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The Guardian
19 hours ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Terrifying Mont Ventoux ready to create the unexpected again in Tour de France
The decades pass, generations of Tour de France cyclists come and go, but some gruesome things never change. On Tuesday, the survivors of one of the craziest, fastest Tours ever, a race with even less respite than usual, will do as their predecessors have done every few years since 1951: they will crest a rise in the road, and see Mont Ventoux on the horizon. A sinking in the heart will accompany the dull ache in the legs: we're off to the Bald Mountain once again. The men of the Tour probably won't be thankful for small mercies, but they should be. Last time the Tour visited, in 2021, although the background scenario was the same – Tadej Pogacar had smashed the race to bits on the first serious climb and was set fair for victory – the organisers cruelly made them go over the 1,910m summit twice, in two different ways. Wout van Aert might recall that with a wry smile: the Belgian was in his prime back then and he won out of a breakaway. The time before that, in 2016, the chaos on the mountain was such that the man who was Pogifying the race that year, Chris Froome, ran part of the way to the finish, which had been moved off the summit due to high winds. Froome might recall that utterly freakish episode with a wry smile from his home in Monaco, but it will be tinged with regret that at 40 he probably won't be racing up the Giant of Provence again. Tempora mutantur, but not the Ventoux. That, partly, reflects one of the key features of the Tour; the way it constantly revisits and rewrites its past in places that have barely changed since the first visit. Go round the partly banked corner at Saint-Estève and on to the virtually straight haul through the oak-wooded lower slopes, and it's essentially the same brutal experience that the stars of the 50s, 60s and 70s might have undergone, perhaps with better tarmac as you go up with barely a hairpin to break the gradient until the final haul across the scree slopes to the top. The Ventoux is a place where stuff happens on the Tour, very little of it good, beginning with Jean Malléjac's near-death in 1955 and continuing with Tom Simpson's dramatic demise in 1967. That event, which I investigated in my 2002 biography of Simpson, Put Me Back on My Bike, remains the mountain's defining moment, lending a note of pilgrimage to every ascent to the desolate waste of wind- and frost-blasted limestone scree on its pointed summit. The generation that raced with Simpson has largely passed on – the death in April of Barry Hoban being a case in point – but the poignancy of his death and the tales around it lose nothing in the telling. Equally memorable, if with a touch of farce, was the Froome fiasco in 2016. Froome slipping and sliding in his stiff-soled carbon shoes and clicking pedal cleats with a huge crowd baying at him was probably the most outlandish event I witnessed in 27 Tours, and the feeling then was that this kind of thing could happen only in one of three places, all equally extreme: the Ventoux, l'Alpe d'Huez, and the rarely visited extinct volcano of Le Puy de Dôme in the Massif Central. After all, it wasn't that long since, in 2000, most of the race infrastructure had had to be left behind due to dangerous, but not freak, high winds, meaning that when Marco Pantani won ahead of Lance Armstrong, the finish felt like a return to the 1970s. Given the extreme physical challenge and the sumptuous television images it provides, it's not surprising that the mountain now hosts the Tour far more often than of old, pretty much matching l'Alpe d'Huez for frequency whereas in the 80s and 90s, one visit per decade was deemed enough. The one major change in recent years concerns not the mountain itself but the area around it. Recently, the newspaper l'Equipe documented how cycling up the Ventoux is now front and centre of the local economy, with more than 90,000 cyclists each year pedalling up its slopes by the most traditional route, the southerly road from Bédoin which opens earlier in the year than the northerly route from Malaucène. On the last two visits I made to the mountain, I'd have expected the slopes to be busy when I rode up one June, but less so on a bitter October day when light snow was falling at the observatory. Cycle cafes, cycle hire businesses and major players in the cycle industry cater for the two-wheeled hordes, far beyond the traditional stop-off point at Chalet Reynard, where the thermometer was reputed to have broken on the boiling day Simpson died. There are three dedicated photographers who make a living from selling photographs to those who ride up each day, turning over €130,000 annually in one case, not to mention the local businesses that feed and accommodate the cyclists plus major mass participation events such as sportives and gran fondos; the strangest, perhaps, being the 'brotherhood of the Ventoux nutters', membership of which goes to those who have ridden up the Ventoux three times in a single day using each of the three different ways to the summit. Given the Tour's constant pursuit of new and televisually interesting challenges, it's probably only a matter of time until the race follows suit.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Terrifying Mont Ventoux ready to create the unexpected again in Tour de France
