Latest news with #Rouen
New York Times
3 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Why are one of the best teams at this year's Tour de France struggling to find a new title sponsor?
'I mean, what can I say?' Alpecin-Deceuninck team boss Philip Roodhooft asked the evening before Saturday's stage 20 of the 2025 Tour de France. 'It's extremely stressful. It overshadows everything. It has an impact — the way you experience this race, the way that you live — it's all completely different when you're in this situation. You're insecure.' Advertisement Few teams have managed to have a more impressive Tour this year than Alpecin-Deceuninck. In the first half of the race alone, the Belgian squad won two stages through Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel, with the latter wearing the leader's yellow jersey on two separate occasions. After Philipsen's race-ending crash on stage three, Van der Poel went close again by finishing second behind Tadej Pogacar on stage four in Rouen, before a thrilling escape with teammate Jonas Rickaert ended within 750m of the line on stage nine. Yet throughout, the team have been racing through uncertainty. Though they boast two of the world's best bike racers, unless they find a new title sponsor, the team's long-term future is in serious doubt. Even as Philipsen and Van der Poel lifted their flowers at the Grand Depart three weeks ago, Roodhooft's mind was elsewhere. He co-owns and runs the team with his brother Christoph — loosely, Philip concentrates on the business side, Christoph on the racing. This is a team they built themselves. 'It's a pity, it's sad, but this is entrepreneurship,' Philip says. 'It has consequences. It's a lot easier to enjoy it and be emotional when you're not this deeply involved.' Cycling is not like football. Manchester United are not dependent on shirt-front sponsor Snapdragon for their survival. Chelsea have begun several seasons without a principal partner's logo on that same piece of prime marketing real estate. Barcelona famously did not take the shirt-sponsorship shilling until 2011. But these clubs make millions through revenue streams such as television rights and match-ticket sales. Cycling, by contrast, is generally shown on free-to-air TV, and the world's top teams receive no share of the lucrative broadcast deal struck by the Amaury family, owners and organisers of the Tour. Advertisement It means the existence of any cycling team is dependent on sponsorship. This is why their names are constantly changing — for example, the Picnic-PostNL of this year's Tour were called Team dsm–firmenich PostNL when they raced in the event a year ago, and Lotto were Lotto-Dstny. Over the years, the peloton has been graced by such names as Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni Androni Giocattoli (windows and toys), Linda McCartney Racing Team (vegetarian food), and Swatt Club (clothing). Alpecin-Deceuninck is a partnership between a shampoo brand and a windows and doors manufacturer. The former has sponsored the team since 2020, the latter for the past three years, but Deceuninck announced at the beginning of the season that it had opted not to extend its deal. Philip Roodhooft immediately got to work, searching for a new title partner. Should he fail, the team's future is in question. 'We will be able to continue next year with a good team and good set-up, but it's not an ideal situation, and it's not a sustainable situation,' he explains. 'If you lose 20 per cent of your turnover from your budget, it's a bad thing, but you can overcome it. But if you lose 50 or 60 per cent — you're done.' They are not the only team struggling. Kevin Vauquelin's Arkea-B&B Hotels squad's survival is in serious question, with both sponsors set to leave from next season. Two of Alpecin-Deceuninck's fellow Belgian teams, Lotto and Intermarche-Wanty, are set to merge because of the sport's financial difficulties. 'We're in discussions with some companies, but we need to find a match that suits both us and the company,' Philip says. 'Nothing is concrete; there is nothing until there's a signature. We can talk about numbers — an 80 per cent chance, a 20 per cent chance, a 95 per cent chance — but what's the use of 95 per cent, thinking it's going somewhere, and then the deal collapsing just before the finish line? I'm realistic with that. It's only done when it's done.' Advertisement There are deadlines to meet — for official filings to the governing UCI, for practical details such as kit design, but in many ways, those do not matter to Roodhooft. 'Let's say the deadline is in mid-September, and there's nothing by then. What do you do then? Stop working on it? No. So, is there a deadline? I mean, there is, but it's irrelevant, in a sense.' But from the outside, it is difficult to understand how Alpecin-Deceuninck find themselves in this position. In a sport which is high-profile enough for several teams to be owned by nation states, how can one of its most successful squads — boasting one of its best riders in Van der Poel, one of its best sprinters in Philipsen and a long list of wins — be struggling to find a partner? 'We have good results, attractive riders, and an attractive team,' Philip replies, 'and we are having concrete discussions. But it's still difficult. 'One, it has always been difficult. That's the first thing. Secondly, the economic situation does not help — we're not in a crisis, but there have been many better moments for companies. And third, the geopolitical situation doesn't help. We have wars going on, discussions about extra taxes for European companies working in the United States. And extra taxes are one thing, but the situation is that they don't know whether it will be a 10 per cent tax rise today and tomorrow, 60 or 70 per cent. 