Pogacar retakes Tour de France lead
cycling
Tadej Pogacar won stage 7 of the Tour de France on Friday to retake the overall lead with a trademark swoop up the short, steep slope of the Mur de Bretagne.
Visma's Jonas Vingegaard was second, right on Pogacar's wheel at the line with Briton Oscar Onley third after a late nine-rider pile up marred the finale.
Pogacar, the defending champion, gained four sec on Vingegaard with ten bonus seconds to the Dane's six.
In the overall standings, Remco Evenepoel is second overall 54 seconds off first as he came sixth on the day, two seconds adrift.
French starlet Kevin Vauquelin continues his bright run in third at 1min 11sec while two time champion Vingegaard is fourth at 1min 17.
The overnight leader Mathieu van der Poel rounds out the top five at 1min 29sec after wilting on the final climb, scene of his 2021 coming of age win and his first yellow jersey.
The day's action revolved around two ascents of the Mur de Bretagne, a 2km climb at an average of 6 precent, that has been written into Tour de France folklore.
With the Tour returning to Brittany after a four years gap, huge festive crowds packed the villages and pretty country lanes as the temperature hit 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).
The 179 remaining riders left Saint Malo on the north-west coast passing the magnificent Sillon beach with its granite sea-wall and chic sea-front buildings.
Fewer of them will take the start line for Saturday's flat run to Laval, with doubts over key Pogacar teammate Joao Almeida and the Colombian Santiago Buitrago.
© 2025 AFP
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Japan Today
17 hours ago
- Japan Today
Pogacar retakes Tour de France lead
Tadej Pogacar will be back in yellow after a one day break cycling Tadej Pogacar won stage 7 of the Tour de France on Friday to retake the overall lead with a trademark swoop up the short, steep slope of the Mur de Bretagne. Visma's Jonas Vingegaard was second, right on Pogacar's wheel at the line with Briton Oscar Onley third after a late nine-rider pile up marred the finale. Pogacar, the defending champion, gained four sec on Vingegaard with ten bonus seconds to the Dane's six. In the overall standings, Remco Evenepoel is second overall 54 seconds off first as he came sixth on the day, two seconds adrift. French starlet Kevin Vauquelin continues his bright run in third at 1min 11sec while two time champion Vingegaard is fourth at 1min 17. The overnight leader Mathieu van der Poel rounds out the top five at 1min 29sec after wilting on the final climb, scene of his 2021 coming of age win and his first yellow jersey. The day's action revolved around two ascents of the Mur de Bretagne, a 2km climb at an average of 6 precent, that has been written into Tour de France folklore. With the Tour returning to Brittany after a four years gap, huge festive crowds packed the villages and pretty country lanes as the temperature hit 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). The 179 remaining riders left Saint Malo on the north-west coast passing the magnificent Sillon beach with its granite sea-wall and chic sea-front buildings. Fewer of them will take the start line for Saturday's flat run to Laval, with doubts over key Pogacar teammate Joao Almeida and the Colombian Santiago Buitrago. © 2025 AFP
Japan Times
a day ago
- Japan Times
Ben Healy rides to victory in Stage 6 of Tour de France
Ireland's Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) went out alone to win Stage 6 of the Tour de France on Thursday, with Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) wrestling back the leader's yellow jersey from reigning champion Tadej Pogacar. Healy attacked from an eight-man breakaway, which included Van der Poel, with 42 kilometers remaining on the 201.5-km ride from Bayeux to Vire Normandie, and pulled away to reach the finish line well ahead of American Quinn Simmons, with Australian Michael Storer third. Van der Poel, who lost the overall lead to Pogacar after Wednesday's individual time trial, was unable to keep pace with the breakaway but moved back to the top of the general classification with a gap of one second over the Slovenian champion. Healy's move came after the group had been out ahead for more than 100 km and while Simmons and Storer later decided to give chase, the Irishman increased his lead only as he climbed to the finish. "I spent a bit too much time trying to get into the break, but I think that's just the way I do it," Healy said. "Once I was in there