Tadej Pogacar poised to clinch Tour de France victory as Kaden Groves wins penultimate stage
Groves's bike-handling skills were on display when he managed to stay up as Spain's Ivan Romeo and France's Romain Gregoire skidded out of control in front of him on a wet descent 21 kilometres from the finish.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider then attacked from a reduced breakaway bunch and never looked back in the remaining 17 kilometres, bursting into tears in a mix of disbelief and exhaustion after the line.
Groves, who gave his team their third victory in this year's Tour after Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel also won, has seven Vuelta and two Giro d'Italia stage wins to his name.
Dutchman Frank van den Broek took second place, 54 seconds behind, with his compatriot Pascal Eenkhoorn third, five seconds further back.
Defending champion Tadej Pogacar spent a quiet day in the main peloton and made another step towards a fourth Tour title as he retained his overall leader's yellow jersey with a 4:24 advantage over Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard.
The final stage is a 132.3km ride from Mantes-la-Jolie to Paris, where the peloton will cycle up the famous Butte Montmartre three times before the final laps on the Champs-Elysees.
Ireland's Ben Healy (EF Education - EasyPost) finished 28th, in the peloton and 7:16 minutes down on Groves and three seconds ahead of the group of Pogacar, Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic and Wout van Aert.
That ensures Healy remains ninth overall in the general classification, 27:59 minutes behind Pogacar.
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Irish Times
24 minutes ago
- Irish Times
How will the Lions tour impact Ireland's rugby philosophy?
As Andy Farrell and his Irish coaches return to their day jobs with the IRFU , questions inevitably turn to what they might have learned with the Lions . Cynical views of the Irish-dominated tour focus on Farrell using the opportunity to both mine information and develop players in a way that benefits Ireland . Such a narrative is disrespectful, discounting as it does the importance of the Lions as a standalone entity. Still, there is no doubt that, in a number of areas, there is plenty of intellectual property returning to Irish shores. How Farrell and co have gone about their business, and what they learned from Australia's attempts to counteract them, offer an intriguing window into how his rugby philosophy, and with it Ireland's fortunes, might develop from here. Here are some of the main statistical takeaways from the tour. READ MORE S tyle s w i n f i ght s Much has been made in recent months of a shift in Ireland's style of play. The days of intricate phase-play attack, with carry after carry being used to break down a defence, aren't gone. But they are numbered. Ireland used to dominate attacking volume numbers; more carries, more passes than the opposition. That is no longer the case. The blueprint of successful knockout rugby has been adopted. South Africa won two World Cups offering minuscule attacking output, kicking plenty and relying on their defence. While not copying them to the nth degree, Leinster have tried a similar ploy in order to end their knockout hoodoo. It worked (to a point) as the United Rugby Championship crown was secured. Ireland are back at the World Cup. How will they fare? Listen | 23:53 What, then, of the Lions? There's no way Ireland would shift their attacking gameplan without Farrell's input, even if he wasn't around during the Six Nations as Simon Easterby held the fort. Sure enough, the Lions adopted a similar mantra. In all three Tests down under, Farrell's side were happy playing with less of the ball - Australia averaged 131 carries per game, the Lions 99. The tourists also had a lower kick-to-pass ratio, meaning they kicked more often than the Wallabies. When attacking volume diminishes in bigger games, it can be argued that efficiency then becomes rugby's most important stat. In the first two Tests, the Lions and Australia had virtually the same figure for points per 22 entry. In the final Test, which Australia won, they were comfortably more efficient, notching 2.7 points per entry vs 1.5. In big games, the side that attacks less, kicks more but is more efficient with the opportunities they do get tends to win. The third Test, which Australia won while being both more efficient and dominant in terms of attacking volume, is difficult to analyse. This is because the Lions had already won the series, while the lightning delay also played a part in Sydney. None of the above dispels the modern trend pioneered by the Springboks which is now seeping into Irish rugby. Expect Farrell, after using a similar pragmatic game plan with the best players in the home nations, to double down with Ireland. Australia were relived to have Will Skelton back for the second Test, even if in-game statistics point to them doing all right without him. