Latest news with #AGInsurance-Soudal
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Lifestyle
- The Guardian
Lizzie Deignan's farewell tour off to tricky start on Yorkshire home roads
There was personal celebration but professional frustration for Lizzie Deignan on the opening day of her final Tour of Britain when her Lidl-Trek team failed to stop the Mauritian national champion, Kim Le Court, taking the first stage win and overall race lead in Redcar. Deignan's valedictory race on British roads began with a fast 85.6km opening stage, from Dalby Forest to the beachfront in Redcar, and took in some of her longstanding training roads within an hour or so of her home in Otley, West Yorkshire. But although her team had strength in depth in the 20-rider pursuit of the day's breakaway, they proved unable to close down Le Court and Kristen Faulkner, the Olympic champion, who stayed clear to contest the seaside finish. 'We had a clear plan and executed it exactly as we wanted,' said Le Court, riding for the AG Insurance-Soudal team. 'I'm really happy that the legs reacted and I was able to pull it off for the team. We'll see how long I can keep the jersey for. Friday is a stage that suits me a bit more, so I'm going in with a bit more confidence than today.' Deignan was prominent throughout the stage, but whenLe Court, winner of this year's Liège-Bastogne-Liège, broke clear on Langburn's Bank, the steepest gradient of the second classified climb, Deignan's Lidl-Trek team was distanced. Le Court's powerful acceleration on the 16% sections at the base of the climb proved too much for her rivals, including Deignan's teammate, the Paris 2024 silver medallist Anna Henderson, who tried to give chase but was unable to follow the move. Only Faulkner, of EF Education-Oatly, was able to close the gap and the pair, who joined forces on the descent, then worked together to build a half-minute lead on their pursuers during the undulating run into Redcar. Even though Deignan's team had four of their five riders in the chasing group, and were aided both by Cat Ferguson's Movistar team and the French FDJ-Suez team, they were unable to close down the half-minute advantage. But Faulkner almost came unstuck on a right-hand bend in the closing kilometres, misjudging her speed and skidding to a halt against a traffic island. Sportingly, Le Court, knowing that their break had a better chance of success if the pair stayed together, waited for the American. While Lorena Wiebes, a past stage winner, took third in the sprint, Ferguson, making her debut in the race, was the first British finisher on the stage, finishing fifth. The junior world road race champion is now sixth overall, 18 seconds adrift of Le Court. Ferguson, who also took the lead in the best young rider classification, admitted she had expected there to be a regrouping in the final kilometres. 'I thought it would definitely come down to a sprint,' the 19-year-old said, 'so for the two to stay away was a surprise. They were too strong, so credit to them for staying away.' By her own admission Deignan's days as an overall contender are probably gone, but Skipton-born Ferguson, seen as her natural heir, is well-placed to make an impact as the race goes on. 'I've not thought about my strategy yet,' she said, 'but I'm just going to take it day by day and approach each day like we did today, like a real team.' Friday's second stage of the four-day race takes the peloton from Hartlepool to Saltburn-by-the-sea and finishes with the infamous hairpins of Saltburn Bank, the venue for recent National Championships. The steep climb to the finish is well-known to British riders in the peloton and was pivotal to the outcome of the women's road race in 2023 and 2024, both of which were won by Pfeiffer Georgi, of the Picnic PostNL team.
Perth Now
14-05-2025
- Health
- Perth Now
'Night and day': cycling star to return after surgery
Iliac artery endofibrosis - it's a mouthful, and a medical condition that has become a significant issue in professional cycling. Australian star Sarah Gigante will finally head to her European base in Girona, Spain, on Thursday to belatedly start the season, having undergone major surgery in December to fix the problem. The 24-year-old is among several top-level riders, including compatriot Amanda Spratt, who have needed the operation that has saved their careers. "It's going really well. It (the surgery) just made such a huge difference - night and day - with my pain, but also my power," Gigante told AAP. The iliac arteries run through the pelvis. The condition happens when high blood flow and repetitive hip flexion cause the artery to narrow. Even in professional cycling, where a broken collarbone is seen as an occupational hazard, having this operation is a major step. "It's not like a plated collarbone. For sure, in that first month they told me I had to be really careful, not to raise my heart rate, my blood pressure," Gigante said. "For once, I listened to the doctor ... this one, I was good." Gigante's recovery has gone better than expected and she hopes to ride in July and August at the women's Giro d'Italia, then the Tour de France. The AG Insurance-Soudal rider was seventh overall last year at the Tour, adding to her formidable career. While the surgery was the latest in a series of injury and health setbacks for Gigante over the past few years, she is a phenomenal talent. Gigante won last year's Tour Down Under in Adelaide and has snared three senior national road titles. The Tokyo Olympian was a star attraction on Tuesday when the annual Around The Bay In A Day community ride was launched in Melbourne. Her setbacks have also taught Gigante resilience. "I feel like I've had enough setbacks and bad luck for a while. It doesn't work like that, but fingers crossed," she said. "If I'd found out I needed the surgery, like, three years ago then I wouldn't have been able to deal with it as well as I did. "I didn't like the news - it was a big blow and a huge surprise. I was still trying to train, through pain, for the Tour Down Under. "Just to get told suddenly 'oh, no, you need to have six months off the bike, we don't know what the rehab will look like' - that was a huge shock. "Pretty quickly, within a couple of days, I'd already turned it into a positive - 'I'm going to come back stronger, now I will have two legs, not one and a quarter'." For now, Gigante is setting no goals. She will be happy just to race again. "I wasn't expecting to return to Europe for another month or so, but maybe two and a half months ago I was already getting better power than at my best last year," she said. "At this stage, just being back in the peloton will be a huge win, pinning on numbers again - I just can't wait to have that feeling again and being with my teammates, working towards a shared goal."