'It all creates uncertainty — and it's quite clear that uncertain situations lead to an attitude where people and companies tend to wait.' Another factor is that the team is co-owned by the brothers. In cycling, one recent trend has been for the sponsors to own their squads; EF, Decathlon and Cofidis are all examples, while it was announced this week that Trek had sold part of the Lidl-Trek team to its supermarket-chain co-partner. And unlike the situation at several teams, such as Israel-Premier Tech or Q36.5, the Roodhoofts are not in the position of being the sort of wealthy benefactor who can pour further money into the team if there is a sponsorship shortfall. Advertisement 'Very few teams are in the position that Christoph and I are in — owning and managing the team; that's a special situation,' Philip explains. 'I'm not saying it's a disadvantage, but it creates a different environment. Some (potential partner) companies like that, others see it as more difficult because they want a share of the capital. 'We have to be careful about the opportunities that are being presented — it needs to be reliable, it needs to make sense, and that all makes it uneasy. Is it a pleasant situation at this point? Not really. But it's good to see that we are still attracting real interest.' Philip has been a fleeting presence at this Tour, dashing between the race and meetings across Europe. Both are related to the sponsorship search — it dictates his life. As he speaks to The Athletic on Friday night, he is en route to Paris — one day earlier than other teams will arrive in the capital for Sunday's final stage — to have talks with another company. 'For the past six or seven months, I've been talking with riders, talking with agents, I've had races, I've had the daily business, but we've had to shift those further backwards in terms of importance,' he says. 'We have to give priority to the co-sponsor — that's normal.' With uncertainty past 2026, rider recruitment and retention appear to be particularly challenging elements. Philip says that with Van der Poel, Philipsen and Australian sprinter Kaden Groves committed long-term, their core is stable, while they have been able to offer contracts to several young prospects. While needing to avoid being frivolous, a base level of spending needs to remain — 'You can't have it affect everything, because if the perfect partner arrives tomorrow, or in a month, or in two months, then of course we will still need to have a competitive team,' Philip says. Despite the distractions, his team have continued to be competitive throughout this year's Tour. Advertisement In many ways, the race is the world's biggest mobile ad break — a constantly shifting billboard of team jerseys, hoardings and interview backdrops. An event founded in the early 20th century to help sell more newspapers, teams these days use it to sell themselves, with the smaller ones often launching attacks during its stages to secure television time for their sponsors. Will the stage wins and yellow jersey stints make an impact for Alpecin-Deceuninck? 'I don't think we needed this Tour de France to make it clear that we can make an impact as a team,' Philip replies. 'But does it help? Of course it does. I always tend to say that sporting performance is a necessity — if you're not performing, I have no idea how you can get to a point where a partner is willing to step in.' 'Plus, our performances (such as Van der Poel's doomed but heroic escape to Chateauroux in stage nine) show a mentality that says something about the DNA of the team. There was no stage win, but the impact was big once again. It's appealing to the public, and that often makes it interesting to companies. 'And obviously, there are still two stages left. Hopefully, there is still some more to come.' The next morning, Groves gets himself in the break to Pontarlier. Stage 20 was bumpy and filled with climbing, a day for the puncheurs and classics specialists — like the absent Van der Poel, who withdrew from the race through illness earlier in the week. Groves can climb far better than most sprinters, but even Christoph, his own directeur sportif, did not think Saturday was a day for him. Yet when a crash wiped out half the breakaway with 27km remaining, Groves found himself at the front alongside just Frank van den Brouck and Jake Stewart. As his rivals marked each other, the Australian accelerated away. By the time he reached 500m to go, Groves' lead was almost a minute. He was visibly in tears. The 26-year-old has spent most of this Tour in service to Van der Poel and Philipsen, despite his pedigree as a nine-time stage winner at the two other Grand Tours — the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana. When he finished second to Jonathan Milan in Laval (stage eight), it appeared his opportunity had disappeared, at least until the final day's racing on the streets of Paris. But Saturday nights are always better for a celebration. From the window of the team car as the finish line approaches, Christoph holds up three fingers, one for each of their stage wins at this year's Tour. Just up the road, a triumphant Groves sits up in the saddle and raises his arms, Alpecin-Deceuninck clear across his chest as he is the first man home. Victory. And the money-shot for their sponsors. 'Will this help the search?' one reporter asks Christoph as he strides off to see his riders. The team boss shrugs and makes a face. 'Too difficult to say.'
