Tour de France 2025: Ireland's Ben Healy wins stage six
Healy attacked from an eight-man breakaway, which included Van der Poel, with 42km remaining on the 201.5km 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 kilometres 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 two, began the day one minute 28 seconds behind Pogacar but at one stage looked like opening 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 categorised 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 next and the three-times 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 which 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.
Friday's stage seven is a 197km trek from Saint-Malo to Guerledan.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gulf Today
7 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Pogacar wins seventh stage to reclaim Tour de France lead
Defending champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is back in the yellow jersey after the Slovenian fought off Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) to win stage seven of the Tour de France on Friday. Pogacar, three-times winner, claimed his second stage of this year's Tour at the end of a 197km ride from Saint-Malo to Mur-de-Bretagne, outsprinting Vingegaard at the summit finish, with Britain's Oscar Onley taking third place. Mathieu van der Poel began the day with a one-second lead over Pogacar but the Dutchman finished 22nd on the stage and slipped to fifth overall, with Belgian Remco Evenepoel now in second place and 54 seconds behind the Slovenian. Van der Poel won his first Tour de France stage, and claimed his first yellow jersey, at the Mur-de-Bretagne finish in 2021, but there was no repeat for the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider, after he was dropped on the steep climb to the line. 'I was quite sure I would lose the jersey today so I tried to enjoy it as much as possible,' Van der Poel said. 'Coming back here to Mur-de-Bretagne is quite special wearing the yellow jersey after four years.' After several early attacks, a five-man group — containing 2018 winner Geraint Thomas, with the 39-year-old Welshman riding his last Tour — got away with over 140km still to race. With the peloton upping the pace, the leading group began to crack, leaving Ewen Costiou (Arkea-B&B Hotels) out alone as the race reached the Mur-de-Bretagne for the first time with the peloton just 20 seconds behind as they crossed the summit. Costiou was soon swallowed up by the bunch, but the 22-year-old Breton had his moment of glory, the local rider greeted with loud cheers from the huge crowd gathered at what would also be the finish line. With six kilometres remaining, a crash at the back of the peloton brought down several riders, including Pogacar's teammate Joao Almeida, who was seventh overall in the standings, and stage six winner Ben Healy. The action was always going to come in the finishing circuit, where the riders faced the Mur-de-Bretagne twice, and Pogacar tried to get away from the reduced bunch in the final two kilometres to the finish. Pogacar was followed by Evenepoel and Vingegaard, and eventually eight riders were left battling for the stage win in the last kilometre, but Van der Poel was not among them, dropped on that final climb. Reuters
Gulf Today
7 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Evolving Swiatek faces resilient Anisimova as Wimbledon awaits a new champion
The Wimbledon women's singles championship will culminate with the grand finale at the All England Club on Saturday with a new name set to be etched onto the gilded Venus Rosewater Dish for the eighth successive year. Eighth seed Iga Swiatek of Poland will look to win her sixth Grand Slam title and first on the grasscourts of London when she faces 13th-seeded American Amanda Anisimova, who is targeting her maiden major crown. Swiatek stamped her authority as the queen of clay when she lifted her fourth French Open title in five years in 2024. Her vast trophy cabinet also contains the 2022 US Open trophy. It has been a barren 13-month run for the 24-year-old, who has had to deal with off-court distractions after a short doping ban late last year following her positive test for trimetazidine due to contaminated sleep medication. While the 24-year-old has never previously had too much love for grass, with the slick surface posing a litany of challenges for the Pole, Wimbledon has offered her a golden opportunity to return to winning ways and confirm herself as an all-court ace. Iga Swiatek celebrates. AP 'I never thought it was going to be possible,' said Swiatek, who will attempt to become the youngest woman since 20-year-old Serena Williams in 2002 to win Grand Slam singles titles on all three surfaces. 'I'm not this kind of person that sets these kinds of goals. I live tournament-by-tournament. It's not like I wake up and I'm like, 'OK, I'm going to win three Grand Slams this year' because that's not how I work. 'I have more down-to-earth goals, practising day-by-day. This is what has always been working.' Swiatek's approach has helped her fly under the radar over the past fortnight, with only one set dropped in the tournament, and she romped into the final by thrashing 2020 Olympic champion Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-0. Switzerland's Belinda Bencic leaves the court. AFP She could become only the third woman since tennis turned professional in 1968 to win all of her first six major finals, joining Margaret Court and Monica Seles, but Swiatek is not taking the big-hitting Anisimova lightly. 'I haven't followed her previous matches ... she must be playing great,' said Swiatek, who until last month had never even reached the final of a grasscourt event. 