Latest news with #vanderPoel
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Ben Healy claims Tour de France's sixth stage; Mathieu van der Poel regains yellow jersey
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Ben Healy rejoicing at the finish line to win the sixth stage of the Tour de France. – Ireland's Ben Healy won Stage 6 of the Tour de France in Normandy on July 10 with a long solo break, as Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel reclaimed the overall leader's yellow jersey by one second. Sixth at the start of the day, van der Poel climbed above overnight leader Tadej Pogacar to retake the race lead. Healy, 24, became the first Irish stage winner since Sam Bennett on the Champs-Elysees in 2020. American champion Quinn Simmons came second, and Michael Storer put Team Tudor on the Tour podium for the first time in third. Healy said: 'It's really what I've worked all for – not just this year, but the whole time. It's really incredible, and hours and hours of hard work from so many people, so to pay them back today is really, really amazing.' Healy and van der Poel were part of a nine-man mid-race escape. The Irishman broke solo, knowing that if he waited for the final ascent, he had little chance of beating the proven climbing experts. He made his move on a flat section, 32km out. As he accelerated, the eight others dithered as the distance widened. 'I knew I needed to get away from the group and pick my moment,' Healy added. 'And I think I timed it well and hopefully caught them by surprise a little bit. 'But I knew what I had to do: Just head down and do my best ride to the finish.' For Pogacar, allowing the Dutch powerhouse to sneak into the escape meant he got rid of the overall lead and relieved himself of media duties and the draining hullabaloo that comes with wearing the yellow jersey. Once Healy had broken away, even van der Poel sat up, saving energy, possibly for the run to the Mur de Bretagne on July 11. Stage 6 was intense from the off over a series of hills between Bayeux and Vire, with the peloton putting the hammer down at 47kmh average over the first three hours. AFP
Straits Times
4 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Tadej Pogacar beats Mathieu van der Poel to win Tour de France's Stage 4 in 100th career victory
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox – Reigning champion Tadej Pogacar overtook race leader Mathieu van der Poel just before the line to win Stage 4 of the Tour de France on July 8, 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 van der Poel, and Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard coming in third. Pogacar, chasing his fourth Tour overall title, said: 'I think today I hope everyone was on the limit. 'I'm super happy and proud of the team today. To win at the Tour is incredible, in this jersey even more, and to have a hundred victories is amazing. 'With so many good riders in such a final, you're always a bit on the edge and nervous about what will happen. 'In the end, you have this adrenaline with this pure racing and I enjoy it. We will see tomorrow (with the time trial), which is the real test.' 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. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore NDP celebrations to be held at 5 heartland sites, including Bishan and Punggol, on Aug 10 Singapore Keep citizens at the centre of public service, Chan Chun Sing tells civil servants Singapore Man arrested for allegedly throwing bottle at SMRT bus, injuring passenger Asia As Trump plays tariffs hard ball, Asean has little choice but to play on Asia PM Anwar called out by his own lawmakers as Malaysia's judicial crisis heats up Singapore SIA flight from Brisbane to Singapore diverted to Perth due to technical issue Sport Speeding likely cause of Diogo Jota car crash: Police Business Great Eastern could resume trading after delisting vote fails to pass; OCBC's exit offer lapses 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 Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike team 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-time 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. Stage 5 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 33km course almost a minute faster that Pogacar and Vingegaard. REUTERS, AFP
Straits Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Belgian Merlier wins crash-marred Tour de France stage
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Soudal Quick-Step team's Belgian rider Tim Merlier cycles to the finish line to win the 3rd stage of the Tour de France on July 7. – Belgian Tim Merlier pipped Italian Jonathan Milan right at the line to win Stage 3 of the Tour de France at Dunkirk on July 7, as Mathieu van der Poel retained the race lead. The stage was marred by a series of falls but the two favourites for the title, Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, finished safely in the main pack and remain in second and third place overall behind van der Poel. Said Merlier: 'It was a really hard battle. It was difficult to be in position. I lost (teammate) Bert (van Lerberghe) before the last corner. 'The team did an incredible job until the last five but then the real chaos started and it was really difficult to find position. I lost Bert and then in the last 2km I fought back to come in position. I was in the wind all the time. 'With 500m to go, I found a bit of slipstream. I know that it's always difficult to beat Milan, but I'm happy I can take my second win in the Tour de France. I wasn't sure. I put my hands in the air, I wasn't sure any more.' The flat 178km run from Valenciennes along the Belgian border was marked above all by a nasty fall that caused Jasper Philipsen to quit with severe grazing and a suspected fracture. Said van der Poel of his teammate Philipsen, who won Stage 1 as well as the sprinters' green jersey in 2023: 'It's really sad that we lose him today and for the rest of the tour. We had a plan to go for the green jersey with him. It's not a happy day today. It was difficult to refocus today.' Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Eligible S'poreans to get up to $850 in GSTV cash, up to $450 in MediSave top-ups in August Singapore Four golf courses to close by 2035, leaving Singapore with 12 courses Singapore Singapore's second mufti Sheikh Syed Isa Semait dies at age 87 Singapore Fewer marriages in Singapore in 2024; greater marital stability for recent unions Singapore Competition watchdog gives SIA, Malaysia Airlines conditional approval to continue cooperation Singapore About 20 delivery riders meet Pritam Singh to discuss platform worker issues Business OCBC sets loan target of $5b and covers more territories in boost for serial entrepreneurs Singapore Reform Party to leave opposition group People's Alliance for Reform; two parties remain There were three more falls, including two nasty looking ones in the finale with Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel involved. Another Belgian national champion Tim Wellens gave cross-border fans more to cheer about as he won the day's only climb, the 2.3km ascent of Mont Cassel at 31km from the finish line. The 34-year-old will now hold the king of the mountains polka dot jersey overnight. Regional police said one million spectators had lined the roadsides on the opening day, while rain dissuaded that kind of turnout for Stage 2, huge crowds turned out again for the run to Dunkirk. The 11 bikes stolen from outside the Cofidis team hotel early on July 6 were all found before the stage's end – five of them were recovered abandoned in a forest early the next day with the others being tracked down by the police later in the day. The fourth stage on July 8 is a 174km run from Amiens, as the Tour leaves the northern region, to Rouen in Normandy, with five hills in the final 25km designed to spark a series of race-splitting attacks. The first section of the Tour is raced through the north and west of France. The volcanic landscape of the Puy de Dome presents the first mountains as late as Stage 10, with two more colossal climb days in the Pyrenees before the blockbuster final week in the Alps. AFP
Straits Times
6 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Mathieu van der Poel wins second stage of Tour de France
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Alpecin-Deceuninck's Mathieu van der Poel punching the air in delight after winning stage 2 of Tour de France on July 6. – Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel won Stage 2 of the Tour de France ahead of Slovenian Tadej Pogacar in a sprint finish at Boulogne-sur-Mer on July 6. After triumphing in a tense uphill finale, van der Poel, 30, took the lead in the overall standings. In the process, he also deprived Pogacar of his 100th career win as around 30 riders broke away in the final 2km. 'It was super difficult, the final was actually harder than I thought,' van der Poel said as he celebrated his team's second stage win in as many days after taking the yellow jersey from Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Jasper Philipsen, who won the first stage. 'I was really motivated. It's been three or four years since I last won a stage (2021), so it was about time I got another one. 'People said I was a favourite for today, but if you see which riders were up there on the climbs, I think I did a really good job to be there.' A large leading group stayed together for much of the stage which boiled up into a mass sprint for the line, with van der Poel edging out Pogacar in a photo finish while Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard took third place and seemed at ease as he crossed the finish line. Frenchman Romain Gregoire was fourth and his compatriot Julian Alaphilippe fifth. Due to adverse weather conditions that caused logistical issues, the start of the stage was delayed by about 15 minutes. The race got going as Pogacar and Vingegaard tested each other over the final 20km with three short, sharp climbs on narrow roads. That struggle blew up a peloton that had been largely sedate until then. Heavy rain left giant puddles at the tiny start town of Lauwin-Planque as the 182 riders set off on the 209km run towards the coastal port. Regional police estimated that one million spectators had lined the roadsides on the opening day of action, but the rain dissuaded that kind of turnout on July 6. The third stage on July 8 is a 178km flat run to Dunkirk, where a mass bunch sprint is expected unless the peloton gets splintered by winds as it did in the first stage. Earlier on July 6, Team Cofidis said they had 11 bikes stolen from their truck overnight before the start of the second stage. The team, based near Lille, were able to find enough bikes to start Stage 2, but they condemned the burglary. Each bike is estimated by the team to have cost €13,000 (S$19,500). 'The door of the workshop truck was forced open, and 11 of our Look Cycle bikes were stolen despite the security measures that had been put in place,' the team said in a statement. 'The Cofidis team strongly condemns this act of incivility and calls on the perpetrators to act with civility and responsibility.' The team added that police officers visited the hotel to document the burglary and had begun their investigation. REUTERS, AFP
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Yahoo
'I was so stupid': Apology from man who threw bottle at van der Poel
'I was so stupid': Apology from man who threw bottle at van der Poel Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Deceuninck celebrates his victory after crossing the finish line of the men's 259.20 km of the Paris–Roubaix cycling race. Francois Lo Presti/AFP/dpa The man who threw a platic bottle in the face of eventual winner Mathieu van der Poel during Sunday's Paris-Roubaix cycling race has expressed regret about his behaviour. "I was so stupid," Belgian paper Het Laatste Nieuws on Wednesday quoted the man as saying through his lawyer. Advertisement "I picked it [the bottle] up and without thinking threw it when he passed. After half a second it become clear to me how dangerous and stupid that was. I felt bad for days." The man is also said to have apologised to van der Poel and his team in a letter. The spectator threw the full bottle at Dutchman van der Poel some 33 kilometres before the finish. The incident was filmed by others and also visible in the TV broadcast of the race. The suspect reported to the police later in the day. Prosecutors in Lille have opened a probe after van der Poel's team filed a criminal complaint. Van der Poel was not hurt but sharply condemned the incident after the race. Advertisement "We can't let this happen," he said. "I hope the suspect is found. He should appear in court because this was attempted manslaughter." Van der Poel has been the targets of attacks from spectators before. Last year a woman threw a cap at his bike, he has been doused with beer and spat at. It is believed that his long-standing rivalry with Belgian rider Wout van Aert could be a reason for the incidents.