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho B i g b o pper s Simple narratives are sometimes dispelled by the data. Occasionally, they are backed up by the numbers. As the Test series progressed, analysis focused on the impact of Will Skelton and Rob Valetini in Test number two, and later Taniela Tupou in the final game. Once Australia got back their power athletes, they presented a greater threat. In some ways, the numbers don't really back this up. Skelton carried for 12 metres in the 47 minutes of rugby his body allowed in Test one, and then 16 the week after. In Tupou's lone Test, he made 19 metres. These are decent figures for positions which require carrying through heavy traffic. Yet in isolation, they were hardly game-changing impacts. Valetini for his part was more impressive with 28 metres in the 40 minutes he lasted. Tadhg Beirne was the only forward in the second Test who made more (34) and he was fit enough to last the full 80. However, looking at the individual output risks losing the overall impact. In the first Test - without Skelton, Valetini or Tupou - Australia had a dominant carry rate of 18 per cent. This rose to 28 per cent the following week. In the first Test, they had 273 post-contact metres. Seven days later in Melbourne, despite having fewer carries, they made 352 metres after contact. The impact of Australia's big boppers opened up space for the whole team to improve. Quelle surprise, it pays to have a handful of supreme power athletes to call upon. The Lions had a few of their own, with the likes of Ellis Genge and Joe McCarthy standing out. But Farrell didn't have as many game-changing behemoths to call upon. [ Dan Sheehan's father Barry reflects on Lions tour: 'What more could you want for your child?' Opens in new window ] [ Australian rugby could be off life-support thanks to Wallabies' Test win over Lions Opens in new window ] A lesson for Farrell and his backroom team going forward - not that they needed it - is the importance of a big bopper. In an Irish context, while McCarthy combines with Caelan Doris to fulfil some of this role, another larger, dynamic body wouldn't go amiss. Joe's younger brother, Paddy, has been earmarked as a powerful prop and was capped by Ireland A in February. One man who could come in from outside the current group is Munster lock Edwin Edogbo. Prior to tearing his Achilles over a year ago, he was putting up similar collision-dominance numbers to his positional rival Joe McCarthy. Now that he appears to be returning to fitness, he could be a name to watch out for in the new season. Mack Hansen did not feature in the Tests but reminded Andy Farrell of just how effective he is during the Lions' tour matches in Australia. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho Return o f the Mack Of all the Ireland players first called into the Lions squad by Farrell, Mack Hansen may have been the most relieved. While many weren't surprised that the Connacht wing made the cut due to the respect he has earned from the Ireland and Lions coach, some questioned if he had the requisite game time to build up form. Injuries have been a problem in the last 18 months. A dislocated shoulder meant he missed the 2024 Six Nations. This year, he played in three of Ireland's five championship matches, while his last Connacht appearance of the campaign came in April. If there were questions on Hansen's form and fitness heading into the tour, he resolutely answered them once he reached Australia. A narrative emerged that, had he not suffered another injury while on tour, he could have pushed Tommy Freeman for the Test 14 jersey. The numbers back up this assertion as Hansen ranks highly in a number of attacking categories. Of all the players capped by the Lions on this tour, he ranked fifth for defenders beaten (12), first for line breaks (eight), fifth for metres made (234), joint first for try assists (three) and fourth for line-break assists (four). That he only clocked 277 minutes on tour, ranked 23rd in the Lions squad, shows his impact in an injury-limited window. Caveats may apply given Hansen only appeared against tour opposition and not in the Test matches. Nevertheless, with Tommy O'Brien turning into a selection threat given his form on the right wing for Leinster and Ireland while on tour of Georgia and Portugal, Hansen appears to have timed his return to form nicely.
