Could Pogacar start slipping on Stage 18?
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Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tour de France stage 21: Race nears iconic Champs-Elysees finish but late Montmartre climbs could disrupt sprinters
The finishing line of the Tour de France is in sight and after three gruelling weeks - more so than normal - Tadej Pogacar is now just a few hours away from claiming his fourth Tour trophy as his Hall of Fame-level career continues. He and Jonas Vingegaard will finish one and two on the podium for the fifth straight Tour, having split the last six between them, while Pogacar will also take home the King of the Mountains jersey and four stage wins. And that number could rise to five on a tricky, punchy final day, a far cry from the usual procession into Paris and frenzied sprint finish - although that could still happen on the revamped stage 21. Florian Lipowitz, the German former biathlete riding his debut Tour, has sewn up the best young rider's white jersey and third spot on the podium, taking the place Remco Evenepoel occupied in both classifications last year. And Britain has a new general classification contender for the future in the form of unassuming 22-year-old climber Oscar Onley, who proved one of very few riders who could stick with Pogacar and Vingegaard on the toughest slopes of this monumentally difficult Tour, and will finish fourth in Paris on just his second appearance at the race. Meanwhile sprinter Jonathan Milan is set to take home the green points jersey after a battle with Pogacar himself for ownership of that classification - and could add glory on the Champs-Elysees to his two stage wins too. The enormous levels of fatigue in the peloton have been evident for the last few days after five HC finishes, tough outings in the Pyrenees and the Alps, and a first week of racing that essentially felt like a whole week of one-day Classics. Even Pogacar has cut a downbeat figure, saying he 'can't wait for the Tour to be over'. Kaden Groves won the most recent Classic, on stage 20, a hilly, punchy day out in the Jura hills marred by crashes and torrential downpour, with the Australian completing the set of Grand Tour victories with his maiden Tour de France win in Pontarlier. He went solo 16km from the line after he, Frank van den Broek, and Briton Jake Stewart avoided a crash that either took out or held up much of the day's breakaway, and profited from his two companions' inability to work together, letting him storm away to the line. 'Today we weren't sure whether to go for the stage or wait for tomorrow but when the rain falls I have a super feeling normally in the cold weather,' an emotional Groves said. 'It's my first ever solo win and it's a Tour stage so it's pretty incredible. 'There's so much pressure at the Tour. Having won in the Giro and won in the Vuelta all I ever get asked is if am I good enough to win in the Tour and now I've shown them.' Groves could well take two wins in succession, as one of the punchier riders most likely to survive the redesigned stage 21. Rather than a pan-flat stage ending in an inevitable bunch sprint, this year's route is very different: two categorised climbs will add to the fatigue in the legs after the rollout from Mantes-la-Ville before the race enters Paris: the Cote de Bazemont (1.7km at 7%) and the Cote du Pave des Gardes (700m at 9.7%). Then the usual circuits crossing the finish line on the Champs-Elysees are interspersed with more category-four climbs, up the short but steep Cote de la Butte Montmartre (1.1km at an average of 5.9%). The decision has been made to add the climb after its popularity in the Olympic Games road race route last summer, but the three climbs in quick succession may put paid to any sprinters' chances, and the battle for positioning on the narrow, cobbled roads could catch out the general classification hopefuls too, setting up an even more nerve-wracking and frantic finale than normal. Route map and profile Start time The final stage of the Tour de France has a later start time than usual: 4.10pm local time (3.10pm BST), with an expected finish time of around 7.25pm local time (6.25pm BST). Prediction Normally a sprint finish would be nailed-on for stage 21 of the Tour de France, but this edition of the race has a huge question mark over it. The final climb of Montmartre comes just 6km from the finish and the accumulated fatigue of three difficult weeks of racing, plus three sharp climbs in quick succession, may be enough to kill off the sprinters. But after the final ascent there's a flat run-in to the traditional finish line on the Champs-Elysees, so it's entirely possible the race may come back together for a bunch sprint. If a reduced group makes it over the final climb, the punchier fast men like Kaden Groves will have an advantage; Wout van Aert hasn't looked near his best this Tour, but should be let off the Visma-Lease a Bike leash on the final stage and could still pick up a result (probably second place, if his season so far is anything to go by). But if all the sprinters' teams work together and come over the Montmartre together, Tim Merlier has had the beating of everyone on the stages he's been able to contest. But if the GC teams win the battle for positioning on the narrow cobbled climb of Montmartre, could Tadej Pogacar top off his magnificent Tour with one more stage win, on the race's most iconic finish line of all? I wouldn't rule him out...
