Latest news with #ColdeMadeleine
BBC News
02-08-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ferrand-Prevot wins penultimate stage to take lead
Pauline Ferrand-Prevot claimed the leader's yellow jersey on the penultimate stage of the Tour de France Femmes with a stunning victory on the spectacular Col de la carrying French hopes of a home champion, produced a devastating performance on this year's queen stage to replace Kim le Court at the top of the general classification standings before Sunday's eighth day of racing featured more than 3,500m of climbing, including the third-highest summit finish in the race's history at 2,000m above sea mountain bike champion Ferrand-Prevot was motivated to return to road racing after seven seasons away to win the yellow goal is now within reach after she crossed the line one minute and 45 seconds clear of Sarah Gigante, who moved up to second overall - two minutes and 37 seconds behind Vollering, the 2023 champion, moved up one place to third overall after crossing the line in fourth, behind Niamh Fisher-Black, as former leader Le Court dropped out of the top 10. The general classification competition was finely poised before Saturday's dramatic action, with the top five riders separated by just 35 Court, of team AG Insurance-Soudal, held a 26-second advantage over Visma-Lease a Bike's Ferrand-Prevot, while defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and Vollering were both within 31 seconds of the Court suffered a crash on a descent and lost around one minute to the peloton earlier in the day, but managed to catch the main group with more than 45km to that recovery, rather than riding to protect the yellow jersey she claimed in winning stage five on Wednesday, Le Court pushed the pace on the Col de la Madeleine to set up an attack by team-mate Sarah Ferrand-Prevot was able to follow Gigante and launched a counter-attack to make her way to the front of the race 7km from the Fisher-Black and Yara Kastelijn remained from the day's breakaway and Ferrand-Prevot soon proved too strong as she powered clear to the a gruelling final ascent of the hors categorie Col de la Madeleine, lasting 18.6km at an average gradient of 8.1%, the 33-year-old, who rode to victory solo at Paris-Roubaix in April, put herself in a dominant position with one day of racing left. Sunday's concluding stage offers a final opportunity for the riders to improve their standing, with another mountainous 124.1km route from Praz-sur-Arly to Chatel featuring more than 2,800m of ascent. Stage eight results Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Fra/Visma-Lease a Bike) 3hrs 47mins 24secsSarah Gigante (Aus/AG Insurance-Soudal) +1min 45secsNiamh Fisher-black (Nzl/Lidl-Trek) +2mins 15secsDemi Vollering (Ned/FDJ-Suez) +3mins 3secsYara Kastelijn (Ned/Fenix–Deceuninck) +3mins 3secsCedrine Kerbaol (Fra/EF Education-Oatly) +3mins 18secsDominika Wlodarczyk (Pol/UAE Team ADQ) +3mins 22secsKatarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol/Canyon-Sram-ZondaCrypto) +3mins 26secsPauliena Rooijakkers (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck) +3mins 38secsMarion Bunel (Fra/Visma-Lease a Bike) +4mins 31secs General classification after stage eight Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Fra/Visma-Lease a Bike) 26hrs 16mins 11secsSarah Gigante (Aus/AG Insurance-Soudal) +2mins 37secsDemi Vollering (Ned/FDJ-Suez) +3mins 18secsKatarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol/Canyon-Sram-ZondaCrypto) +3mins 40secsCedrine Kerbaol (Fra/EF Education-Oatly) +4mins 11secsPauliena Rooijakkers (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck) +4mins 26secsDominika Wlodarczyk (Pol/UAE Team ADQ) +5mins 2secsNiamh Fisher-black (Nzl/Lidl-Trek) +5mins 52secsEvita Muzic (Fra/FDJ-Suez) +5mins 58secsJuliette Labous (Fra/FDJ-Suez) +7mins 14secs
BBC News
24-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Tour de France stage 18 - Pogacar aims to defend yellow jersey on queen stage
