulted into the crowd after being forced wide — he bravely rode on for another two days before abandoning. Jonas Vingegaard spent his offseason bulking up in a bid to match Pogačar's explosiveness. The ramps leading into Rouen were the first true test of that work — in matching Pogacar, the GC race suddenly felt alive. After taking two Olympic titles last summer, world champion Evenepoel, the 'aero bullet', is not averse to a little gold. Bike frame, computer, helmet — even the wheat fields of northern France complied with his wishes. The Belgian won the individual time trial again. It was the high point of a Tour he abandoned on stage 14. It felt as if Quinn Simmons spent more time in the breakaway than out of it. The American champion is one of the most visible riders in the peloton thanks to his stars and stripes jersey, flowing hair, and horseshoe moustache — he was recognised with the Super Teammate award at the end of the race. Every year is an opportunity for France to dream. This year's hero was Norman rider Kevin Vauquelin, who spent much of the race in the top five of the general classification. The future of his Arkea-B&B squad is under serious threat, but Vauquelin's riding brought attention to their plight. He finished the race in seventh. Going, going… There were limited opportunities for sprinters in this year's race — they were only granted chances on long transitional stages between different parts of France. In winning stage eight, eventual green jersey Milan became the first Italian to win a stage in 113 race days. Two men took on the might of the peloton — and almost succeeded. Jonas Rickaert vomited five times in his support of Van der Poel (thankfully not pictured), but their brave escape ended with capture just 750m from the line. Surprisingly, this flat stage was one of the best days' racing of the Tour. I spent this stage in the Massif Central riding within Cofidis' team car. It is a faintly terrifying experience, being flung around mountain passes far above the speed limit, the driver manoeuvring with one hand, handing gels out the window as he goes. Hitting the Circuit de Charade race track was a moment of calm — the run-off areas were sizable. This is what a first Grand Tour stage win means. Uno-X are not on the WorldTour, but they proved they could mix it with the big boys after Abrahamsen outsprinted Mauro Schmid in Toulouse. Tobias Halland Johannessen completed an impressive Tour for the Norwegian outfit by finishing sixth on GC. One man alone. In what amounted to the decisive stage of the race, Pogačar attacked at the base of the Hautacam, achieving almost instant separation from Vingegaard. Having lost time here in previous Tours, his focus meant he appeared almost unaware of the fevered atmosphere around him. Vingegaard spent the previous day with his face contorted in pain, but there was a forcefulness to his ride on stage 13's mountain time trial in Peyragudes. The Dane showed his true level in finishing second to Pogačar, delivering Evenepoel one of the toughest days of the Belgian's career, overcoming a two-minute deficit in the stage's final metres. Pogačar's attacks brought the sunshine to much of the Tour's first two weeks, but his exhaustion was visible by the end. Arensman stayed away from him twice — on stage 14 and stage 19 — to win a pair of mountain victories. Don't let your eyes deceive you. Julian Alaphilippe may have thought he had won the stage, but both Wellens and Victor Campenaerts were some distance up the road. Wout van Aert looks on in bemusement. The Frenchman had broken his radio and dislocated his shoulder in an earlier crash. France appeared doomed to a rare Tour without a home win — for Paret-Peintre to deliver it on the lunar summit of Mont Ventoux, arguably the most iconic climb in French cycling, provided a rousing coda to the race. The security services have been on high alert throughout the race — when an amateur rider attempted to cross the line himself shortly before the race arrived, he was taken down hard by officials as a potential safety concern. The man was later given an eight-month suspended prison sentence. Stage 18 was one of the biggest days of climbing in the Tour's history, but what goes up must come down. The descent from the Col du Glandon is steep, winding and irregular, with Visma Lease-a-Bike hitting it hard as they desperately tried to unsettle Pogačar. The cow stage. Stage 19 was shortened after a mass cull of a cattle herd affected by nodular dermatitis, and fears that the Tour caravan could spread the illness throughout France. It meant the final mountain stage was just 95km long, producing a strangely muted finale as the GC favourites watched each other and almost gave away the victory to Arensman. A sunlit ride towards Paris? Not a bit of it. The final days of the Tour brought storms, and only Groves survived them cleanly, avoiding a crash in the breakaway before separating himself from a group of far superior climbers on the road towards Pontarlier. A tactically perfect race from the Australian. The inclusion of Montmartre on the ceremonial 21st stage proved controversial, but after rain led to the GC battle being neutralised, Pogačar had the freedom to attack on the rainy cobbles himself. Van Aert won the day in a classic, but Montmartre may be here to stay.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Independent