an hour ago
Cycling great Vos wins 1st stage of women's Tour de France with brilliant late attack
PLUMELEC, France -- Cycling great Marianne Vos won the opening stage of the women's Tour de France with a brilliant late attack on Saturday. The 38-year-old Dutchwoman overtook her Visma–Lease a Bike teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot approaching the line, and then held off Mauritian rider Kim Le Court in the closing meters of a grueling uphill finish. Ferrand-Prévot looked set to win the stage, but the Frenchwoman attacked too early from 600 meters and could not withstand the late surge from Vos, who punched the air with her left fist as she crossed the line. Moments later, Vos hugged an exhausted-looking Ferrand-Prévot, the Paris-Roubaix winner. 'I didn't now if Pauline was still hanging in the finish, but in the end I sprinted a bit with Kim,' Vos said, praising her teammate's effort. 'I'm really grateful to the team and to Pauline.' The hilly 78.8-kilometer (48.9-mile) route from Vannes to Plumelec in Brittany featured two small climbs and was completed in 1 hour, 53 minutes, 3 seconds by Vos — a multiple world champion, a former Olympic road race champion and a silver medalist at last year's Paris Games. Former Olympic time-trial silver medalist Marlen Reusser was one of 10 riders to crash some 30 kilometers from the end. She continued for a while but was clearly struggling and had to abandon the stage. Sunday's second stage from the port city of Brest to Quimper stays in Brittany and is slightly more hilly and longer at 110.4 kilometers. The nine-stage race, which ends Aug. 3, began a day before the end of the men's Tour, set to be won for a fourth time by Slovenian star Tadej Pogačar by a comfortable margin. The women's race could be far closer. Last year provided the smallest winning margin in the history of the women's and men's races, with Polish rider Kasia Niewiadoma beating 2023 champion Demi Vollering by four seconds, and Pauliena Rooijakkers only 10 seconds off the pace in third place. ___
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Why the end of free-to-air Tour de France coverage in the UK is a concerning moment for cycling
There is unlikely to be any great fanfare when a British sporting television institution ends after four decades on Sunday evening. To be frank, not a huge number of the sport-watching public in the UK will even notice, especially given the curtain-call clashes with the women's Euro 2025 final between England and Spain live on another channel. Advertisement The Tour de France very seldom has the fixed glare of the nation aimed in its direction, and that appears to be one of the reasons why the free-to-air coverage of it is ending this year. Next year, for the first time since 1984, the Tour won't be broadcast at all on free-to-air terrestrial UK television, having been shown (either via highlights or full race coverage) on Channel 4 from 1985 to 2001 and then on ITV since 2002. The exclusive rights have instead exclusively been snapped up by Warner Bros Discovery, which owns TNT Sports. Satellite/digital coverage has been an excellent viewing option for many years on Eurosport — which was gobbled up as part of TNT Sports earlier this year — but now it will be the only option. An option that costs £30.99 ($41.67) a month. 'I gathered that for the last couple of years it had started to make a slight loss for ITV, so it was always vulnerable to cost-cutting,' the channel's lead Tour commentator Ned Boulting told Cycling Weekly recently, adding that although 600,000 viewers had watched the opening day of this year's race, numbers have been dwindling consistently since the height of the UK's Bradley Wiggins-inspired cycling boom in 2012, when 3.6million watched him become the first Briton to win the event. Two years later, the race started on English soil in Yorkshire, with the first three days around the UK drawing roadside crowds of almost five million and benefiting the British economy to the tune of an estimated £150million. "We became attached at the hip, we did everything together, we didn't realise it" Phil Liggett on Paul Sherwen, and David Saunders. — ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 21, 2025 However, despite six of seven Tour de France races from 2012 to 2018 being won by British riders from the Team Sky stable (four for Chris Froome, one each for Wiggins and Geraint Thomas) amid unparalleled success that included Mark Cavendish winning more Tour stages than anyone in the race's long, glorious history, cycling remains a fringe sport in the UK. Advertisement It's still not a part of the nation's sporting DNA — and the absence of terrestrial coverage of the sport's biggest and best race means that is unlikely to change anytime soon. Not that its popularity or otherwise is the sole reason for ITV electing not to pay to show it next year. Television rights are expensive and the UK's two biggest sports, football and cricket, hardly have any live matches on terrestrial TV these days either, save for the FA Cup and the Hundred, neither of which is positioned near the pinnacle of their