The decades pass, generations of Tour de France cyclists come and go, but some gruesome things never change. On Tuesday, the survivors of one of the craziest, fastest Tours ever, a race with even less respite than usual, will do as their predecessors have done every few years since 1951: they will crest a rise in the road, and see Mont Ventoux on the horizon. A sinking in the heart will accompany the dull ache in the legs: we're off to the Bald Mountain once again. The men of the Tour probably won't be thankful for small mercies, but they should be. Last time the Tour visited, in 2021, although the background scenario was the same – Tadej Pogacar had smashed the race to bits on the first serious climb and was set fair for victory – the organisers cruelly made them go over the 1,910m summit twice, in two different ways. Wout van Aert might recall that with a wry smile: the Belgian was in his prime back then and he won out of a breakaway. The time before that, in 2016, the chaos on the mountain was such that the man who was Pogifying the race that year, Chris Froome, ran part of the way to the finish, which had been moved off the summit due to high winds. Froome might recall that utterly freakish episode with a wry smile from his home in Monaco, but it will be tinged with regret that at 40 he probably won't be racing up the Giant of Provence again. Tempora mutantur, but not the Ventoux. That, partly, reflects one of the key features of the Tour; the way it constantly revisits and rewrites its past in places that have barely changed since the first visit. Go round the partly banked corner at Saint-Estève and on to the virtually straight haul through the oak-wooded lower slopes, and it's essentially the same brutal experience that the stars of the 50s, 60s and 70s might have undergone, perhaps with better tarmac as you go up with barely a hairpin to break the gradient until the final haul across the scree slopes to the top. The Ventoux is a place where stuff happens on the Tour, very little of it good, beginning with Jean Malléjac's near-death in 1955 and continuing with Tom Simpson's dramatic demise in 1967. That event, which I investigated in my 2002 biography of Simpson, Put Me Back on My Bike, remains the mountain's defining moment, lending a note of pilgrimage to every ascent to the desolate waste of wind- and frost-blasted limestone scree on its pointed summit. The generation that raced with Simpson has largely passed on – the death in April of Barry Hoban being a case in point – but the poignancy of his death and the tales around it lose nothing in the telling. Equally memorable, if with a touch of farce, was the Froome fiasco in 2016. Froome slipping and sliding in his stiff-soled carbon shoes and clicking pedal cleats with a huge crowd baying at him was probably the most outlandish event I witnessed in 27 Tours, and the feeling then was that this kind of thing could happen only in one of three places, all equally extreme: the Ventoux, l'Alpe d'Huez, and the rarely visited extinct volcano of Le Puy de Dôme in the Massif Central. After all, it wasn't that long since, in 2000, most of the race infrastructure had had to be left behind due to dangerous, but not freak, high winds, meaning that when Marco Pantani won ahead of Lance Armstrong, the finish felt like a return to the 1970s. Given the extreme physical challenge and the sumptuous television images it provides, it's not surprising that the mountain now hosts the Tour far more often than of old, pretty much matching l'Alpe d'Huez for frequency whereas in the 80s and 90s, one visit per decade was deemed enough. The one major change in recent years concerns not the mountain itself but the area around it. Recently, the newspaper l'Equipe documented how cycling up the Ventoux is now front and centre of the local economy, with more than 90,000 cyclists each year pedalling up its slopes by the most traditional route, the southerly road from Bédoin which opens earlier in the year than the northerly route from Malaucène. On the last two visits I made to the mountain, I'd have expected the slopes to be busy when I rode up one June, but less so on a bitter October day when light snow was falling at the observatory. Cycle cafes, cycle hire businesses and major players in the cycle industry cater for the two-wheeled hordes, far beyond the traditional stop-off point at Chalet Reynard, where the thermometer was reputed to have broken on the boiling day Simpson died. There are three dedicated photographers who make a living from selling photographs to those who ride up each day, turning over €130,000 annually in one case, not to mention the local businesses that feed and accommodate the cyclists plus major mass participation events such as sportives and gran fondos; the strangest, perhaps, being the 'brotherhood of the Ventoux nutters', membership of which goes to those who have ridden up the Ventoux three times in a single day using each of the three different ways to the summit. Given the Tour's constant pursuit of new and televisually interesting challenges, it's probably only a matter of time until the race follows suit.
