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Kuwait Times
14 hours ago
- Sport
- Kuwait Times
Pogacar takes 100th career win
Van der Poel keeps overall lead in thrilling Tour de France stage ROUEN, France: Tadej Pogacar blew past his rivals in an 'explosive' finish to take Tour de France stage four at Rouen on Tuesday and claim his 100th professional victory. 'That was really pure, classic Tour-de-France-style explosive,' said an elated Pogacar. The win did not quite bring him the overall lead. Dutch powerhouse Mathieu van der Poel finished second to keep the yellow jersey. Pogacar attacked on an incline to the line to finish just ahead of Van der Poel with Jonas Vingegaard third. It was the 26-year-old Slovenian's 18th Tour de France stage win as he seeks a fourth overall triumph on the Tour. 'There was big adrenalin and a big field of contenders,' Pogacar said. Fans were treated to another Pogacar-Vingegaard head-to-head duel as five hills made the final 40km a roller-coaster. Van der Poel also entered the fray and kept the overall lead he took from Alpecin teammate Jasper Philipsen, who quit the Tour injured after a nasty fall on Monday. 'Jasper needs to recover, and I hope he understands how hard I tried to win for him today,' Van der Poel said. On the day's final real climb, Pogacar dropped all his rivals with only Vingegaard offering a real fight. But the big Dutch rider and the slender Dane both came back at Pogacar, making him fight all the way to the line in a thunderous finale. The same trio top the overall standings, with Pogacar second and Vingegaard in third. Van der Poel took the overall lead on stage two but risks losing it on Wednesday's time trial. 'I should be happy to have the jersey again,' said Van der Poel. 'I was surrounded by climbers out there you know.' 'Tadej was stronger and it's as simple as that.' Plenty of falls Unlike the opening three stages, there was hardly a puff of wind and not a drop of rain, but there were still plenty of falls. There was also a knifing incident with a man at Rouen slightly injuring a police officer before himself being shot as he tried to escape. Neither the police officer nor the alleged culprit suffered life-threatening injuries. Stage five will shake up the overall standings with a 33km individual time trial around Caen. The stage is being billed as the day Remco Evenepoel will finally slip into the overall leader's yellow jersey. To do so the 25-year-old Belgian world and Olympic champion in the discipline will need to cover the course 59sec faster than Pogacar and Vingegaard. 'But tomorrow will be the big day, the real test of how good everyone is,' said Pogacar. 'Don't count Remco out,' he added. 'He's the best in the world and he'll be going full gas, like me.' The first mountains come as late as stage 10 over the volcanic landscape of the Puy de Dome, with two more colossal climbing days in the Pyrenees before the blockbuster final week in the Alps. — AFP
Gulf Today
a day ago
- Sport
- Gulf Today
Pogacar reaches 100th-career win mark with victory in fourth stage of Tour de France
Reigning champion Tadej Pogacar overtook race leader Mathieu van der Poel just before the line to win stage four of the Tour de France on Tuesday, and is now level at the top of the general classification after earning his 100th career victory. The 174.2km ride from Amiens to Rouen came down to a sprint finish between the top three in the overall standings, with the Slovenian world champion getting the better of the Dutchman, and Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike) coming in third. Pogacar, the world champion, tried to go it alone, and while Van der Poel retains the yellow jersey, the three-times Tour de France champion hit his milestone win, along with joining the Dutchman at the top of the leaderboard. 'To win at the Tour is incredible, in this jersey even more, and to have 100 victories is amazing,' Pogacar said. A breakaway group of four riders -- Lenny Martinez, Jonas Abrahamsen, Thomas Gachignard and Kasper Asgreen -- got away early but the peloton, led by Van der Poel's Alpecin-Deceuninck team, kept them well within reach. The action was always going to come in the closing 50km, with five categorised climbs packed into the finale, and Martinez was the last to be caught with 20km remaining, shortly after a crash had brought down several riders in the bunch. Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates took control at the front coming to the penultimate climb, before Visma-Lease a Bike took over, pushing hard on the descent, as anticipation grew for a late attack. When it came on the final climb, it was the expected break from Pogacar, but he was unable to shake off two-times champion Vingegaard, and the pair were joined by five other riders, including Van der Poel, to set up a high-stakes finish. Van der Poel went first, looking for his second stage win in three days, but Pogacar had the legs to overtake before the line, and made up the four seconds which separated the pair overall thanks to the stage win bonus. 