'She had a great tournament before Wimbledon. She knows how to play on grass. With her game style, the surface fits her, so it's going to be a challenge.' Drawing inspiration from Williams, Anisimova will look to become the first American woman to claim the Wimbledon title since her compatriot in 2016 and keep her country's flag flying at the majors. Amanda Anisimova of the US celebrates winning her semi final match against Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka. Reuters After Madison Keys won the Australian Open at the start of the year and Coco Gauff triumphed at Roland Garros, victory for Anisimova will keep alive hopes of US women completing an 'American Slam' of the four majors. Having dabbled in art while taking a mental health break from the sport in 2023 over burnout fears, the 23-year-old Anisimova will look to pick up her racket and paint a masterpiece on Centre Court with the world watching. There have been strokes of brilliance during her run this year, highlighted by her semi-final win over top seed Aryna Sabalenka, but Anisimova said reaching the level she has after her eight-month sabbatical felt even more special. 'It goes to show that it's possible,' Anisimova said. Aryna Sabalenka reacts as she plays against Amanda Anisimova. AFP 'That's a really special message I've been able to show because when I took my break, a lot of people told me I'd never make it to the top again if I take so much time away from the game. That was a little hard to digest. 'I did want to come back and still achieve a lot and win a Grand Slam one day. Just me being able to prove that you can get back to the top if you prioritise yourself ... that's incredibly special to me. It means a lot.' Reuters
Gulf Today
9 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Indian sprinter Animesh Kujur makes Diamond League history
Animesh Kujur made Diamond League history on Friday when he became the first Indian sprinter to race on the circuit, finishing fourth in an invitational 200m won by Australian Gout Gout. Inspired by Jamaican legend Usain Bolt, Kujur had told AFP on Thursday of his delight of bumping into Olympic 100 and 200m champions Noah Lyles and Letsile Tebogo at lunch, enjoying a selfie with the duo as reality hit that he is now rubbing shoulders with the current sprinting elite. Kujur did not, however, race against the vaunted pair, instead featuring in the under-23 200m on an evening loaded with top stars of track and field. The favourite for the Indian's race was none other than widely-touted Australian teen prodigy Gout Gout, often compared to a younger Bolt but also finding his feet among the big boys. He duly won in 20.10 seconds, with Kujur clocking 20.55sec in fourth. "I'm disappointed with my time, but really pleased to have run here and proud to have been India's first sprinter at a Diamond League," Kujur told AFP. His coach Martin Owens added: "A 1.9m/s headwind did not help and lane eight. No excuses though, it's a really proud moment for Animesh and the Indian sprinters on their journey to international level." Kujur has enjoyed a mean streak of form coming into Monaco, setting national records of 10.18 and 20.27sec in the 100 and 200m respectively. The 22-year-old, born in a tribal village in Chhattisgarh, a landlocked state in central India, put his improved form down to a two-week camp in Switzerland. There he worked on body mechanics and his start out of the blocks with Owens, who is based in the eastern state of Odisha, and Swiss-based bobsleigh performance coach Chris Woolley. "Because of that, my time improved so much," he said, adding that time away from merely domestic competition was also a game changer. "It's a very nice thing that I'm competing with athletes who are faster than me. Whenever I compete with faster athletes, my times improve." Owens is head coach of the high performance centre in Odisha set up by the Reliance Foundation in 2019 to provide impetus to various philanthropic initiatives of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, the retail-to-refining giant led by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani and India's most valuable company by market capitalisation. Ambani's wife Nita, a member of the International Olympic Committee since 2016, heads up the foundation, which helps fund invaluable European circuit experience for the likes of Kujur. "It's a massive step up for him," Englishman Owens told AFP. "In my three years in the job, I see people that just want to be better. "They don't want to be the best in India, they want to be competing on a world stage." Kujur faces a tough jump to make the 20.16sec qualifying mark for the world championships in Tokyo in September, but he was in confident mood. "What I'm feeling now is I'm going to crack that time," he said. "I'm feeling like 20.10 I'm going to run. "I'll get more confidence from the bigger competitors I'm up against. They'll bring me energy. "Big athletes means international medallists so I'm feeling happy that I'm going to compete with them." Speaking of Lyles and Tebogo, Kujur said: "I saw them in the dining hall. I used to see them on Instagram only, not in reality. "So when I saw them for the first time in my life, I went and I took a photo with them. "They're very nice. They said, 'Yeah, bro, come and let's take a photo'. I felt like, oh wow, that I am on a bigger stage now. I have to act like a pro athlete." With India mulling a bid for the 2036 Summer Olympics, Owens was in no doubt a sprint revolution is under way in India, much in the same way the javelin took off after Neeraj Chopra was crowned Olympic champion in Tokyo, followed up by world gold in 2023 and an Olympic silver in Paris. "We've got a group of young sprinters that are all around about the same standard and they're just going to keep pushing each other," he said, emphasising the importance of the 4x100m relay for further exposure. "They've already broken the national record this year. "They've just got to believe that the relay is an important entrance into it and then they can get to rub shoulders with Noah Lyles, Karsten Warholm and Shericka Jackson. "They'll train harder, smarter, get motivated and driven, and get some belief." Agence France-Presse