Irish Daily Mirror
6 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Jota's death could inspire Liverpool to new heights or make title defence tough
For Arne Slot and Liverpool, a pre-season that interrogated their psyche in the most brutal fashion has unfolded as a dignified exercise in love pushing back the forces of darkness. Diogo Jota's tragic passing on July 3rd seeped into every nook and cranny of the House of Shankly, the pollutants of shock, grief, anger and bewilderment seeming to turn even the ancient Mersey waters the deepest shade of black. Anguish was plastered like a thousand billboards across a city where football and tragedy have too frequently coalesced, where those uniformed in the club's storied red shirts are often the primary measure of an entire tribe's dreams. Liverpool handled an impossible situation with enduring class. Slot spoke beautifully, Jota's number 20 jersey was retired, players and supporters came together in a cathartic and tender outpouring. Now, Diogo's friends have to go back to the day job. They must play competitive football again, deal with the remorseless scheduling, unceasing spotlight and mental and physical stresses of a Premier League season. For all the professional counselling made available to players, nobody can predict with any certainty how the inhabitants of that super-heated Anfield bubble will react to having passed through such an emotional tempest. Over the course of a 38-game season that begins with Friday's visit of Bournemouth, might the psychological haymaker of losing a just-married colleague in crushing fashion have a concussive effect on their title defence? In November 2014, Australian test batsman Phil Hughes — the youngest player to have scored two centuries in a single test match — died aged 25, two days after being struck on the top of the neck by a ball in a domestic match in Sydney. The impact caused a split in an artery triggering a massive bleed into the brain. A freakish and catastrophic accident, it convulsed a cricket mad nation. Flags flew at half mast at the Melbourne and Sydney Cricket Grounds. Former Australian captain Michael Slater said his country was weeping. David Warner of Australia touches the tribute to the late Phil Hughes as he walks out at Sydney Cricket Ground (Image: Ryan Pierse - Cricket Australia via Getty Images) Just ten weeks later, the Aussies played their first game as co-hosts of the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Seeded fourth, they performed like a team possessed. Player after player talked about finding new energy levels, about being propelled to glory by their fallen team-mate. They trounced England by 111 runs in their opening game and overwhelmed Pakistan, India and New Zealand in the knockout stages to be crowned world champions. Team captain Michael Clarke felt the presence of Hughes during those games, providing psychic fuel. Wearing an armband with his late team-mate's initials, he said: 'It's been a tough time, but we played this World Cup with 12 players on the pitch.' Of course, there is no universal rule. Because Australia drew a fraternal strength from their desire to respect Hughes's legacy, it does not mean Liverpool will summon new energy from their undoubted affection for Jota. Elite athletes sit alone in a brilliant rectangle of light seemingly unbound by many of the constraints that restrict the rest of us. When mortality strikes this escapist playground, it rocks supporters. But it also asks the hardest questions of those who remain in the arena. On March 2nd, 2004 the then Tyrone football captain Cormac McAnallen passed away in his sleep from an undiagnosed heart condition. He was 24. Cormac McAnallen (Image: ©INPHO/Patrick Bolger) Eighteen months after his death, Tyrone would win their second All-Ireland and three years later another. Team-mate Sean Cavanagh would subsequently talk of how his friend was at his shoulder in those moments. 'Virtually every game I played, especially the big games, any time I looked for inspiration, I went and said prayers at Cormac's grave. 