'With so many good riders in the final, you're always a bit on the edge and nervous about what's going to happen,' Pogacar said. 'You never until the final, like today. You get this adrenaline. It's pure racing and I enjoy it.' Vingegaard and Pogacar have won the last five Tours between them, and the Dane remains third overall, eight seconds behind the leading pair. Meanwhile, Dutch cyclist Lorena Wiebes won the third stage of the women's Giro d'Italia on Tuesday, while Great Britain's Anna Henderson kept ahold of the overall leader's pink jersey. Wiebes of SD Worx sealed the 106th win of her career, completing the 122km run from Vezza d'Oglio to Trento in 2hrs 59mins 07secs. Briton Josie Nelson followed the 26-year-old in, with Belgian SD Worx rider Lotte Kopecky completing the podium. The stage, which began with an ascent up the Passo del Tonale, was marked by a massive crash due to the wet road surface less than 3km from the line, which cut the number of contenders for the sprint finish to just eight. 'Winning at the Giro d'Italia Women is always special, and this victory confirms how well the season is going,' said Wiebes. 'Lotte Kopecky and I were very lucky not to get caught in the crash, and then (team-mate) Barbara Guarischi did an exceptional job bringing us back to the front.' Stage two victor Henderson stayed top of the general classification by 13sec, although Switzerland's Marlen Reusser shaved 2sec off the Olympic time-trial silver medallist's advantage. Agencies
New Straits Times
a day ago
- Sport
- New Straits Times
'Big adrenalin' propels Pogacar to Tour stage and 100th career win
ROUEN, FRANCE: Tadej Pogacar blew past his rivals in an "explosive" finish to take Tour de France stage four at Rouen on Tuesday and claim his 100th professional victory. "That was really pure, classic Tour-de-France-style explosive," said an elated Pogacar. The win did not quite bring him the overall lead. Dutch powerhouse Mathieu van der Poel finished second to keep the yellow jersey. Pogacar attacked on an incline to the line to finish just ahead of Van der Poel with Jonas Vingegaard third. It was the 26-year-old Slovenian's 18th Tour de France stage win as he seeks a fourth overall triumph on the Tour. "There was big adrenalin and a big field of contenders," Pogacar said. Fans were treated to another Pogacar-Vingegaard head-to-head duel as five hills made the final 40km a roller-coaster. Van der Poel also entered the fray and kept the overall lead he took from Alpecin teammate Jasper Philipsen, who quit the Tour injured after a nasty fall on Monday. "Jasper needs to recover, and I hope he understands how hard I tried to win for him today," Van der Poel said. On the day's final real climb, Pogacar dropped all his rivals with only Vingegaard offering a real fight. But the big Dutch rider and the slender Dane both came back at Pogacar, making him fight all the way to the line in a thunderous finale. The same trio top the overall standings, with Pogacar second and Vingegaard in third. Van der Poel took the overall lead on stage two but risks losing it on Wednesday's time trial. "I should be happy to have the jersey again," said Van der Poel. "I was surrounded by climbers out there you know." "Tadej was stronger and it's as simple as that." Unlike the opening three stages, there was hardly a puff of wind and not a drop of rain, but there were still plenty of falls. There was also a knifing incident with a man at Rouen slightly injuring a police officer before himself being shot as he tried to escape. Neither the police officer nor the alleged culprit suffered life-threatening injuries. Stage five will shake up the overall standings with a 33km individual time trial around Caen. The stage is being billed as the day Remco Evenepoel will finally slip into the overall leader's yellow jersey. To do so the 25-year-old Belgian world and Olympic champion in the discipline will need to cover the course 59sec faster than Pogacar and Vingegaard. "Tomorrow (Wednesday) will be the big day, the real test of how good everyone is," said Pogacar. "Don't count Remco out," he added. "He's the best in the world and he'll be going full gas, like me." The man who designs the race, Thierry Gouvenou, predicted big time differences on the time trial. "It's flat and runs through exposed plains. This is a course designed for the specialists. You need to be aerodynamic and powerful," he said, which suggests it could suit Evenepoel in particular. "This is a red letter day for all the main contenders." Rarely lacking in confidence, Evenepoel was true to form. "I can put a minute into them all tomorrow," he said in Rouen after the fourth stage. The first mountains come as late as stage 10 over the volcanic landscape of the Puy de Dome, with two more colossal climbing days in the Pyrenees before the blockbuster final week in the Alps.