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Vallourec and Vinci Immobilier Announce the Signing of a Sale Agreement for the Déville-Lès-Rouen Site
Press release VALLOUREC AND VINCI IMMOBILIER ANNOUNCE THE SIGNING OF A SALE AGREEMENT FOR THE DÉVILLE-LÈS-ROUEN SITE Meudon (France), July 22, 2025 – Vallourec, a world leader in premium seamless tubular solutions, announces that it has reached a significant milestone in the selling process for its Déville-lès-Rouen (76) site. On Friday, July 11, 2025, Vallourec and VINCI Immobilier signed an exclusive sale agreement for the transfer of this site. Since 2023, Vallourec Group has undertaken a major decontamination and rehabilitation process of its Déville-lès-Rouen site, thus honoring its commitments to elected officials and administrations. The Group subsequently launched a call for tenders in September 2024 to oversee the sale of the site. Following a highly competitive application phase, Vallourec entered exclusive negotiations in March 2025 with VINCI Immobilier, whose proposal best met the Group's expectations and aligned with the regional priorities expressed by local officials. Since then, VINCI Immobilier has been able to refine its project and present it not only to Vallourec, the seller of the site, but also to local institutional stakeholders concerned with the economic development of the municipality and the Rouen metropolitan area. The project led by VINCI Immobilier aligns well with the history and stakeholders' desires for the future development of the site. VINCI Immobilier's project is part of an economic revitalization initiative, transforming the Déville-lès-Rouen site into an attractive business hub designed to offer diverse employment opportunities and spaces suited to the needs of local businesses. It is set to become a true engine of economic and social development. VINCI Immobilier will provide turnkey buildings for local companies and industrial firms, enabling ultimately the creation of 300 jobs. Furthermore, in collaboration with the municipality and the Métropole Rouen Normandie, part of the site will be rewilded, and 25% of the area will be developed into green spaces, particularly around the Cailly River, which will be restored to its natural state as part of the project. In addition, the disused railroad line will be offered to the Métropole Rouen Normandie as part of the future Cailly urban walkway. Following this agreement, Vallourec Group and VINCI Immobilier will continue the necessary regulatory steps for the final transfer of the site, expected in 2026. About Vallourec Vallourec is a world leader in premium seamless tubular solutions for the energy markets and for demanding industrial applications such as oil & gas wells in harsh environments, new generation power plants, challenging architectural projects, and high-performance mechanical equipment. Vallourec's pioneering spirit and cutting-edge R&D open new technological frontiers. With close to 13,000 dedicated and passionate employees in more than 20 countries, Vallourec works hand-in-hand with its customers to offer more than just tubes: Vallourec delivers innovative, safe, competitive and smart tubular solutions, to make every project possible. Listed on Euronext in Paris (ISIN code: FR0013506730, Ticker VK), Vallourec is part of the CAC Mid 60, SBF 120 and Next 150 indices and is eligible for Deferred Settlement Service. In the United States, Vallourec has established a sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) program (ISIN code: US92023R4074, Ticker: VLOWY). Parity between ADR and a Vallourec ordinary share has been set at 5:1. About VINCI Immobilier A subsidiary of the VINCI Group, VINCI Immobilier is a comprehensive real estate operator engaged in three complementary activities: property development, the operation of managed residences (OVELIA senior residences, STUDENT FACTORY student housing, and BIKUBE coliving spaces), and real estate services. Present throughout the country, VINCI Immobilier is a key player in both residential and commercial property development, serving individuals as well as institutional clients. With a multi-product offering and expertise in delivering large-scale, complex projects, VINCI Immobilier also supports local authorities in their urban planning initiatives and contributes to the development, design, and transformation of urban areas. As a comprehensive developer — a partner, creative