How the new Tadej Pogacar used Tour de France to reach terrifying new heights for rivals
The defining image of this Tour de France may not be a rainbow-clad Tadej Pogacar celebrating his 100th career victory; nor Pogacar letting fly with 12km to go on Hautacam and storming up the mountain in yellow; nor Pogacar grinning as he essentially broke his rivals in the Pyrenean time trial. Instead, the defining moment of this year's Tour may be the waiting game he played on the road up Mont Ventoux. Climbing the legendary lunar landscape, pedalling smoothly, but hanging back. Up ahead, it was local boy Valentin Paret-Peintre who took a career-defining victory, raising his arms aloft, Ben Healy shaking his head in defeat in the background. (For the French, that is probably the defining moment.) Further down the mountain, Pogacar continued to pedal. He did not reel in the day's plucky breakaway, chasing down every moment of glory for himself, as many teams – and many observers – may have feared. Instead, he watched. Waited. And in the closing moments, he broke free of Jonas Vingegaard, his only, very remote challenger for yellow, and floated across the line alone. This Tour de France has seen a newer, more complete version of Tadej Pogacar, the 2.0 model of the world's best bike rider. Refined, given a few tweaks and upgrades. It has made him a more terrifying prospect than ever. Pogacar now has four Tour de France titles, each won in a different style. The first, in 2020, was almost a surprise, having shadowed Primoz Roglic for the whole race before seizing the crown in the final time trial. His second title, the following year, was a show of strength: he led from day eight and won three stages, including two summit finishes. Then followed two years of humiliation at the hands of Vingegaard. In 2022 he won three stages to the Dane's two; it wasn't enough. In 2023 he was on the back foot from the start, nursing a wrist fracture from Liege-Bastogne-Liege, but attacked the race with the same exuberance as if he had been box-fresh. It proved his downfall, as Vingegaard utilised his team strength and canny, calculating racer's mind to overwhelm Pogacar, letting him exhaust himself with attacks before quietly, mercilessly, turning the screw. 2024 was back to normal for Pogacar: his third overall win was a display of total domination, hoovering up six stage wins in the process. But the lessons from his two years of abject defeat no doubt stayed in his mind. They have contributed to his newer, sharper, all-conquering form. Now he is not just the world's best bike rider: he is the world's best racer. His dominance this year is unprecedented in the modern era. Only 12 riders have finished within one hour of the yellow jersey. That hasn't happened since 1969, when Eddy Merckx won his first Tour. Evidently, Pogacar still loves to win: UAE Team Emirates-XRG orchestrated Tim Wellens taking custody of the king of the mountains jersey ahead of stage four, just so the Slovenian could take his 100th career win in the world champion's rainbow stripes, rather than polka dots. He picked up two wins on the Classics-style punchy terrain of the first week, both times against his biggest rivals: Mathieu van der Poel and Vingegaard. It was clearly important to him that he not just stamp his authority on the race on Hautacam, but to take victory on one of the Tour's most infamous summits too. But whereas previous incarnations of Pogacar would simply have kept winning, from then on, the 26-year-old held something back. On Mont Ventoux he was content to match Vingegaard's attacks, withstanding the temptation to put his rival in his place, and only accelerated at the very summit. It seems unlikely this was driven by any sympathy for his fellow riders; he said during this Tour that he isn't here to make friends. He did the same on Col de la Loze, making his point with a vicious kick inside the final few hundred metres, rather than attacking from the foot of the climb. Perhaps part of that is because he views the Courchevel side of the climb as beneath him: 'This side of the Col de la Loze is much easier, but the other side I want to return [to] for a victory.' But he also said, 'I wanted the win, but [defending] the yellow jersey is a priority.' He backed that up on stage 20: UAE rode as if they wanted to win it, but he did not chase down Thymen Arensman in the final kilometres, allowing himself to be towed along by Florian Lipowitz as the German rode for his own GC ambitions. He has spared energy, riding conservatively and defensively, racing within his means. In short, he has raced in the same manner Vingegaard did when he schooled his rival in the 2022 and 2023 Tours. One of the most fascinating developments of this year's Tour has been seeing just how much the world's two best riders have taken from each other, as they both aim to plug the holes in their armour. It was noticeable in the first week how much better Vingegaard has become on punchy climbs, the sort of terrain where he has never previously been able to match Pogacar's unparalleled explosive kick. And over the last couple of seasons, Pogacar has made himself sharper at high altitude, on the hour-long, brutal Alpine climbs where Vingegaard has always felt most comfortable. Vingegaard demolished Pogacar in 2023's climbing time trial, from Passy to Combloux; Pogacar turned the tables this year. Every adaptation has served both riders well – but it has also