Latest news with #EFEducation-EasyPost
RTÉ News
9 hours ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Ben Healy back in Tour de France top 10 overall, Arensman wins stage 14
Ireland's Ben Healy hoisted himself back inside the top 10 of the Tour de France general classiciation after a seventh-placed finish on the 14th stage, won by Thymen Arensman of the Netherlands after a superb solo ride in the 183-km mountain trek between Pau and Superbagneres on Saturday. Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) continues to enhance his reputation, producing another quality ride to jump from 11th to ninth overall. Slovenian Tadej Pogacar retained the leader's yellow jersey as he took second place by beating chief rival Jonas Vingegaard in a two-man sprint finish one minute and 12 seconds behind Ineos Grenadiers rider Arensman. Defending champion Pogacar extended his lead over Dane Vingegaard in the GC by six seconds to 4:13 at the end of the Pyrenean stage. Healy is 18:41 down on Pogacar. The day belonged to Arensman, however, as the Dutchman went solo from the day's breakaway in the penultimate climb to the Col de Peyresourde (7.1 km at 7.8%) before his team car hit and knocked down a spectator amid the usual roadside chaos on the Tour. Arensman never looked back and held firm on his way up to Superbagneres (12.4 km at 7.3%) as Vingegaard attacked several times in an attempt to drop Pogacar.
RTÉ News
a day ago
- Climate
- RTÉ News
Tadej Pogacar tightens grip on Tour, Ben Healy 11th overall
Tadej Pogacar continued his charge towards an anticipated fourth Tour de France title when he stretched his overall lead to over four minutes by winning the 13th stage, a lung-busting 10.9km uphill time trial on Friday, as Ireland's Ben Healy remained 11th in the general classiciation. The defending champion dominated the eight-kilometre climb at 7.9% to clock 23 minutes and beat Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard by a massive 36 seconds, a day after leaving his closest rival shattered in the first major mountain stage in the Pyrenees. Fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic took third place, 1:40 off the pace, while Belgian Remco Evenepoel hung on to third place overall by the skin of his teeth following a disappointing effort that saw him finish 2:39 behind Pogacar. Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) was 26th in 26:38 to stay 11th in the GC. On Thursday, Healy struggled in the stifling heat as Pogacar took his yellow jersey on the first true mountain test of this year's race. After his fourth stage win in this year's race today, UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider Pogacar leads Vingegaard overall by 4:07 and Evenepoel by 7:24.
The Irish Sun
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Irish Tour de France star Ben Healy loses yellow jersey after struggling in gruelling heat in latest stage
TADEJ POGACAR delivered a display of pure dominance on the first true mountain test of this year's Tour de France — as Ben Healy gave up the Yellow Jersey. Ireland's Healy, who took the maillot jaune out of a breakaway on stage 10, struggled in the heat. Advertisement And it was no surprise to see him overhauled, shipping 13½ mins on the 180.6km stage from Auch. Healy's second day in yellow was one of suffering. Once he was gapped, his deficit ballooned as he found the challenge of hanging with the general classification riders too much. On the Hautacam, where Jonas Vingegaard left Pogacar behind in a decisive attack in his 2022 Tour win, the world champion got revenge . Advertisement Read More on Tour De France A day after his stage 11 crash, he attacked 12km from the summit finish and put 2min 10sec into his rival, who finished second. Pogacar's third stage win of this Tour, the 20th of his career, put him a big step closer to what would be a fourth overall title as he leads by 3min 31sec from Vingegaard. Slovenia's Pogacar dedicated his stage win to Samuele Privitera, the 19-year-old Italian development rider who died after a crash at the Giro della Valle d'Aosta on Wednesday. Referring to the Hautacam stage in 2022, he said: 'I almost already forgot and was just looking forward to today, then all the people came to me saying all the time about this, 'Is this revenge time?' Advertisement Most read in Sport Live Blog 'Then when we approached the bottom of the climb it was the reverse of a few years ago. 'For sure you don't know how the body reacts after a crash, but it was not too bad a crash. Here riding the bike it's not big flexing.' Irishman Ben Healy wins at Tour De France Young Scot Oscar Onley, 22, finished fifth. 1 The Yellow Jersey overall leader Irish rider Ben Healy of EF Education - EasyPost team arrives at the finish of the 12th stage of the Tour de France Credit: EPA Advertisement
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Ben Healy gives Ireland rare yellow jersey as Simon Yates wins Tour de France 10th stage