BBC News
04-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
What do the different colour jerseys signify at Tour de France?
There are four different jerseys used to differentiate the classifications at the Tour de are yellow, green, polka-dot and white and are handed out at the end of each stage with the leader in each category wearing it during the next will battle it out for the respected jerseys over 21 stages, involving a mix of flat, hilly and mountain stages, across a distance of 3,338.8 km. Yellow jersey The yellow jersey (maillot jaune in French) is worn by the leader of the general classification - the rider who has taken the lowest accumulated time over the course of the was chosen for the jersey because the race's original organiser, French newspaper 'L'Auto', was printed on yellow race leader is presented with the yellow jersey at the end of each stage and will wear it the following Simpson was the first British rider to wear the yellow jersey, having moved into the overall lead of the 1962 race after stage riders won six out of seven yellow jerseys, with Sir Bradley Wiggins the first in 2012. Chris Froome won four titles (2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017) while Geraint Thomas won the yellow jersey in riders have won a joint record five Tours de France: Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault of France, Belgium's Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain of 2024, Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar won his third title, finishing the race, six minutes clear of second place Jonas Vingegaard. Green jersey The green jersey (maillot vert in French) represents the points is handed to the rider with the most points at the end of each stage and overall at the end of the jersey, which was created for the tour's 50th anniversary in 1953, is often considered the sprinters' are awarded for the top 15 finishers on flat, medium mountain, high mountain and individual time trial are also points available in an intermediate sprint on each stage - this is a specific point of the route where riders will sprint for additional most points are awarded at the finish of flat stages, with 50 points for the first over the can be lost for dangerous sprinting, irregular conduct and violating Peter Sagan won a record seven titles between 2012 and 2019, while Britain's Mark Cavendish claimed the green jersey in 2011 and rider Biniam Girmay made history in 2024 by becoming the first black African winner of the Tour de France points classification. Polka-dot jersey The polka-dot jersey (maillot à pois rouges in French) is awarded to the rider who collects the most points to lead the mountains classification. The rider who wears this white jersey with red polka dots is referred to as the 'King of the Mountains'.Each climb is categorised from one, most difficult to four, least difficult - the tougher the climb, the more points are available. There is also a fifth category which is reserved for the most challenging climbs, known as 'hors categorie' and are typically the big mountain of the event decide which climbs will be included and what category of difficulty they will fall King of the Mountains classification has been won a record seven times by Richard Virenque of France and was claimed by Ecuador's Richard Carapaz in 2024. White jersey The white jersey (maillot blanc in French) is awarded to the fastest young rider and was first introduced in riders in with a chance of winning this jersey must be 26 years old or has been won twice by British riders, twins Adam and Simon Yates, who won in 2016 and 2017 Evenepoel won the white jersey at last year's tour. This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team. What is Ask Me Anything? Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you team will find out everything you need to know and be able to call upon a network of contacts including our experts and will be answering your questions from the heart of the BBC Sport newsroom, and going behind the scenes at some of the world's biggest sporting coverage will span the BBC Sport website, app, social media and YouTube accounts, plus BBC TV and radio. More questions answered... How do athletes manage sleep?Could I qualify for Wimbledon?Who are the most expensive sports teams in history?