we really had to work for that gap, and it was just on the pedals all day, and I knew I needed to get away from the group and picked my moment, and I think I timed it well." Van der Poel, who first took the yellow jersey after winning Stage 2, began the day 1 minute, 28 seconds behind Pogacar, but at one stage looked like he would open up an even bigger lead than that himself. The breakaway group had managed to put more than four minutes between themselves and the peloton, with Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates appearing unconcerned about losing the yellow jersey at this early stage of the race. After Healy broke free, and the others gave chase, Van der Poel lost his momentum and, on a day with six categorized climbs and an uphill finish, the Dutchman looked a tired figure as he dragged himself to the line in eighth place. Pogacar ended up crossing the finish line next, and the three-time champion, while losing all three jerseys, will be more than happy to sit just one second behind Van der Poel. Others lost a lot more time on a stage that brought the first breakaway win of the Tour, after a large group of riders had been dropped early on. Italian Jonathan Milan earned himself the green points jersey by winning an intermediate sprint but, along with fellow sprint specialists Biniam Girmay, Tim Merlier and Kaden Groves, he came in almost half an hour after Healy. Stage 7 on Friday is a 197-km trek from Saint-Malo to Guerledan.
Japan Today
2 days ago
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Tour de France: Healy wins hilly 6th stage, Van der Poel takes yellow jersey from Pogacar
Ireland's Ben Healy celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 201.5 kilometers (125.2 miles) with start in Bayeux and finish in Vire Normandy, France, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy) cycling Irish rider Ben Healy won a hilly sixth stage of the Tour de France after a long solo breakaway on Thursday and Mathieu van der Poel took back the yellow jersey from defending champion Tadej Pogacar by one second. The 24-year-old Healy had won a stage on the Giro d'Italia before, but this was his first victory at cycling's showcase race. 'A stage win in the Tour is just unbelievable, it's what I've worked for,' he said. 'I grew up watching the Tour and wishing one day I could just be there. Participating in the Tour is already an achievement and to win a stage is just so so amazing.' American rider Quinn Simmons finished 2 minutes, 44 seconds behind Healy in second place and Australian Michael Storer was 2:51 back in third spot. Van der Poel finished eighth, and Pogacar was a little further back in ninth. Stage 6 took riders over 201.5 kilometers from Bayeux to Vire Normandie, featuring six minor climbs before a sharp uphill finish with a 10% gradient. The Slovenian star accelerated at the end of the stage but could not quite do enough to stop the yellow jersey going to the 30-year-old Dutchman Van der Poel, who is not considered a race contender. 'I would have loved to have a bit more than one second but I'm happy to have it again,' said Van der Poel, who struggled with the heat. "I'll try my best to recover as good as possible and then we'll see tomorrow, but first I'm going to enjoy the yellow jersey. I will probably only have it for one day.' Two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard finished 10th, just behind Pogacar, and is fifth overall. The route favored allrounders and an experienced-looking eight-rider breakaway, including Stage 2 winner Van der Poel and Giro d'Italia champion Simon Yates, pulled away from the yellow jersey group around three-time Tour winner Pogacar. Riding through rolling countryside they opened up a four-minute lead with 40 kilometers to go, which is when Healy decided to go for the stage win and pulled away from his rivals, who could not follow. 'Today's stage really suited me, I had circled this day from the start,' Healy said. 'I knew I needed to get away from the group, I think I timed it well and I caught them by surprise a little bit. Then I knew what I had to do: just put my head down.' Stage 7 is 197 kilometers long, starting from the port city of Saint-Malo and finishing with a climb up Mûr-de-Bretagne in Britanny's picturesque Côtes-d'Armor department. 'When you see how Tadej is riding," Van der Poel said, 'if he attacks tomorrow, or Jonas as well, it will be very difficult not only for me but for the whole bunch to follow on this climb.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