West Australian
14-05-2025
- Health
- West Australian
'Night and day': cycling star to return after surgery
Iliac artery endofibrosis - it's a mouthful, and a medical condition that has become a significant issue in professional cycling. Australian star Sarah Gigante will finally head to her European base in Girona, Spain, on Thursday to belatedly start the season, having undergone major surgery in December to fix the problem. The 24-year-old is among several top-level riders, including compatriot Amanda Spratt, who have needed the operation that has saved their careers. "It's going really well. It (the surgery) just made such a huge difference - night and day - with my pain, but also my power," Gigante told AAP. The iliac arteries run through the pelvis. The condition happens when high blood flow and repetitive hip flexion cause the artery to narrow. Even in professional cycling, where a broken collarbone is seen as an occupational hazard, having this operation is a major step. "It's not like a plated collarbone. For sure, in that first month they told me I had to be really careful, not to raise my heart rate, my blood pressure," Gigante said. "For once, I listened to the doctor ... this one, I was good." Gigante's recovery has gone better than expected and she hopes to ride in July and August at the women's Giro d'Italia, then the Tour de France. The AG Insurance-Soudal rider was seventh overall last year at the Tour, adding to her formidable career. While the surgery was the latest in a series of injury and health setbacks for Gigante over the past few years, she is a phenomenal talent. Gigante won last year's Tour Down Under in Adelaide and has snared three senior national road titles. The Tokyo Olympian was a star attraction on Tuesday when the annual Around The Bay In A Day community ride was launched in Melbourne. Her setbacks have also taught Gigante resilience. "I feel like I've had enough setbacks and bad luck for a while. It doesn't work like that, but fingers crossed," she said. "If I'd found out I needed the surgery, like, three years ago then I wouldn't have been able to deal with it as well as I did. "I didn't like the news - it was a big blow and a huge surprise. I was still trying to train, through pain, for the Tour Down Under. "Just to get told suddenly 'oh, no, you need to have six months off the bike, we don't know what the rehab will look like' - that was a huge shock. "Pretty quickly, within a couple of days, I'd already turned it into a positive - 'I'm going to come back stronger, now I will have two legs, not one and a quarter'." For now, Gigante is setting no goals. She will be happy just to race again. "I wasn't expecting to return to Europe for another month or so, but maybe two and a half months ago I was already getting better power than at my best last year," she said. "At this stage, just being back in the peloton will be a huge win, pinning on numbers again - I just can't wait to have that feeling again and being with my teammates, working towards a shared goal."