'This story is a bit weird to be honest, but it's true. The day before the 2008 All-Ireland final, I went to Cormac's grave around 11 o'clock in the morning, and I was just saying a few prayers when this cat appeared from absolutely nowhere. 'It sat at my feet the entire time I was there, and it then genuinely vanished, like someone turned out a light. It just wasn't there anymore, and I'm not into the hocus pocus stuff, I'm the biggest critic of that stuff, but this spooked me out. 'I got into the car, and in 2003 the Tyrone team had made a CD where we all picked a song, and Cormac's song was 'Gold' by Spandau Ballet. I was already spooked by the cat thing, and the radio then plays this song, and I'm like, 'what's going on here?''. As he told the journalist, Lee Costello: 'I then go and play one of the greatest games I ever played, won the All-Ireland, won man of the match. 'About a month later I got chatting to Cormac's aunty who was telling me Cormac's cat had disappeared. When I described the cat, she said that 'that was it'.' The Nigerian fighter Young Ali, never regained consciousness after being stopped by Barry McGuigan at London's Grosvenor House Hotel in the summer of 1982. After six months in a coma, the stricken African passed away. Barry McGuigan celebrates after beating Eusebio Pedroza at Loftus Road (Image:) McGuigan endured an existential crisis: 'I didn't want to box anymore. I'd had enough. I was sick to my stomach of it and to think that could happen. 'As a fighter, you never think of things like that because you can't think of things like that. 'You can't think there's a possibility you could end up seriously injured or dead. But that is the reality.' McGuigan would return to the ring and three years later would defeat Eusebio Pedroza at Loftus Road to become world champion and an unrivalled merchant of hope for the island of Ireland in troubled political times. There is a world of difference between McGuigan's story and Liverpool's one for the past five weeks. Most obviously, nobody at Anfield inflicted the blow that ended Jota's life. Yet there may be one tenuous similarity, the phenomenon known as survivor guilt. All these years later, it has never quite left McGuigan. 'I found myself asking why it had happened to Ali and not to me. I went to church and prayed a lot.' Manchester United, like Liverpool, were champions of England, when a plane sped down a German airport runway in a snowstorm on February 6th, 1958. The Munich Air Disaster claimed the life of eight players and a total of 23 people, as well as inflicting terrible injuries on manager Matt Busby among others. English football's crown prince Duncan Edwards, club captain Roger Byrne, centre-forward Tommy Taylor and Dubliner Liam Whelan were among those who lost their lives. Bobby Charlton, then just 20, awoke on the airfield, still strapped to his airline seat, with debris all around him, the plane broken up and the blizzard still swirling. He turned to his side to see a team-mate lying dead. Bobby Charlton in his hospital bed following the Munich air crash (Image: Bela Zola/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix via Getty Images) 'There was very little wrong with me physically but I could not stop thinking about the accident. I felt drained of all emotion. Why me? Why should I be left?' The resilience of United's response defied belief. They played again just 16 days after the tragedy, 66,124 packing into Old Trafford on a night of monumental emotion to see them somehow fashion a draw with Nottingham Forest. And though, their bid for a hat-trick of league titles would fizzle out (they finished ninth), United would reach the FA Cup final and European Cup semi-final. The following season a not far from scratch team would finish runner-up in the league. Nobody yet knows how events on Spain's A-52 motorway five weeks ago have rewritten the map of Liverpool hearts or how it will effect performances in the days, weeks and months ahead. Honouring the memory of their fallen friend may drive the Anfield fellowship, their warm tears may burn cracks in the ice sheet of their composure. What is certain is that Jota, frozen in time at 28 years of age, will be a beloved and powerful presence each time Kop disciples gather at their house of worship.
