Cycling-Pogacar loses key teammate Almeida in Tour de France blow
CHATEAUROUX, France (Reuters) -Tadej Pogacar's Tour de France hopes suffered a blow on Sunday as the Slovenian's key domestique Joao Almeida withdrew following a crash on Friday.
Almeida, 26, who finished fourth in the general classification last year, abandoned after 89km of stage nine, two days after fracturing a rib in a spectacular high-speed crash.
The Portuguese rider had come into the race in brilliant form having won the Tour de Suisse, the Tour of the Basque Country and the Tour de Romandie earlier this year.
"We are really sad that we lost Joao (Almeida) today," Pogacar told reporters on Sunday. "I think it was just too much. I was suffering today on the bike... I cannot imagine him with all the pain, it must be really, really painful."
"It's a really big loss. Joao was in a super great shape."
Three-time Tour champion Pogacar lamented his teammate's withdrawal a day before the race enters the Massif Central with 4,450 metres of climbing awaiting the peloton on Monday.
"It was a luxury to have him in the GC (general classification), he could also do a great result for himself here in the Tour," Pogacar said.
"For sure, he would be a big help on the mountains. Now we have to reassess a little bit. We will try to win this Tour for Joao."
World champion Pogacar can still count on the support of some good climbers including Adam Yates, who claimed third overall in 2023, Marc Soler and Pavel Sivakov.
(Reporting by Vincent DaheronEditing by Toby Davis)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
33 minutes ago
- The Star
Golf-Schauffele starting with blank canvas for Open defence
Golf - The 153rd Open Championship - Royal Portrush Golf Club, Portrush, Northern Ireland, Britain - July 14, 2025 Xander Schauffele of the U.S REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland (Reuters) -Xander Schauffele is super-excited at the prospect of trying to defend his British Open title at Royal Portrush this week but says he will have to come up with a different plan to the one that took him to victory 12 months ago. "I think a blank canvas is a great place to start. You can paint many different pictures to win a tournament. You've just got to do the right one," the American told reporters on the County Antrim coast on Tuesday after practice. The 31-year-old produced a blemish-free final-round of 65 at Royal Troon last year to win his second major title to go along with his gold medal from the Tokyo Olympics. He was the third American in four years to win golf's oldest major but while that experience will hold him in good stead for the days ahead, he said Portrush's Dunluce Links will throw up a completely new test of his renowned links golf skills. "It's an interesting thing just because my thoughts of playing really well were at Royal Troon," he said. "Coming here, I feel like I'm trying to re-learn this golf course, get comfortable with certain sight lines, some blind tee shots. If I can get myself in the mix, that's when I think I would have an advantage. That's where my biggest edge would be. "I can lean on experience at other points in time, but I think the most fun and the biggest advantage I would have is coming down the stretch if I can get close to that lead." With the perils of a links course's sloping greens, cavernous bunkers, knee-deep rough and the wild weather associated with Britain's coast, it is hardly surprising that defending the title is treacherous. The last player to do so was Ireland's Padraig Harrington in 2008 and Schauffele knows the luck of the draw and getting lucky with the weather could be vital this week. "This week is a pretty good example of having to deal with a wave. There's typically a good wave and a bad wave in an Open Championship," he said. "You just keep your fingers crossed that you're in the good wave and try and play well. "If you're not, fight for your life and make the cut and then try and do something on the weekend." For a player who grew up in San Diego, it might be surprising how he has embraced the challenge of links golf. But he said 16-hour trips in the car with his dad as a youngster helped him learn to be creative. "We drove up to Bandon Dunes from San Diego. It took about 16 hours. I was 13 years old," he said. "We played three or four days in a row. I think it was just Pacific Dunes and Bandon Dunes at the time. We got the real weather. My rain gear stopped working. It was that much wind and rain. "I had a blast. As much as it was nice to look forward to a hot shower at the end of the day, I had so much fun for some reason trying to figure out how to play golf in that weather." With wind and rain expected to batter Portrush at times over the next five days, he will draw on those experiences again. (Reporting by Martyn HermanEditing by Toby Davis)