Find out what's new on ST website and app. Britain's Simon Yates emerged from the day's breakaway to secure his third career Tour stage win. – Ben Healy rode himself into the ground in a nail-biting finale to become the first Irishman in 38 years to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, as Britain's Simon Yates claimed victory in Stage 10 on July 14 with a perfectly timed attack. Giro d'Italia champion Yates emerged from the day's breakaway to secure his third career Tour stage win, pulling away on the final climb to beat Dutchman Thymen Arensman and Healy, who finished second and third, respectively. Said Yates: 'I actually didn't feel good out there. It was a hard start... I also wasn't really expecting any opportunities here. We came here for Jonas (Vingegaard) and the GC (general classification). 'I'm under no illusion what we're here for. The plan today was to stay there (in the breakaway) and see what was going on, and then the gap became too big. 'So, I cracked on.' Heading into the first rest day, Healy leads defending champion Tadej Pogacar by 29 seconds in the general classification, after the Slovenian eased off on the final ascent. Belgian Remco Evenepoel sits third, one minute further back, after losing six seconds in the closing kilometres when Pogacar briefly surged in an attempt to test Vingegaard, widely seen as his main rival for the overall title. Vingegaard stayed locked on to Pogacar's wheel and remains 1min 17sec behind the UAE Team Emirates rider. As Pogacar approached the finish, Healy smiled while watching the Slovenian on the giant screen. With Pogacar visibly backing off, the EF Education-EasyPost rider crossed the line to become the first Irishman to lead the Tour since Stephen Roche won the race in 1987. Healy had looked one of the strongest riders in the breakaway on the 165.3km hilly route from Ennezat, but Yates timed his move to perfection, attacking solo on the final climb to seal a tactical victory. Meanwhile, Eddy Merckx, the most successful cycling racer ever, is back in hospital for an operation to treat complications for a new hip, sources close to the Belgian great said on July 14. The 80-year-old fractured his hip after falling off his bike last December. A titanium prosthesis was fitted, but that was subsequently replaced by a cemented version, with fresh problems arising from this one. Merckx is expected to remain in hospital for around a fortnight. He had five titles in the Giro d'Italia to go with his five on the Tour de France, as well as one victory in the Vuelta a Espana. He also won a host of one-day classics and three world titles. Merckx also suffered a heavy fall in the autumn of 2019, forcing him to spend several days in hospital. REUTERS, AFP
The Star
3 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Cycling-EF team happy to be underdogs in battle of cycling's big beasts
Cycling - Tour de France - Stage 11 - Toulouse to Toulouse - Toulouse, France - July 16, 2025 EF Education - EasyPost's Michael Valgren in action with riders during stage 11 REUTERS/Benoit Tessier TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) -While World Tour giants like UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike flex their financial muscle at the Tour de France, EF Education-EasyPost team boss Jonathan Vaughters is happy to be chasing in a different kind of pack. "I would laugh if we called ourselves the wolf pack," Vaughters told Reuters, in reference to rival team Soudal Quick-Step's famously aggressive branding. "Maybe we're like the dachshund pack," he added, pointing to his rider Ben Healy's "sausage dog" by the team bus before the start of Wednesday's 11th stage. The metaphor is a light-hearted one, but the economic truth is brutal. EF Education-EasyPost have a budget estimated at less than $25 million, which puts them in the bottom third of the 2025 Tour teams, dominated by defending champion Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG (around $65 million). Vaughters said competing against cycling's financial behemoths is a constant battle in a sport that lacks regulatory parity. "Professional cycling is one of the few high-level professional sports left in the world that does not have some sort of financial fairness regulation," he said. "And that makes it exceptionally difficult for the middle or the smaller teams to exist." Still, EF has managed to do more than just exist. Helped by their bright pink jerseys, they've been visible, creative, and successful. The team claimed a stage win and won the King of the Mountains (polka dot) jersey last year. This year, they won a stage through Healy, who snatched the overall leader's yellow jersey after Monday's 10th stage. "Last year we won the polka dot jersey. Last year was good, too. People forget we had the yellow jersey one day last year, too. They forget about it. I don't know why," Vaughters said. "But actually, that's an example that those two, three really big teams kind of overshadow everything." STRATEGIC APPROACH EF Education-EasyPost are accountable to a sponsor that views cycling as a measurable marketing tool, not just a passion project. "EF isn't the sponsor that is just here because the owner likes cycling and writes the cheque or whatever," Vaughters said. "EF is here because they view it as more efficient marketing than if they purchased other forms of marketing, okay? So we're actually held to a very high standard when it comes to marketing metrics." That drives the team's strategic approach with EF often avoiding the general classification and sprint battles dominated by big-budget squads, opting instead for opportunistic breakaways and high-impact moments. "What we try to do... is we basically have to come in and think, okay, well, how can we create (a moment)," Vaughters said. "You can't do the same thing every single year. You can't say, 'well, what worked when we were Garmin (more than 10 years ago) will work now'. There are certain cultural things that we keep intact, sort of the lighthearted spirit - the fact that we take the work very seriously, but we don't take ourselves that seriously." It's a culture EF prides itself on — a contrast to the hyper-serious image of other teams. "We take our work every bit as seriously as Soudal," Vaughters said. "But I would laugh if we called ourselves the wolf pack." (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