RTÉ News
8 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Niamh O'Neill loving life back in title-winning Tyrone fold
After watching on from the outside as they lost to Leitrim at the same stage of the competition 12 months ago, Niamh O'Neill was back to play a starring role for Tyrone in their TG4 All-Ireland intermediate football championship final triumph last weekend. Following a two-year stint in Australia – during which time she played Gaelic football for Sinn Féin in Melbourne and Australian rules with Casey Demons in the VFLW – O'Neill returned to the Red Hand panel earlier this year. Previously the Tyrone captain in 2022, she wasn't initially part of the set-up when their Lidl National Football League Division One campaign began at home to Meath on 26 January. Yet she subsequently re-emerged on the inter-county scene and while a hamstring injury did reduce her to a substitutes' role for an extended period, she registered 1-05 off the bench when Tyrone defeated Westmeath after extra-time in a gripping All-Ireland intermediate semi-final. The Sperrin Óg star was then restored to the starting line-up for last Sunday's second-tier showpiece against Laois in Croke Park and proceeded to amass an impressive tally of seven points in a 2-16 to 1-13 victory. "Obviously at the start you're just not too sure of what to do, whether to go back or not. I was back home probably a month before I decided to reach out and see if I could go back. I hadn't really trained much when I had first come home. I didn't want to go in unfit or anything," O'Neill explained. "I did my own thing for a wee while and then reached out to Darren (McCann, Tyrone manager) after I went and watched them play Armagh in the league. Just reached out to see if it would be okay to come back in and see how we get on. "It has been brilliant, it hasn't really felt like I've been away. The championship itself, maybe it was a wee bit frustrating because I had hurt my hamstring. I was only really coming on off the bench, but I managed to get myself fit enough to start the final, which was great." O'Neill found herself experiencing a familiar emotion upon full-time last weekend as she is one of a select few within the Tyrone squad to have been part of their previous TG4 All-Ireland intermediate football championship final success back in 2018. Facing a Meath side that contained six players who started Sunday's All-Ireland senior showpiece against Dublin, O'Neill was introduced as a 12th minute substitute and scored 1-03 in an emphatic win for the Ulster outfit. Despite acknowledging she'd have preferred if Tyrone had remained in the senior championship after returning to the top tier in 2019, O'Neill stressed it was "a brilliant feeling" to climb the Hogan Stand steps once again and she believes it could do wonders for the younger players within the Tyrone set-up. "It's a funny one because whenever you win the intermediate once, you kind of don't really want to be back there, if that makes sense. Any time you win in Croke Park, there is very few people that get to say they've done that. It's obviously a brilliant feeling that way, but it is a bit of a funny one when you've won it before. "It's not really a title you want to be winning all the time, without sounding ungrateful. It is brilliant, given we have a very young group there coming through. A lot of girls that played there, they're only between 19 to maybe 23. They're very young. "To get that sort of taste for success at that level is brilliant. Hopefully they can sort of bring that ambition into their football now for the next few years and see where we go." In addition to featuring for Tyrone in the All-Ireland senior football championship from 2019 to 2021, O'Neill also sampled life at the top grade of the LGFA during her earliest years on the Red Hand panel. First introduced to their senior set-up as a 16-year-old in 2012, O'Neill was a regular starter when Tyrone's run in the Brendan Martin Cup came to an end three years later. There were some mixed results for O'Neill and the county throughout those previous campaigns, but she is hopeful the current group of players can cement their senior championship status in 2026. "When I first came in, I think we were sort of in a period of transition as well. Girls were retiring and different things like that. I think after we won it [intermediate] in 2018, we handled ourselves well in senior for a couple of years. "Then again you've people leaving and going to travel. Hopefully now this time we can get a bit of stability and keep a core group together. I've no fear really of playing senior championship. Obviously you want to stay in it, that's the first target, but hopefully stay in it and compete in it would be the dream." Although last Sunday's All-Ireland intermediate final brought an end to a hectic season for Tyrone, O'Neill made a return to training with Sperrin Óg two days later in preparation for a club encounter on Thursday. This represents a swift reintegration to the local scene for O'Neill, but as she explains, county stars regularly line out for their clubs throughout the year in Tyrone. "They're not letting us away for too long. Straight back in and there'll be club games now I'd say every Thursday and Sunday for the next month. In Tyrone we play our club league. Obviously they put games off whenever we get to a certain point," O'Neill added. "Tyrone are one of the very few counties I would say that have their county players playing for their club the whole time. I played our first league game, but then I obviously hurt my hamstring against Down [in the All-Ireland series]. Thankfully the club were very understanding and nobody pressured me into playing if I wasn't able to. "Because they're obviously conscious that we were doing quite well with county and that you wanted to give as much as you could to the championship. Thankfully not too much pressure on me, but now that it's over, I'd say that will be done!"
