Magnificent Pogacar soars to Fleche Wallonne triumph
cycling
Tadej Pogacar powered up the steepest part of the final Ardennes hill Wednesday to reclaim the Fleche Wallonne classic title after a cold and rainy 205km slog over 11 climbs.
With a mud-splattered face, the three-time Tour de France champion could barely raise a smile at the finish line, as plucky Frenchman Kevin Vauquelin emerged second and Briton Tom Pidcock third.
The 23-year-old Vauquelin was also runner-up last year, proving he will often be a force in races culminating with a short, sharp hill.
Pidcock, having quit Ineos in the close season for the second-tier Q36.5 team, can also be proud of a fine finish in a strong field.
Winner of the Brabantse Pijl last Friday on his comeback from injury, Belgian hope Remco Evenepoel was right in the thick of the race before fading to ninth over the last 200m as Pogacar switched into a gear nobody else could find.
More than just a warm-up race for Sunday's Liege-Bastogne-Liege raced in the same region, but 50km longer, this race runs through the Ardennes forest but over 11 of the region's steepest climbs.
Pogacar, who last won at the Tour of Flanders on April 6, was clearly tired but delighted after his latest efforts.
"It's a beautiful place, but as a cyclist you don't like it so much, such a tough finish," said the Team UAE Emirates leader.
"It's a really great feeling, the weather wasn't so good but winning again is all that counts. We worked well as a team today and we'll have a similar one for Sunday at Liege," said the 26-year-old, who won at Liege last year in the absence of the injured Evenepoel.
Wednesday's race culminated with the fearsome Mur de Huy, just 1.3km in length but with gradients hitting 19 percent with an average of 9.6.
Pogacar said he attacked when he saw Irishman Ben Healy, who finished fifth, draw level with him.
"I said 'Okay he looks fast'. So I accelerated and when I looked over my shoulder, no one was there. But really that's the hardest kilometre in cycling," he added.
This was a return to winning ways for Slovenian Pogacar after his second-placed finish to Mathieu van der Poel at Paris-Roubaix, and another second place in the Amstel Gold race behind Mattias Skjelmose on Sunday.
Skjelmose had been highly fancied again here but the 24-year-old was one of several riders who slid out of the race on a slick corner around 40km from home on a day of unrelenting rain.
His Lidl teammate Thibau Nys had also been touted as a man who could beat Pogacar on the final climb but eventually came eighth, perhaps due to the fact Skjelmose had dropped out.
A stubborn escape group clung on until the final ascent, in a sign of how little appetite there was for a long-range bid for glory from one of the race favorites.
Many of Wednesday's competitors will be back in action Sunday in the same corner of the Ardennes for the Liege-Bastogne-Liege 'Monument' over 252km where an escape is more likely.