The National
04-07-2025
- Sport
- The National
Tadej Pogacar confident he can lead UAE Team Emirates to glory again at Tour de France
After what has been a sensational 2025 so far, UAE Team Emirates-XRG turn their attentions to the big one with the 112th Tour de France set to begin in Lille on Saturday. Leading the charge over the 3,339km route will once again be Slovenian superstar Tadej Pogacar who is looking to retain the crown he won for a third time last year. Pogacar's hunger for titles has shown no sign of easing up, with the 26-year-old having triumphed in six races this year, including the UAE Tour and Liege-Bastogne-Liege – each for a third time – while also securing a first Criterium du Dauphine victory in June. It means Pogacar goes into the cycling's most famous race a clear favourite as he chases a General Classification win that would bring him level with British rider Chris Froome on four wins overall. If he arrives in Paris on July 27 as champion again, it would leave him behind only Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain, who all have a record five Tour victories. And only seven riders have won more Tour de France stages than Pogacar's 17, which puts him joint-eighth on the all-time list, level with Frenchman Jean Alavoine, albeit with some way to go to match Manx sprinter Mark Cavendish's 35 stage victories. 'I'm excited for the Tour to start,' the 2024 triple-crown winner Pogacar told The National ahead of Saturday's 184.9km opening stage in northern France. 'I'm lucky to have had close to the perfect preparation this year; everything has gone really smoothly, especially coming off a great altitude camp with my teammates. 'The vibes in the team are amazing right now, and that gives me a lot of confidence.' French cycling legend Hinault is confident Pogacar will eventually go on to break his record for Tour victories. 'For me, yes, he is the favourite, unless he has a major breakdown, but I don't believe that at all,' Hinault, 70, told AFP. 'When you see what he was able to do in the Dauphine, he was in control, he did what he wanted, when he wanted. 'Pogacar, when he sees that he has the chance to pull the trigger, he pulls the trigger – a bit like Eddy [Merckx]. 'When he attacks, as he did at the world championships, with 100 kilometres to go, everyone says, 'what a stupid thing to do'. At the end, he won. And that's fabulous to see.' It has not just been Pogacar enjoying a memorable campaign so far. UAE Team Emirates as a whole have been in scorching form, with an impressive 55 victories secured in 2025. And it is an impressive squad supporting Pogacar at this year's Tour. Trusted British lieutenant Adam Yates returns to marshal the mountains and shield his leader through the gruelling sections. Portuguese rider Joao Almeida enters the race in the form of his life, having secured overall wins in the Tour de Romandie, Tour of the Basque Country and, just last week, the Tour de Suisse. Hometown hero Pavel Sivakov and Ecuadorian national champion Jhonatan Narvaez have the potential to shine on the short, steep ascents that could define the early stages, while Marc Soler returns to the lineup ready to continue his role as the team's versatile workhorse, dependable on both the flat and in the hills. Belgian national champion Tim Wellens and German powerhouse Nils Politt round out the squad, tasked with controlling breakaways and guiding the team across the valleys. But, as always, victory at Le Tour will not come easily, and battling Pogacar for yellow will be three all-too familiar faces in the peloton. Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard, a two-time Tour de France winner, will be hungry to reclaim his crown after being overpowered by Pogacar last year when he had just returned to racing following a horrific crash in the Tour of the Basque Country. Belgian double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel will be hoping to rediscover his best form after struggling in the latter stages at the Dauphine, while Slovenian veteran and five-time Grand Tour winner Primoz Roglic rounds off cycling's 'big four'. This year's Tour – which never leaves French soil for the first time since 2020 – will consist of seven flat stages, six hilly challenges, and six mountain days, including one individual and one mountain time trial. After starts in Florence, Bilbao and Copenhagen, cycling's most prestigious race returns to its roots with an old school itinerary favouring climbers. 'We decided to bring the Tour home, it was high time after all the foreign starts,' said race director Christian Prudhomme. A total of 184 riders from 23 teams will gather in Lille for the Grand Depart in a race that consists of 21 stages before reaching the finish line in Paris. It remains to be seen whether Pogacar can once again be the man in yellow on the Champs-Elysees.