force, and responsible corporate citizen — VINCI Immobilier is committed to achieving zero net land take (ZAN) by 2030 and to generating 50% of its revenue in 2030 through urban recycling. With a deep understanding of local specificities and the evolving expectations of its stakeholders, VINCI Immobilier is reinventing its approach to help shape a more inclusive, attractive, and sustainable city. For further information, please contact: Investor relations:Connor LynaghTel : +1 (713) Individual shareholders:Toll Free number (From France):0 805 65 10 10actionnaires@ Press relations: Taddeo Romain GrièreTel : +33 (0)7 86 53 17 29 Nicolas EscoulanTel : +33 (0)6 42 19 14 74 Press relations- VINCI Immobilier: Caroline MaureyTél : +33 (0)6 69 95 06 Attachment Vallourec_Press Release_Sale Agreement for the Deville-les-Rouen SiteSign in to access your portfolio
New York Times
14-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Power versus weight: Are the Tour de France's top climbers getting heavier?
Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson are perhaps both expected to finish in the top five of this year's Tour de France, lofty heights reserved for the sport's climbers, but after stage two of the event last weekend, the pair joked about adopting a very different discipline. 'You're a sprinter now,' laughed Jorgenson, after Vingegaard had almost outsprinted Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel for stage victory in Boulogne-sur-Mer. 'I like it. You'd said you were huge — so you had to back it up now.' Advertisement 'You don't grow this for nothing,' Vingegaard smiled back. The Dane is still a skinny figure but had announced before the Tour began that he had spent his off-season adding muscle mass for increased explosivity. Two days later, on stage four to Rouen, Vingegaard resembled one of the world's best puncheurs, as well as one of its best climbers. Following Pogacar's attack in the closing kilometres, Vingegaard produced the best one-minute power effort of his career, matching the Slovenian's famed acceleration. And what's more, looking at the current top 10 of this year's general classification, Vingegaard is not alone in possessing power. Even ignoring Van der Poel (who will not be a contender come the mountain stages), the general classification (GC) battle also includes Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel, who are both more muscular athletes, as well as the likes of Kevin Vauquelin (third), Jorgenson (fifth), and Florian Lipowitz (eighth). All of the above weigh more than 68kg, while Derek Gee finished fourth in the Giro d'Italia last month while weighing 75kg. Traditionally, elite climbers have focused on shedding weight to increase their watts-per-kilo figure — from 1990 to 2020, the average weight of a Tour rider fell from 72kg to 68kg. Grand Tour champions of the last 20 years such as Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins, Nairo Quintana, Alberto Contador and Fabio Aru are all noted proponents of this approach. Previously, Vingegaard may have fallen into their camp. But this year, his outlook has changed — attempting to improve his watts-per-kilo by supercharging his power with a modest increase in muscle mass. The race hits the mountains of the Massif Central today (Monday) — the first real test of his new approach. Already a two-time Tour champion, it is an undeniable risk for Vingegaard. Is the 28-year-old in the vanguard of a new trend in cycling — and will his reconditioning pay off? Mathieu Heijboer is head of performance at Vingegaard's Visma Lease-a-Bike team and has worked extensively with the Tour contender in recent months. 'Jonas started doing this as a consequence of his nasty crash (in the Tour of the Basque Country) last year,' he explains. 'When he was in intensive care, not able to ride at all, and just laid in his bed, he lost quite a bit of muscle mass that we had to regain. Advertisement 'Last year, we didn't necessarily have time for that, but this winter we were able to approach it from a longer-term perspective. This is mostly in the legs, but to cope with hard accelerations you have to be strong in your torso and your core — he needed to cope with those high peaks, those high power outputs.' At the 2024 Tour, Vingegaard had noticed he was losing out to Pogacar at high-watts moments, identifying it as a key weakness ahead of this year's race. By following Pogacar in Rouen, he showed the improvements he has made. 