Eyewitness News
28-04-2025
- Sport
- Eyewitness News
Le Court becomes first African winner of women's Liege classic
LIEGE, BELGIUM - Mauritian rider Kim Le Court sprung a surprise on Sunday by becoming the first African cyclist to win the women's Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The 29-year-old AG Insurance-Soudal rider scored the biggest win of her career by beating Dutch pair Puck Pieterse and Demi Vollering in a four-way sprint, with French rider Cedrine Kerbaol just missing out on the podium. "I can't believe it. On the Cote de La Roche-aux-Faucons (13km from the line), I was completely out of breath," she said. "I can't believe I won ahead of the stars of the peloton." Le Court has enjoyed an excellent classics season, taking fifth in the Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders. World road race champion Lotte Kopecky, the big favourite for the ninth edition of the race, controlled the sprint of the chasing pack to finish fifth.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Pogacar wins third Liege-Bastogne-Liege title
World champion Tadej Pogacar won his third Liege-Bastogne-Liege with a dominant showing in the Belgian one-day classic as Mauritian Kim le Court took the biggest win of her career in the women's race. Slovenian Pogecar attacked on the Cote de la Redoute climb with 35km of the 252km course remaining and expertly stayed clear to defend his title, having also won in 2021. Italy's Giulio Ciccone edged out Ireland's Ben Healy to claim second, finishing just over a minute down on Pogacar. Pogacar, 26, is the first rider to finish on the podium in six successive 'Monuments' - the five most prestigious one-day races in men's cycling. After winning Liege and Il Lombardia last year, he finished third at this year's Milan-San Remo, won the Tour of Flanders and was runner-up at Paris-Roubaix. The three-time Tour de France champion has also finished on the podium in the past eight Monuments he has entered, winning five. This is Pogacar's ninth Monument win overall. Only Eddy Merckx, widely regarded as the greatest cyclist of all time, with 19, and fellow Belgian great Roger de Vlaeminck (11) have more victories in these famous races. Victory in Belgium caps another stunning spring classics campaign by Pogacar, with the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider also winning Strade Bianche and Fleche Wallonne, as well as narrowly finishing second in the Amstel Gold Race. Le Court had enjoyed two fifth-place finishes this spring in the Milan-San Remo and Tour of Flanders. But it was still a shock when the 29-year-old AG Insurance-Soudal rider came out on top in a four-way sprint for the line ahead of Dutch duo Puck Pieterse and Demi Vollering, and France's Cedrine Kerbaol. "I can't believe it. On the climb to La Roche-aux-Faucons [13 km from the finish line], I was completely out of breath. So to win ahead of the stars of the peloton, I can't believe it," said Le Court - the first African winner of a Monument race. World champion Lotte Kopecky was fifth. Pogacar overcomes wet conditions to win Fleche Wallonne Pogacar & record-breaking Kopecky claim Tour of Flanders wins The race was billed as a showdown between Pogacar and Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, who won back-to-back Liege titles in 2022 and 2023 before suffering multiple bone fractures in a serious crash on a training ride last year. However, the Belgian struggled, caught out of position when Pogacar attacked and later dropped by the peloton on the final climb of the day. Instead it was the familiar sight of Pogacar mounting an attack no-one could match. Britain's Tom Pidcock attempted to bring him back alongside Healy but Pogacar built up a lead of 30 seconds within 5km and the gap kept growing. Ciccone and Julian Alaphilippe joined Pidcock and Healy but they could not get organised, with Ciccone and Healy eventually getting clear to compete for the two podium spots left. Pidcock finished ninth. In reality this was just about Pogacar's increasingly possible quest to rival Merckx's standing as the greatest. Pogacar is only the seventh rider to win three or more editions of Liege, the oldest of the Monuments, with Merckx holding the record of five wins. Mercx won five Tours de France - including 34 stages - five Giro d'Italia titles, one Vuelta a Espana and three world road crowns, as well as his 19 monuments. Pogacar has three Tour victories, including 17 stages, one Giro, one Vuelta, one world title and nine monuments. Only Merckx (1974), Ireland's Stephan Roche (1987) and Pogacar (2024) have completed the triple crown of winning the Giro, Tour and world championship in the same year. Pogacar is unlikely to win as many Giro titles as Merckx, given the demands of targeting the Tour each year, but every other tally could well be in his sights. After he attempts to defend his Tour title in July, Pogacar will be heavily favoured to claim a 10th Monument before the season ends at Il Lombardia in October. Pogacar has won the last four consecutive editions of the one-day race in Italy and will be seeking to equal Fausto Coppi's record of five wins overall. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 6hrs 0mins 9secs Giulio Ciccone (Ita/Lidl-Trek) +1min 03secs Ben Healy (Ire/EF Education-EasyPost) Same time Simone Velasco (Ita/XDS Astana Team) +1min 10secs Thibau Nys (Bel/Lidl-Trek) Same time Andrea Bagioli (Ita/Lidl-Trek) Daniel Martinez (Col/Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) Axel Laurance (Fra/Ineos Grenadiers) Tom Pidcock (GB/Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) Neilson Powless (US/EF Education-EasyPost) Kim le Court (Mus/AG Insurance-Soudal) 4hrs 15mins 42secs Puck Pieterse (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck) same time Demi Vollering (Ned/ FDJ-Suez) Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra/ EF Education-Oatly) Lotte Kopecky (Bel/Team SD Worx-Protime) +24s Marlen Reusser (Swi/Movistar) same time Mary Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ/Lidl-Trek) Monica Trinca Colonel (Ita/Liv-Alula-Jayco) Katarzyna Anna Niewiadoma (Pol/Canyon-Sram Zondacrypto) Yara Kastelijn (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck)