respective games. The lack of live free coverage certainly hasn't impacted how many people want to watch those sports, as sold-out stadiums for Premier League football or England Test cricket attest. However, cycling is different, and its lack of visibility and accessibility poses questions over its future, both in terms of a sport to watch and to take part in. There are parallels with cricket, which reached a high point in its national popularity in 2005, when more than eight million people watched England win the Ashes against visiting arch-rivals Australia for the first time in 18 years. That was the year Channel 4 lost the rights and England matches vanished from free-to-air TV screens. The most recent Ashes series in England two years ago was watched by a record audience for Sky Sports of 2.12million, but that's six million fewer than 2005. Even more importantly, the number of people playing cricket has decreased in recent times, with market data specialist Statista noting that participation dropped from 428,000 in 2009 to 278,600 in 2016. The most recent figures show a jump back up, to 358,600. In 1985, when Tour coverage first appeared on UK screens on Channel 4, there were three British riders in the race (Sean Yates, Robert Millar and Paul Sherwen). Pascal Gabriel (Stubbleman) rode up Mont Ventoux and converted the data into music; The Ventoux Trilogy ⛰️🎶 — ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 21, 2025 This year, there were 11 Brits on the start line and, while there is not necessarily a direct correlation between free TV coverage and more riders from the UK in the race, there is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that cycling being shown on terrestrial television played a big role in inspiring the likes of David Millar, Tom Pidcock and Oscar Onley, who have all spoken of it being part of their introduction to the sport. Advertisement That introduction will have included the warm and familiar figure of presenter Gary Imlach, who has been involved with Tour coverage since the Channel 4 days. Phil Liggett — who still commentates on the race for U.S. broadcaster Peacock — and his old friend, the late Sherwen, were a popular commentary duo for many years, before that baton passed to Boulting and David Millar, while journalists/interviewers Daniel Friebe and Matt Rendell poke microphones in riders' faces as part of top-level coverage that has been honed and perfected over many years and is easily accessible via television, or the ITV website and app. The voice of cycling, Phil Liggett: Part One — ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 15, 2025 It offers a different style to TNT Sports, which goes for a more in-depth approach via excellent anchor Orla Chennaoui in post-race analysis show The Breakaway. Not that there aren't grumbles about TNT, primarily for its number of advert breaks. Subscribers had previously had the option to watch races ad-free in full, and while that option is still available via their split-screen feature, it isn't the case via the normal regular stream. There is also the cost. Eurosport was £6.99 per month for all the cycling coverage you could wish for; TNT Sports costs almost five times that. There is an argument that TNT can attract new viewers to the sport via people who already subscribe for its football (predominantly the Champions League but also some Premier League matches), rugby union, tennis, snooker and SailGP, but for many that price will simply prove prohibitive. In 1999, Gary visited figurine collector, Edward Pemzec 🚴🎞️ — ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 15, 2025 Signing up for Sky Sports (via Now TV) and TNT Sports will cost you almost £800 a year. Add in DAZN for another £180 annually and then three of the common streaming services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+, and you're talking almost £1,400 going out of your bank account every 12 months. That's completely unfeasible for many households. Advertisement Boulting and David Millar have pledged to continue to offer their own analysis next year via a live on-the-road video podcast, but otherwise it's the end for coverage that millions have grown to love over decades. To lose Millar from mainstream cycling coverage in particular feels like a serious misstep, given his passion for the sport and the way he can draw in a novice with his layman explanations of cycling's many nuances. In 2027, the Tour will return to the UK, beginning with a Grand Depart in Scotland's capital Edinburgh. The race's general director Christian Prudhomme has offered hope it will be shown on terrestrial television, saying earlier this year: 'I do hope, and I do believe that the stages in the UK will be live and free to air in 2027. There will be discussions. We're optimistic.' It feels like an important issue to sort out. Otherwise, it's not a stretch to say the next generation of Onleys and Yates' may never appear. The Tour de France gets inexorably bigger every single year, but in the UK it might be about to get quite a bit smaller. For more cycling, follow Global Sports on The Athletic app via the Discover tab