Boston Globe
a day ago
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Tadej Pogacar claims 100th career win, beating Mathieu van der Poel in Stage 4 sprint in Tour de France
The 26-year-old Slovenian star wore a cap with 100 written on it when he spoke after the stage. His long list of wins includes 18 stage wins at the Tour de France, the world road race, a multitude of one-day classics and other stage wins at races like the Giro d'Italia, the Paris-Nice and Critérium du Dauphiné. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'It was an amazing finale, a classic stage, the end was even more explosive than we thought,' he said. 'I'm very happy to have won the 100th victory [overall] of my career, here on the Tour de France wearing the world champion's jersey.' Advertisement Pogacar and Van der Poel have exactly the same overall time of 16 hours, 46 minutes after four stages, and count one stage win each, but Van der Poel kept the yellow jersey because of better finishing positions in the other two stages. 'I would liked to have won but Tadej was the strongest today. I am glad to keep the yellow jersey, but tomorrow will be hard,' Van der Poel said. 'I tried to launch my sprint but I just didn't have the legs.' Advertisement The 108-mile stage suited allrounders, starting from Amiens and ending with five consecutive small climbs to the Normandy city of Rouen. The first of the climbs — Côte Jacques Anquetil — bore the name of a five-time Tour champion. The Frenchman dominated cycling in the 1960s, when he also won the Giro d'Italia twice and the Spanish Vuelta. The peloton's pace picked up strongly heading into the last two climbs, with speeds reaching 37 mph. Pogacar attacked on the last climb up Rampe Saint-Hilaire and initially dropped archrival Jonas Vingegaard, but the two-time Tour winner responded well and caught up. As the frontrunners turned for home, Van der Poel was right behind and then launched a trademark attack, like he did to But this time roles were reversed as Pogacar claimed the 18th stage win of his Tour career. Vingegaard finished third. Riders enjoyed dry weather conditions after rain on Sunday and during Monday's French rider Bryan Coquard was shown a yellow card by the race jury for causing Philipsen's fall, meaning the Cofidis team rider will be excluded altogether if he gets another yellow. The sanction came despite Coquard not being at fault for the crash — Coquard was himself knocked off balance by another rider — and apologizing to Philipsen and his team. Advertisement 'It's an unjustified penalty, Bryan didn't make any mistake, it's an unfortunate racing incident,' Cofidis team manager Cédric Vasseur said. 'Otherwise we give yellow cards to riders involved in all the crashes accidentally, we give out 25 each stage and all go home after four days.' Stage 5 on Wednesday is a 20.5-mile time trial around the Normandy city of Caen, and the overall standings could be shaken up a bit. This year's race is held entirely in France, with no stages held abroad, and ends on July 27 in Paris.
Japan Today
a day ago
- Sport
- Japan Today
Pogacar claims 100th career win, beating Van der Poel in sprint on stage 4 of Tour de France
Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, right, celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the fourth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 172.2 kilometers in Rouen, France, on Tuesday. cycling By JEROME PUGMIRE Defending champion Tadej Pogačar secured the 100th professional victory of his stellar career in typically flamboyant style, beating Mathieu Van der Poel in a dash to the line to win the hilly fourth stage of the Tour de France on Tuesday. Van der Poel was the better sprinter of the two at the end of Sunday's second stage and looked set to clinch a second win in this year's race when he attacked about 200 meters from out and led. But the defending Tour champion somehow found another gear to surge past him at the line, then pumped his fists in celebration. The 26-year-old Slovenian star wore a cap with 100 written on it when he spoke after the stage. His long list of wins includes 18 stage wins at the Tour de France, the world road race, a multitude of one-day classics and other stage wins at races like the Giro d'Italia, the Paris-Nice and Critérium du Dauphiné. 'It was an amazing finale, a classic stage, the end was even more explosive than we thought,' he said. 'I'm very happy to have won the 100th victory (overall) of my career, here on the Tour de France wearing the world champion's jersey.' Pogačar and Van der Poel have exactly the same overall time of 16 hours, 46 minutes after four stages, and count one stage win each, but Van der Poel kept the yellow jersey because of better finishing positions in the other two stages. 'I would liked to have won but Tadej was the strongest today. I am glad to keep the yellow jersey, but tomorrow will be hard,' Van der Poel said. 'I tried to launch my sprint but I just didn't have the legs.' The 174-kilometer stage suited allrounders, starting from Amiens and ending with five consecutive small climbs to the Normandy city of Rouen. The first of the climbs — Côte Jacques Anquetil — bore the name of a five-time Tour champion. The Frenchman dominated cycling in the 1960s, when he also won the Giro d'Italia twice and the Spanish Vuelta. The peloton's pace picked up strongly heading into the last two climbs, with speeds reaching 60 kph (37 mph). Pogačar attacked on the last climb up Rampe Saint-Hilaire and initially dropped archrival Jonas Vingegaard, but the two-time Tour winner responded well and caught up. As the frontrunners turned for home, Van der Poel was right behind and then launched a trademark attack, like he did to win Stage 2 on Monday by outsprinting Pogačar. But this time roles were reversed as Pogačar claimed the 18th stage win of his Tour career. Vingegaard finished third. Riders enjoyed dry weather conditions after rain on Sunday and during Monday's crash-marred third stage — where Belgian cyclist Jasper Philipsen, the Stage 1 winner, retired from the race after breaking a collarbone in a heavy crash. He had successful surgery on Monday night. French rider Bryan Coquard was shown a yellow card by the race jury for causing Philipsen's fall, meaning the Cofidis team rider will be excluded altogether if he gets another yellow. The sanction came despite Coquard not being at fault for the crash — Coquard was himself knocked off balance by another rider — and apologizing to Philipsen and his team. 'It's an unjustified penalty, Bryan didn't make any mistake, it's an unfortunate racing incident,' Cofidis team manager Cédric Vasseur said. 'Otherwise we give yellow cards to riders involved in all the crashes accidentally, we give out 25 each stage and all go home after four days.' Stage 5 is a 33-kilometer (20.5-mile) time trial around the Normandy city of Caen, and the overall standings could be shaken up a bit. This year's race is held entirely in France, with no stages held abroad, and ends on July 27 in Paris. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