'Cycling is an endurance sport, but it's also one where you need to distance yourself from your opponent,' says Heijboer. 'The level is so high now, and in these races, the difference is made solely by explosiveness — which rider still has acceleration in their legs. In the past, maybe some riders were stronger in the aerobic part and could just ride faster. Now that difference is getting smaller and smaller.' But knowing how to add that muscle is part of the challenge. Riders don't want to add muscle in the wrong places — upper-body strength is of limited usefulness to a climber — and, as the Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe team's director of coaching Dan Lorang explains, will often train in very specific ways. 'Riders try to use as many of their muscle fibres as possible,' Lorang says. 'It's sometimes not about adding new fibres, because you need to feed them with more oxygen, but about recruiting all the fibres you already have to become more explosive, and to gain more resilience. But you still need to keep the endurance, so you're not too tired to use those muscles. 'Most of that training takes place on the bike, because it makes no sense to have muscles you can't use on it, but gym work also helps add muscle fibres. You don't want upper-body weight that you just need to carry up the climb.' Advertisement 'There was once a time when the skinny climbers were the top GC contenders,' adds Heijboer. 'But I think when the likes of Primoz Roglic became a top rider, there was an explosion in what you'd call the more muscled climbers. It's because they're able to cope with accelerations, and are less vulnerable to crashes, weather extremes, and the like, so they're just better all-rounders.' While there have been increases in weight during certain eras of the Tour — Miguel Indurain won it five years running from 1991-95 at 80kg, and was nicknamed 'Big Mig' — that era coincided with plenty of time-trialling kilometres, where absolute watts begin to take priority over watts per kilo. But in recent editions of the Tour, time trialling kilometres have dropped to their lowest ever level. Evenepoel, currently second on GC and the world's best time-triallist, is another to have added muscle mass in recent seasons. He added strength a couple of years ago, with his coach Koen Pelgrim describing at the time how: 'He kicks off more absolute power, but because his weight is only slightly higher, his watts per kilo has not increased… we see the explosiveness in his data.' However, speaking in the central French town of Chinon ahead of stage nine beginning there on Sunday, Pelgrim did not feel that the notion of adding weight is a universal trend. 'I think it's mainly individual cases,' he argued, perched on a car bonnet outside his Soudal-Quickstep team's bus. 'Obviously, in the first 10 days of the race, explosivity is a big part of the racing, but when you get to the big mountains, but for the long efforts, the power-weight ratio is still going to be crucial. It might be the case that more attention is being paid to off-bike strength training, but, especially for GC riders, not all of them are deliberately trying to add muscle mass.' With Vingegaard's specific training aside, it may be the case that riders' increased size just reflects a sport that helps riders who are inherently bigger, rather than necessarily needing to bulk up. 'What has changed is the dynamics of the race,' says Red Bull's Lorang. 'You still see skinny riders, but it's really hard for the 55kg guys to be competitive because they're losing too much energy on the flat. If you look at the flatter stages, you need absolute power, and the larger GC contenders have that. It's harder and harder for light riders to be successful over three weeks.' Advertisement With the average speed of the 2025 Tour — 45.6kph after stage nine — the second-fastest in history, behind only 2005, it is clear how this heft can play a role — crosswinds have already affected two stages. But one rider who says he has not bulked up, but dropped weight, is Lidl-Trek's Mattias Skjelmose, who sits 10th on GC entering the mountains. 'Maybe it wasn't muscle that I lost, but my fat percentage went down,' he says. 'It's a very thin line around gaining muscle without also gaining fat — and you also never know whether the muscle is placed right.' Skjelmose's acceleration this year has appeared impressive as well — in April, he outkicked Pogacar and Evenepoel to win the prestigious Amstel Gold one-day race in the Netherlands. 