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Soccer-Giugliano credits new energy for Italy's Euro 2025 run
Soccer Football - UEFA Women's Euro 2025 - Group B - Belgium v Italy - Stade de Tourbillon, Sion, Switzerland - July 3, 2025 Italy's Manuela Giugliano during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw/File Photo GENEVA (Reuters) -Italy are back in the knockout rounds of the Women's European Championship for the first time in 12 years, and midfielder Manuela Giugliano chalked it up to an energy in the team that she had not felt before. Le Azzurre face Norway on Wednesday in Geneva in the first quarter-final of Euro 2025 and they are in for a stiff challenge against a Norwegian side that cruised into the knockouts after winning all three of their group-stage games. Italy won just one of theirs. That could not erase the smile from Giugliano's face on Tuesday, as she told reporters the team's confidence was high. "I've been feeling this since the first day, we had a retreat, we tried to create a positive energy, an energy that I could not feel in the past," the 27-year-old told a press conference. "This is an additional weapon for this group, and you bring this weapon on the pitch, it allows you to run more. And so this is the motivation and awareness we have today. Our group is a beautiful group, is a positive group, and we're all united to achieve the same goal." The Italians were once regular contenders at European Championships, finishing no worse than fourth in six of the first seven editions of Europe's elite women's tournament. Since 2001 however, they have only advanced out of the group stage in two of their six appearances, and not since 2013. Coach Andrea Soncin said he had received numerous congratulatory messages about how the team has looked in Switzerland, and agreed with Giugliano that the squad's chemistry has made a difference. "There is the emotional aspect, that magic that they and us and we manage together, with all the staff managed to create," said Soncin, who shed tears of joy when Italy booked their knockout round berth. "When all the elements combine, there is a magical moment." (Reporting by Lori Ewing in Oberentfelden, Switzerland;Editing by Toby Davis)
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Tennis-Britain's Moore handed four-year ban after CAS upholds ITIA appeal
FILE PHOTO: Tennis - Nottingham Open - Nottingham Tennis Centre, Nottingham, Britain - June 9, 2021 Britain's Tara Moore in action during her round of 32 match against Britain's Heather Watson Action Images via Reuters/Molly Darlington/File Photo (Reuters) -Britain's Tara Moore, who was previously cleared of an anti-doping rule violation, was handed a four-year ban on Tuesday after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld an appeal filed by the International Tennis Integrity Agency. Moore, Britain's former number one-ranked doubles player, was provisionally suspended in June 2022 due to the presence of prohibited anabolic steroids Nandrolone and boldenone. Moore said she had never knowingly taken a banned substance in her career and an independent tribunal determined that contaminated meat consumed by her in the days before sample collection was the source of the prohibited substance. Moore lost 19 months in the process before she was cleared of the ADRV but CAS upheld the ITIA's appeal against the first instance "No Fault or Negligence" ruling with respect to nandrolone. "After reviewing the scientific and legal evidence, the majority of the CAS Panel considered that the player did not succeed in proving that the concentration of nandrolone in her sample was consistent with the ingestion of contaminated meat," CAS said in a statement. "The panel concluded that Ms Moore failed to establish that the ADRV was not intentional. The appeal by the ITIA is therefore upheld and the decision rendered by the Independent Tribunal is set aside." Moore had previously said how she saw her reputation, ranking and livelihood "slowly trickling away" for 19 months during her initial suspension. The 32-year-old had also filed a cross-appeal at CAS "seeking to dismiss the ITIA appeal, dismiss the nandrolone result in the ADRV or alternatively confirm that she bears no fault or negligence". However, CAS said the cross-appeal was declared inadmissible and her four-year period of ineligibility would start from July 15, with credit for any provisional suspension that has already been served. "Our bar for appealing a first instance decision is high, and the decision is not taken lightly," ITIA CEO Karen Moorhouse said in a statement. "In this case, our independent scientific advice was that the player did not adequately explain the high level of nandrolone present in their sample. Today's ruling is consistent with this position." (Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru;Editing by Toby Davis)