Update: Date: 14:14 BST Title: Post Content: 71km to go Visma-Lease a Bike have isolated Tadej Pogacar! The leader's UAE Team Emirates support dissipates as Sepp Kuss takes charge for Jonas Vingegaard and drives his team-mate forward on with more than five kilometres still to go up this climb. Update: Date: 14:11 BST Title: Post Content: 72km to go Vimsa-Lease a Bike really are stepping this up now. A huge turn by Victor Campenaerts has whittled the main group down to 11 riders - and slashed the gap to the front of the race to just one minute. Incredible effort. Roglic, Jorgenson, Arensman, Gall, O'Connor and Rubio Reyes are the six riders at the front and now within six kilometres of the summit on the Col de la Madeleine. Update: Date: 14:07 BST Title: General classification standings Content: Here's a reminder of how the general classification looks after stage 17. Carlos Rodriguez of Ineos Grenadiers had been in 10th, but he was forced to withdraw from the race this morning following his crash yesterday. Update: Date: 13:59 BST Title: Post Content: 76km to go Look, it's no secret that Jonas Vingegaard needs to produce something very, very special today to reignite is hopes of wearing the yellow jersey to the finish line on Sunday. If, as he said before today's stage, he is not afraid to sacrifice second place in pursuit of victory, then he and his Visma-Lease a Bike team-mates must have something big planned. They are driving the pace in the peloton now, and Tiesj Benoot comes to a near-standstill as he finishes his turn and hands over to Victor Campenaerts, with around 20 riders now remaining in the main group and less than two minutes to the front of the race. How early might Vingegaard go? There's around 11km of the Col de la Madeleine remaining. Update: Date: 13:52 BST Title: Post Content: 78km to go It's come together at the front, as Matteo Jorgenson and Thymen Arensman are caught by the chasing pack. So, it's a group of eight again at the head of the race, but behind the pace in the peloton is beginning to ramp up. A gap of around three minutes and 20 seconds to the peloton has quickly reduced to two-and-a-half minutes. Update: Date: 13:43 BST Title: Post Content: 80km to go Matteo Jorgenson and Thymen Arensman continue to lead the charge up the Col de le Madeleine. They are followed around 20 seconds behind by a group of seven riders, including Primoz Roglic who has moved himself up to third overall, above team-mate Florian Lipowitz and Britain's Oscar Onley, in the virtual standings. Back in the peloton, Visma-Lease a Bike are pushing to replace UAE Team Emirates to lift the pace, but Pogacar's team refuse to relinquish control. They're just over three minutes behind Jorgenson and Arensman, who still have 15km of this climb to go. Update: Date: 13:38 BST Title: Post Content: 82km to go There could be trouble for Lenny Martinez. After managing to take the maximum 20 king of the mountain points, he has been brought back by the peloton and his hopes of collecting further points on the Col de la Madeleine are over. But there could also be retrospective punishment for apparent assistance from his team car on the Col du Glandon. That was an extremely 'sticky' bottle... Further back, the struggling Enric Mas has been forced to abandon the race. Update: Date: 13:35 BST Title: Col de la Madeleine Content: Update: Date: 13:29 BST Title: Post Content: 85km to go The second monster climb of the day is fast approaching. This is only the 14th stage in Tour de France history to feature three HC climbs. Four has never been done before, so it's safe to say this is one of the most gruelling stages in the race's history. Even more so for Gregor Muhlberger, who has just taken a fall on the descent but manages to shake it off quickly to get back on his bike. Ouch. Update: Date: 13:23 BST Title: Post Content: 95km to go A group of three riders have made their way off the front now. Tim Wellens, Matteo Jorgenson and Thymen Arensman are riding away for the time being, with a 30-second gap to the chasing pack. Primoz Roglic is among those in the second group on the road, but the polka-dot jersey of Lenny Martinez has lost touch and is almost a minute off the leaders as the Col de la Madeleine approaches. Update: Date: 13:19 BST Title: King of the mountains standings Content: "You are a beast, Lenny!" is the message on the Bahrain Victorious team radio. Here's how the king of the mountains competition stands after today's first climb, with Lenny Martinez taking control. Update: Date: 13:13 BST Title: Vingegaard willing to risk everything for yellow Content: As if we weren't excited enough for today's stage, ITV's quick catch-up with Jonas Vingegaard