© 2025 AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
29-05-2025
- Japan Today
Denz breaks away to win for Roglic as Del Toro protects Giro lead
cycling Nico Denz escaped from the remnants of a huge breakaway to win stage 18 of the Giro on Thursday as the surviving overall contenders took it easy ahead of two mountain-top battles. Even so, the race continued to take a toll on the big names. Juan Ayuso started the stage but retired two days after Primoz Roglic, the other big pre-race favorite, pulled out. Denz, a 31-year-old German, surged away from the other 10 remaining members of the lead group to give Roglic's Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe team their first win of a disastrous Giro. "Everyone on the team had the big goal to win the Giro with Primoz," Denz said. "We spent two months in altitude for that. I'm now three months gone from home - I did not see my wife or children. If you lose a leader like Primoz, you lose a dream. We've thought all this hard work was for nothing. Luckily things turned around." Italian Mirco Maestri sprinted to second 1 minute, 1 second later, edging Belgian Edward Planckaert. Overall leader Isaac Del Toro rolled home alongside his main rivals 13 minutes, 51 seconds back. The Mexican has two former grand tour winners in close pursuit. He is a mere 41 seconds ahead of Richard Carapaz and 51sec ahead of Simon Yates. Asked what he was on his mind on the eve of the final battle, the 21-year-old Del Toro replied that he would go to bed thinking of having Nutella for breakfast. "I'm starting to get used to the pink jersey," Del Toro said. "For the next two stages, I hope to be at the front with the best legs I've ever had. We'll see what happens, but I want to be at the front." Thursday's transitional stage from Morbegno to Cesano Maderno was designed to give sprinters a chance and the main contenders a rest, ahead of two days of high-altitude battles. Instead, a breakaway group of almost 40 riders, none well placed overall, coalesced up the road. With almost every team represented, the pack let the break go and spent the gently 144km run rolling easily along. The stage ended with two 12.5km laps and the peloton was so slow that there was a danger it would start its first circuit just as the leaders were beginning their last loop. Organisers solved the problem by asking the previously dormant Q36.5 team, which had no riders in the breakaway, to up the pace at the head of the pack. Ayuso, the designated leader of the UAE team, started the day more than 49 minutes behind team-mate Del Toro, his right swollen eye closed by a sting. "It's been a couple of hard days," he said at the start. "Yesterday a bee went inside my helmet and I can't see out of my right eye." Ayuso had also been nursing a knee injury since a crash on stage nine that required three stitches. Saturday's 166km run from Del Biella to Champoluc includes three first-category climbs. It is first of two two ferocious mountain days before the survivors can roll into Rome in triumph on a flat final day. Before they start racing on the final Sunday, the riders will visit the Vatican where newly-elected Pope Leo XIV will greet the peloton. © 2025 AFP
Japan Today
28-05-2025
- Japan Today
Giro leader Del Toro hits back with stage 17 triumph
Isaac Del Toro bows in celebration after winning the 17th stage of the Giro d'Italia cycling Overall leader Isaac del Toro bounced back from the disappointment of seeing his advantage slashed by storming to a brilliant victory on stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday. The Mexican saw his lead cut from 1 minute, 20 seconds to just 26 seconds in stage 16, but attacked on the Le Motte climb before powering away from Romain Bardet and Richard Carapaz in the final two kilometers. Del Toro celebrated his maiden Grand Tour stage victory with a bow and is now 41 seconds ahead of Ecuadoran rider Carapaz overall, with Simon Yates 10 seconds further back. It was a spectacular response from Team UAE's Del Toro, who timed his surge to victory to perfection at the end of a mountainous 155-km ride to Bormio in the Alps. "It's incredible, everybody wants this and today I realized I will never give up," he said. "I will always stay one step in front, and I will always try... I don't have anything to lose and today wasn't easier than yesterday but for sure I had a better mentality." The 21-year-old finished three seconds clear of Frenchman Bardet and six seconds ahead of pink-jersey rival Carapaz to extend his general classification lead. Yates, who started the day in second overall, was cut adrift by Del Toro's attack, which only Carapaz could initially follow, and crossed the finish line nine seconds behind. It was heartbreak for Bardet, who will retire in two weeks' time, as he came up just short in his latest bid to complete a hat-trick of stage wins on every Grand Tour. "As is often the case at the Giro, this is my fourth second place in four participations," said the 34-year-old, who led on his own until being caught by Del Toro and Carapaz. "I did my best. It's definitely a shame because I had everything in place to win, but you can't control the behavior of the other teams. I'm proud of this last appearance in a Grand Tour." Thursday's 18th stage is a hilly 144-km route from Morbegno to Cesano Maderno in Lombardy. © 2025 AFP
