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Ben Healy stays in top 10 as Tadej Pogacar retains yellow jersey

Ben Healy stays in top 10 as Tadej Pogacar retains yellow jersey

Wellens, 34, completed his set of Grand Tour stage victories, attacking from a breakaway with 44 kilometres of the 169km stage from Muret and quickly opening a sizeable gap before the long downhill run into the medieval city where his margin of victory over Victor Campenaerts was 88 seconds.
Healy slips one position to 10th after crossing the line six minutes behind Wellens.
In the confusion of another frantic day of racing, Julian Alaphilippe celebrated as though he had won the stage when he edged a three-way sprint for third, having apparently been without a working radio after hurting his shoulder in an earlier crash.
Instead, it was a fifth stage victory of this Tour for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, with Pogacar having taken the other four on his way to building an advantage of four minutes 13 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard going into Monday's rest day.
There was no change at the top of the general classification, with the main favourites finishing some six minutes after Wellens took the win. Florian Lupowitz remains third, just shy of eight minutes off yellow and one minute 25 seconds ahead of 22-year-old Scot Oscar Onley.
Wellens, who triumphed in the Belgian champion's jersey a day before his home country's national day, savoured every moment on the ride into town.
'It was a very special victory,' Wellens said. 'Everybody knows the Tour de France, everybody wants to ride the Tour de France but not many get to win at the Tour de France so it's very beautiful…
'I knew it was going to be very beautiful to complete my trilogy of the Giro, Tour and Vuelta and I knew I had to enjoy the moment. I kept riding to the finish line because I wanted a big gap and to maybe put my bike in the air on the finish, but I was so happy I forgot to do it.'
In keeping with so much of this Tour to date, it was another chaotic stage as a hilly route across southern France offered little let-up after three days in the Pyrenees.
A furious fight to get into the breakaway was interrupted by an early crash that split the peloton, with Vingegaard and Lupowitz among those held up.
Pogacar tried to slow the pace to allow them to close a one-minute gap, but others were still attacking to get down the road and it took a full 20 kilometres for the main favourites to come back together.
Around 35 riders did go clear of the main bunch, and Wellens used all his experience to sit in the wheels and not offer up turns until launching his decisive attack where the road continued to rise after the summit of the final categorised climb.
It was Wellens' first Grand Tour stage win since he won two stages of the 2020 Vuelta a Espana to add to his two Giro d'Italia stage victories.
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'I am buzzing' - Lara Gillespie part of history-making Irish trio at women's Tour de France
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time9 hours ago

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'I am buzzing' - Lara Gillespie part of history-making Irish trio at women's Tour de France

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Thymen Arensman wins Tour de France stage 19 as Ben Healy consolidates top 10 placing
Thymen Arensman wins Tour de France stage 19 as Ben Healy consolidates top 10 placing

Irish Independent

time12 hours ago

  • Irish Independent

Thymen Arensman wins Tour de France stage 19 as Ben Healy consolidates top 10 placing

Tadej Pogacar followed Jonas Vingegaard over the line just behind Arensman, a fourth overall crown now looking safe with his lead at four minutes 24 seconds over Vingegaard, who took back a couple of bonus seconds but nothing more on this final opportunity to make major changes to the standings. Onley, the 22-year-old Scot riding his second Tour, started the day 22 seconds behind third-placed Florian Lipowitz, both men fighting for the best young rider's white jersey, but faded towards the summit of La Plagne to concede 41 seconds and stay fourth overall. It was a second stage win of his debut Tour for Arensman, who had scored a much-needed victory for the Ineos Grenadiers on stage 14 on Superbagneres. UAE Team Emirates-XRG had looked determined to set up Pogacar for what would have been an exclamation mark of a fifth stage victory of this race on the final climb, but Arensman tried a number of attacks and when he went clear with 13km of the climb remaining, he managed to open a gap. His advantage over Pogacar, Vingegaard, Onley and Lipowitz hovered at around 30 seconds, the sort of margin a fully-fresh Pogacar would be able to close at will, but the fatigue in everyone's legs perhaps told as the anticipated attack from behind never really materialised. It was only when Onley began to struggle that Lipowitz saw his opportunity to finish off the Scot, moving to the front and upping the pace. But even so, Arensman hung on to win by a couple of seconds. "I feel absolutely destroyed," Arensman said. "I can't believe it. Already to win one stage in the Tour was unbelievable from a breakaway, but now to do it against the GC group, against the strongest riders in the world, it feels like I'm dreaming. I don't know what I just did." Ben Healy had stayed with the yellow jersey group chasing down Arensman before finally being shelled out the back 4km from the finish, eventually coming in a creditable 8th, 2' 19'' behind Arensman. The Irish rider stays 9th overall with two stages remaining. The discovery of a contagious disease amongst cattle in the area had forced changes to the route, which was shortened from 129.9 kilometres to 95km, removing two climbs but leaving the main tests of the Col du Pre and the finish to La Plagne, still with 3,250m of climbing packed in. Primoz Roglic had been immediately on the attack in an all-or-nothing attempt to move up from fifth overall, but he was caught before the final climb and quickly distanced to move well down, not up, the general classification. With a hilly but not mountainous stage from Nantua to Pontarlier on the menu for Saturday before Sunday's run into Paris - which this year includes the Montmartre climb - there could still be some changes at the sharp end of the general classification but it is difficult to see the podium changing.

Ben Healy remains 9th in GC as Thymsen Arensman wins final mountain stage
Ben Healy remains 9th in GC as Thymsen Arensman wins final mountain stage

The 42

time13 hours ago

  • The 42

Ben Healy remains 9th in GC as Thymsen Arensman wins final mountain stage

BEN HEALY REMAINS ninth in the general classification with two stages remaining at the Tour de France, with Dutch rider Thymen Arsensman winning the final mountain stage in La Plagne. Arensman picked up his second stage win on Friday as defending champion Tadej Pogacar closed in on a fourth title. Healy finished eighth in stage 19, two minutes and 19 seconds behind Arsensman, to keep himself in the top 10 of the GC. Arensman crossed the finish line in the rain two seconds ahead of title contender Jonas Vingegaard and his great rival Pogacar. Advertisement However barring a collapse, Team UAE rider Pogacar should claim his fourth Tour de France title aged just 26 years in Paris on Sunday. The Slovenian exits the Alps with a lead of four minutes and twenty-four seconds on second placed Vingegaard with just two stages remaining. German breakout star Florian Lipowitz strengthened his hold on third place and top spot in the under-25′s section on his debut Tour de France as he tracked the title rivals all the way to the summit finish. For Arensman and Ineos this was a symbolic victory as the British team begin their revival with the return to the helm of Dave Brailsford. Arensman slumped to the ground in tears at La Plagne as he just held on with a white-knuckle struggle over the final kilometres. He previously won stage 14 at another ski resort, at altitude in the Pyrenees at Superbagneres. This final mountain stage was shortened overnight due to an outbreak of a cattle infection along the route, reduced to just 93km, which ran to a rowdy finish at 2050m altitude. The stage however was largely uncontested in comparison to Thursday's epic cat-and-mouse between Pogacar and Vingegaard, who attacked the champion 71km from the finish line without ever dislodging him. Stage 20 on Saturday is a hilly run through the Jura, while Sunday's run to the Champs Elysees also features a potentially chaotic run up the cobbled lanes of Montmartre. – © AFP 2025

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