highlighted how unbridgeable the gulf was for Vingegaard this year. The pair are, in theory, closer than ever, with neither carrying injuries and both in their physical prime. Vingegaard certainly looked closer to Pogacar in the Alps than the Pyrenees, but he hasn't gained any time on the Slovenian, barring bonus seconds, in the last two Tours. His only time gain on this Tour was two seconds on the line on stage 19. So Pogacar celebrates a fourth victory, and can finally go back to doing 'nice stuff with his life'. Where next for the modern-day Cannibal? He has won nearly everything there is to win; he has got Vingegaard's number. But he has also cut a jaded figure: it does not feel merely coincidental that Pogacar has seemed fed up throughout much of this Tour, especially since he began to ride in defence of yellow. 'This is the point where I ask myself: 'Why am I still here?' It's so long these three weeks,' he said after the queen stage. The idea of the Tour without the world's best rider seems inconceivable; UAE are hardly likely to let their star skip it. But what does the future look like for Pogacar? Will he go back to his marauding, stage-hunting pomp, hunting down Mark Cavendish's record 35? Will he target ever more outlandish milestones – maybe the unprecedented Giro-Tour-Vuelta treble? He has drawn level with Chris Froome on four Tour de France victories: could he go one clear of the current record of five, shared by Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain and Jacques Anquetil? For the peloton, Pogacar 2.0 may be a more merciful figure, refraining from winning everything in sight in search of greater goals. But he is ever more powerful – and the only question remaining is, how far will he go?
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
France's long wait for Tour winner goes on but Thevenet sees hope
After a superb Tour de France raced entirely on French soil, there is plenty for the host nation to cheer about but the absence of a French winner remains a national sore point. It is 40 years since Bernard Hinault won the last of his five Tours de France. Since then the host nation has waited -- not always patiently -- for a successor. But this year has produced some cheer for the home fans as they look ahead. It's true that none of the five French teams on the roster landed either a stage win or a place on the final podium but Valentin Paret-Peintre produced some heroics to grab a memorable stage win on Mont Ventoux. On top of that, Kevin Vauquelin and Jordan Jegat both finished in the top 10, while Vauquelin and Lenny Martinez, just 22, wore the white and polka dot jerseys -- for best under-26 rider and best climber respectively -- for spells. It doesn't hide the lack of a winner but it was enough to make former French champion Bernard Thevenet guardedly positive about future home ambitions. Thevenet, who won the world's greatest bike race in 1975 and 1977, told AFP during this year's contest -- won superbly by the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar for the fourth time -- that the emerging riders were about to join the top table. "We have good riders in France, obviously not as superb as Tadej Pogacar but this happens," Thevenet said. "We really thought Lenny Martinez might get the king of the mountains jersey, he gave us a bit of hope. But he couldn't take it all the way," the 77-year-old said, a day after Pogacar took it off the French youngster. He also spoke of his joy at Paret-Peintre winning on Mont Ventoux. "It was great to see him emerge like that, how he pulled that win off. He did well," said Thevenet. Paret-Peintre himself said he had learned a winning mentality by joining a Belgian team. "Belgium is more about classics than Grand Tours, so I learned this do-or-die attitude and it made the difference," he said. - Young hope - Thevenet cautioned however that the young French riders on the Tour this year will not be the ones who deliver France from its 40-year wait for a winner. "The new generation are not on the same level as Romain Bardet or Thibaut Pinot," he said of two recently retired climbers who had the misfortune to be riding at the same time as four-time winner Chris Froome. "And It will be a while before we get a win or someone on the podium," he said. Thevenet, however, has seen two riders who he believes may be the ones to end the French famine. "Paul Seixas is 18, he isn't here on the Tour but he will be. And within five years he'll be on the podium," he said. "There's also a great up-and-coming sprinter, Paul Magnier, and you can see him winning stages when he rides the Tour." While Hinault's victory in 1985 was the last time France had a Tour winner, La Vie Claire were the last French team to win when American rider Greg LeMond secured his first title in 1986 -- with his teammate Hinault in second. After 112 editions of the world's greatest bike race, France has garnered 36 overall wins from 21 cyclists, and remain top of the heap in that respect. Thevenet said French teams have a problem with financing, taxes and other reasons and cannot compete directly with Pogacar's state-funded Team UAE. But French outfit Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale have attracted a new partnership with a shipping company, which will give them a far bigger budget. "This should level the playing field a bit," said Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme. Thevenet's great French hope Seixas is on Decathlon's books and they are priming themselves for a tilt at the top. "Our goal is to enter the top five and then the top three worldwide and to win the Tour de France by 2030," said team boss Dominique Serieys. dmc/nr/bsp/gj