Japan Today
28-05-2025
- Japan Today
Opponents of French players at the French Open deal with insults and whistling and, yes, even gum
FILE - France's Arthur Rinderknech participates in the wave with fans during a first-round match against Italy's Jannik Sinner in the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Monday, May 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) tennis By TOM NOUVIAN and HOWARD FENDRICH In all sports, there are advantages to being at home. At the French Open tennis tournament, being a visitor playing against a French player can feel as though the whole world is against you. The crowds don't just cheer. They boo, they whistle, they make noise between serves, they hurl insults — and, at least once, even gum — at the locals' opponents. That sort of behavior is why the tournament organizers banned alcohol from the stands last year, a policy still in place. Some of the non-French athletes who deal with that sort of negativity in Paris, such as 19-year-old Jakub Mensík of the Czech Republic, who eliminated Alexandre Müller in front of a rowdy crowd at Court 14 on Tuesday, compare the high-intensity atmosphere to that of a soccer game. Others choose stronger terms. 'Disgusting. Worst experience of my life,' was what Nicolás Jarry of Chile said this week when asked to think back to last year's rowdy loss at Court Simonne-Mathieu to France's Corentin Moutet, whose coach had implored the spectators to make life 'hell' for Jarry after the two had a contentious meeting in Santiago earlier in the season. Jarry blamed that on Moutet, saying that everything was calmer during his loss Monday to another Frenchman, Arthur Fils, whom the Chilean called a 'good guy' and a 'gentleman.' 'It's a battle out there, you know. Sometimes, it's not just a battle with the player,' said Novak Djokovic, who is scheduled to face the irrepressible Moutet in the second round Thursday. Expect an antagonistic atmosphere. Djokovic sure does. 'They're going to have the crowd on their side. It's nothing strange about it. It's expected,' the 24-time Grand Slam champion said. 'But it is true that here in France and in Paris, comparing to other Slams, the people are louder and more passionate and just give more support, louder support, more energy to their player, which for some (opponents) can be annoying. It's not the kind of ideal environment you want to be playing in, but you have to be ready for it.' So much for the supposed silence usually found in a tennis arena. It all raises questions about where the line between support and incivility lies. 'We've stepped up security," tournament director Amélie Mauresmo, a former No. 1 player, said before this year's event, "and given chair umpires greater power to intervene and report unacceptable behavior in the stands.' For Mensík on Tuesday, the jeers began every time he hit the ball during the warmup ahead of his 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3 win over France's Müller. More arrived once play began, accompanying each of his 20 aces or just when he simply walked to check a ball mark — a routine part of clay-court tennis. After taking the third set, Mensík gave the boo birds a little bit back, waving his right index finger as if it were a baton conducting an orchestra, a move he learned from Djokovic. 'Sometimes,' Mensík said of the crowd, 'it is too far.' Still, there are those who shrug it all off. 'That's part of tennis, especially here. My opponent had her fans here; I have mine in Belgium. It's normal," said Elise Mertens, the 24th-seeded Belgian who was a semifinalist at the 2018 Australian Open and lost Tuesday to Lois Boisson of France at Court 14. 'Fans were loud but not insulting. I didn't feel any particular hostility.' There are two sides to the loud backing French players receive. It 'makes you feel like you could reach for the stars,' said the highest-ranked French woman, Varvara Gracheva, who acknowledged that support also can become a burden. She lost in the first round Tuesday. It's been a quarter of a century since a woman representing the host nation won the singles title at the French Open ( Mary Pierce in 2000) and even longer since a man did ( Yannick Noah in 1983). 'As French players, we're under pressure all the time when we play here' said Moutet, currently ranked No. 73. 'When you lose, you 'suck.' When you win, you're 'King of the World.' So you have to try to ignore the pressure.' Nathan Fhima, an 18-year-old high school student from Paris, figured his compatriots needed his voice. So there he was this week at Roland-Garros, waving a blue-white-and-red French flag and screaming himself hoarse while skipping class to watch qualifying and first-round matches. 'We have to push them, because not much will happen otherwise,' he said after watching France's Diane Parry lose Monday. 'Maybe that noise will lift a homegrown champion to victory again. We have to believe.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