before it all kicked off only added to the sense of anticipation. Asked what his approach will be, Vingegaard said: "You never know. It could be that I go from the bottom of the first climb." He hasn't gone for that tactic, but he will surely have something big up his sleeve. On whether he is willing to risk everything, including losing second place should he blow up during his attempts to take yellow, he responded: "Yes". Update: Date: 13:08 BST Title: Martinez first over Col du Glandon Content: 110km to go Disaster for Tim Wellens as he suffers a mechanical inside the final 500m of the summit. But it's job done for Lenny Martinez, who bursts clear unrivalled to take all 20 king of the mountain points and move ahead of Tadej Pogacar in that competition. He'll aim to repeat that over the Col de la Madeleine next, assuming the general classification race has not already ignited by that point. Update: Date: 13:02 BST Title: Post Content: 115km to go The lead group of 14 riders have entered the final few kilometres of the Col du Glandon climb and are afforded the luxury of very brief downhill section before taking on the final ramp to the summit. They have around one minute and 55 seconds on what remains of the peloton, with a group of eight riders in between those two groups. Who will sweep the king of the mountains points? Plenty of world-class climbers are at the front of the race, and Primoz Roglic in particular looks to be on a good day here. Update: Date: 12:52 BST Title: 'I'm gone, I'm dead' Content: Tadej Pogacar begins the queen stage of this year's race with a very healthy four-minute and 15-second advantage over Jonas Vingegaard in the general classification. But he knows all too well the damage the Col de la Loze can cause. The Slovenian lost more than five minutes to Vingegaard when the race visited this climb two years ago. In what remains the most brutal experience of his Tour de France story to date, Pogacar's words "I'm gone, I'm dead" signalled the end of the fight for the yellow jersey. He will be determined to set the record straight today. Update: Date: 12:44 BST Title: Post Content: 120km to go It's dry for now on the Col do Glandon but there are reports of rain up the road, which would only add to the drama. We've got around 10km of climbing still to go on the first mountain of the day, with a group of 14 together at the front after Tim Wellens and Alexey Lutsenko were hauled back. It's a strong selection, also featuring Primoz Roglic, Visma-Lease a Bike's Matteo Jorgenson, and Felix Gall - the man who triumphed on the Col de la Loze two years ago. Update: Date: 12:36 BST Title: What's up for grabs on stage 18? Content: It's not just the fight for yellow that we need to keep an eye on today, of course. There are 80 king of the mountains points for the polka-dot jersey contenders to aim for at the top of today's climbs, with 20 available for the first rider to the top of the Col du Glandon and Col de la Madeleine, and 40 for whoever is first up the Col de la Loze. As the Col de la Loze is the highest point in this year's race, the first rider to summit will also win the Souvenir Henri Desgrange cash prize, in tribute to the Tour de France founder. Tadej Pogacar and Lenny Martinez are currently tied at the top of the standings on 60 points, followed by Thymen Arensman on 48 points and Jonas Vingegaard with 45. Update: Date: 12:30 BST Title: Col du Glandon Content: Update: Date: 12:28 BST Title: Post Content: The climbing has begun! The riders are on to the Col du Glandon - and there is no hanging about. Tim Wellens and Alexey Lutsenko have broken clear at the front, but only around 10 seconds behind them Primoz Roglic is among the riders to also launch an early move. The main peloton is 30 seconds back at the moment, but it won't be long before riders are strung out along the mountainside. Update: Date: 12:22 BST Title: Milan wins intermediate sprint Content: Before we get stuck into today's major climbing, there was an intermediate sprint little more than 23km into today's stage. The current holder of the green jersey, Jonathan Milan, swept up the full 20 points on offer to extend his lead over Tadej Pogacar in that competition to a commanding 92 points. That jersey is as good as his now - assuming he manages to finish within the time limit over the next couple of days.