France 24
3 days ago
- Sport
- France 24
France's long wait for Tour winner goes on but Thevenet sees hope
It is 40 years since Bernard Hinault won the last of his five Tours de France. Since then the host nation has waited -- not always patiently -- for a successor. But this year has produced some cheer for the home fans as they look ahead. It's true that none of the five French teams on the roster landed either a stage win or a place on the final podium but Valentin Paret-Peintre produced some heroics to grab a memorable stage win on Mont Ventoux. On top of that, Kevin Vauquelin and Jordan Jegat both finished in the top 10, while Vauquelin and Lenny Martinez, just 22, wore the white and polka dot jerseys -- for best under-26 rider and best climber respectively -- for spells. It doesn't hide the lack of a winner but it was enough to make former French champion Bernard Thevenet guardedly positive about future home ambitions. Thevenet, who won the world's greatest bike race in 1975 and 1977, told AFP during this year's contest -- won superbly by the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar for the fourth time -- that the emerging riders were about to join the top table. "We have good riders in France, obviously not as superb as Tadej Pogacar but this happens," Thevenet said. "We really thought Lenny Martinez might get the king of the mountains jersey, he gave us a bit of hope. But he couldn't take it all the way," the 77-year-old said, a day after Pogacar took it off the French youngster. He also spoke of his joy at Paret-Peintre winning on Mont Ventoux. "It was great to see him emerge like that, how he pulled that win off. He did well," said Thevenet. Paret-Peintre himself said he had learned a winning mentality by joining a Belgian team. "Belgium is more about classics than Grand Tours, so I learned this do-or-die attitude and it made the difference," he said. Young hope Thevenet cautioned however that the young French riders on the Tour this year will not be the ones who deliver France from its 40-year wait for a winner. "The new generation are not on the same level as Romain Bardet or Thibaut Pinot," he said of two recently retired climbers who had the misfortune to be riding at the same time as four-time winner Chris Froome. "And It will be a while before we get a win or someone on the podium," he said. Thevenet, however, has seen two riders who he believes may be the ones to end the French famine. "Paul Seixas is 18, he isn't here on the Tour but he will be. And within five years he'll be on the podium," he said. "There's also a great up-and-coming sprinter, Paul Magnier, and you can see him winning stages when he rides the Tour." While Hinault's victory in 1985 was the last time France had a Tour winner, La Vie Claire were the last French team to win when American rider Greg LeMond secured his first title in 1986 -- with his teammate Hinault in second. After 112 editions of the world's greatest bike race, France has garnered 36 overall wins from 21 cyclists, and remain top of the heap in that respect. Thevenet said French teams have a problem with financing, taxes and other reasons and cannot compete directly with Pogacar's state-funded Team UAE. But French outfit Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale have attracted a new partnership with a shipping company, which will give them a far bigger budget. "This should level the playing field a bit," said Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme. Thevenet's great French hope Seixas is on Decathlon's books and they are priming themselves for a tilt at the top. "Our goal is to enter the top five and then the top three worldwide and to win the Tour de France by 2030," said team boss Dominique Serieys.
The Independent
23-07-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Tour de France 2025 live: Sprinters face battle to control stage 17 as race heads for the Alps
The Tour de France continues with what is sure to be another frenetic, fast-paced stage as the race transitions away from Provence to the high Alps, with the sprinters eyeing victory on this 160km run from Bollene to Valence. Stage 16 more than delivered on drama as Valentin Paret-Peintre ended the drought of stage wins for the home nation with a victory in a thrilling two-up sprint atop the legendary Mont Ventoux, getting the better of Ireland's Ben Healy. Paret-Peintre's victory - just his third at WorldTour level - marked his maiden Tour de France win and ensured the yellow jersey of Tadej Pogacar and his rival Jonas Vingegaard were denied glory on one of the Tour's most legendary climbs. The pair were locked together all the way up the climb before Pogacar dropped the Dane in the closing metres, while Vingegaard's frustration was compounded by a crash with a wayward photograph in the finish area. Good morning Bonjour et bienvenue to stage 17 of the Tour de France! Today's stage is a classic transitional stage as we head out of Provence and towards the high Alps - but with plenty of teams still sans a stage win, this could come down to the expected sprint, or a breakaway could bag a surprise victory. Flo Clifford23 July 2025 11:00