Times
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Reliving Britain's strength in adversity — and other news in pictures
Ukrainians jump over a bonfire during celebrations for the traditional pagan holiday of Ivana Kupala in Kyiv, usually celebrated on the shortest night of the year SERGEY DOLZHENKO/EPA Thousands of bikers arrive at Barrow-in-Furness for Dave Day 2, to celebrate the life of the Hairy Bikers presenter Dave Myers. He died from cancer at the age of 66 last year GREENBURN/ALAMY A trio of one-month-old hoglets are due to be released after they were accidentally picked up by an excavator before being taken to a rescue charity, Help4hedgehogs, near Hailsham in East Sussex JON SANTA CRUZ The Turkish mosaic artist Gulcin Sokucu, who reflects her fascination with sunflowers in her work, stands in a field of them in Gaziantep, southern Turkey ADSIZ GUNEBAKAN/ANADOLU/GETTY IMAGES JOHN LAMPARSKI/GETTY IMAGES SHIRLAINE FORREST/GETTY IMAGES Robert Springett, the Bishop of Tewkesbury, immerses Laura Raymond in cold water for her baptism in a paddling pool during the heatwave at St James Church in Quedgeley, Gloucestershire PAUL NICHOLLS PHOTOGRAPHY The 8th French Lightsaber Open takes place at the Japy gymnasium in Paris ROMAIN PERROCHEAU/AFP/GETTY IMAGES Ed Kluz's immersive exhibition 'Between Chaos and Light' will be in place until December 21 inside Fountains Hall at the Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal world heritage site in North Yorkshire, running from the summer solstice to the winter equivalent TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JAMES GLOSSOP The British rider Chris Froome, of the Israel-Premier Tech cycling team, relaxes in a cable car after competing in the eighth and last stage of the Tour de Suisse, a 10.1km individual time trial from Beckenried to Stockhütte, Switzerland URS FLUEELER/EPA The blessing of the River Avon took place at Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, by the Rev Canon Nick Davies, vicar of Tewkesbury Abbey. The blessing of the river is both spiritual and symbolic, calling on people of all faiths and none to unite in environmental stewardship JACK BOSKETT MEDIA LIMITED A farmer watches over a flock of sheep at Gèdre, southwest France. Attacks by bears force them to seek safer pastures higher up in the Pyrenees VALENTINE CHAPUIS/AFP Revellers dance in the street during Fête De La Musique 2025 as bands and DJs play across the French capital. Launched in 1982 by the French culture ministry with the aim of making all genres of music accessible to everyone, the festival is now celebrated on the summer solstice in 85 countries KIRAN RIDLEY/GETTY IMAGES Exercises with Samoyed puppies on International Yoga Day in Bangkok, Thailand CHALINEE THIRASUPA/REUTERS People cool off at Crown Fountain in Millennium Park, Chicago, as temperatures climb to more than 35C. Excessive heat is expected in the area for the next few days KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP Tourists enjoy a boat ride at Marmaris in southern Turkey SABRI KESEN/ANADOLU/GETTY IMAGES Couples kiss during 'The Wedding: New York's Biggest Day', an annual event that allows people to celebrate their love either by getting married for the first time, renewing their vows or simply expressing their love for the city at Lincoln Center in Manhattan HEATHER KHALIFA/REUTERS The annual Shandur polo festival takes place at Shandur Pass at an estimated altitude of about 3,700m (12,140ft) in Chitral, northern Pakistan KHURAM PARVEZ/REUTERS Sylvain André of France competes in the men's elite first round during the 2025 UCI BMX racing world cup at the Papendal sports centre in Arnhem, Netherlands RENE NIJHUIS/MB MEDIA/GETTY IMAGES Dawn at Esthwaite Water, a 280-acre natural lake in the Lake District