'My coach's approach is that explosiveness is more genetic than trainable,' he says. 'Of course, you can make some improvements, but in an endurance sport, it's still much more important, for the type of rider I am, to improve my aerobic capacity than short explosivity.' But even if Vingegaard's muscle gain is not ubiquitous across the peloton, one area that has gathered increased attention is the concept of sitting at a healthy weight — not being lighter for the sake of being lighter, but finding the optimal weight for your body. 'When we talk about power-to-weight ratio, I feel we often forget about the power part,' says the EF Education-EasyPost team's nutritionist Anna Carceller. 'You don't just want to be lean, but you want to have that power, to be the best version of yourself. It's not just about the ratio but because of both. 'We need to remember the part of being able to have healthier muscles, a hormonal environment that means your body can adapt to the training — and then try to get as lean as possible in the approach to the race.' Advertisement A good example is Uno-X Mobility rider Jonas Abrahamsen, who put on 20kg before last year's Tour while recording his best ever climbing performance. During this process, his peak power increased from 900 watts to 1500. 'When I started cycling, it was very popular to be skinny,' the Norwegian told The Cycling Podcast. 'All my favourite riders were very skinny and I was looking up to them, hoping to be 60kg. But that was hard, because I was always hungry. 'I felt like I hadn't progressed in my career as I had hoped to, so I needed to do something to be better. I know my muscles do better when they get more fuel, so I started to do that, and felt stronger and stronger every year.' The biggest difference came in his general health — by beginning to fuel, his body went through what he termed a 'delayed puberty', where he got taller and needed to start shaving. 'I think a lot of riders here are at a point where it's not very healthy to be for a long time,' says Skjelmose. 'But we are in a sport where everything matters, and if you can find a small percentage by being a bit lower, then that's where we go. I don't think it's healthy at all. But it's elite sport. We go to the limit.' 'Riding six hours a day, you're just starving (hungry) all the time — starving night and day,' four-time Tour champion Froome said during his career. Pogacar, currently the sport's best rider, has a different perspective. 'I'm getting older, so I'm not so obsessed anymore with going cake on cake, or just eating s**t,' the now 26-year-old told The Peter Attia Drive Podcast last year. 'My diet is the same all year round. I never restrict too much or say to myself, 'I can't eat cake or chocolate.' But (I eat) in measurements, and when the time is right. 'If you restrict too much, one time you will break and go completely crazy. That's not a good relationship with food. You need to have balance.' Advertisement Cycling's elite riders are not necessarily deliberately adding muscle, like Vingegaard. But the sport is beginning to favour larger athletes, reversing a decades-long trend — and is slowly shedding its weight stigma. For more cycling, follow Global Sports on The Athletic app via the Discover tab
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Tour de France Stage 4 results, standings: Tadej Pogacar beats rivals at finish
The battle for the yellow jersey at the 2025 Tour de France is heating up after a thrilling finish on Tuesday, July 8, involving some of this year's favorites at cycling's biggest event. Three-time Tour de France and current world champion Tadej Pogačar of Slovenia surged past Mathieu van der Poel and rival Jonas Vingegaard near the finish line to take Stage 4 and inch closer to grabbing control of the yellow jersey. It was Pogačar's first stage win this year, and 18th overall stage win at the Tour de France. The race, which took place on a 174.2-kilometer course between Amiens and Rouen and featured several late climbs, also became the 100th victory of his professional career. Van der Peul began the day with the yellow jersey and will retain it heading into a crucial individual time trial in Caen on Wednesday, July 9 for Stage 5. He and Pogačar are currently tied in overall time, eight seconds ahead of Vingegaard. American Matteo Jorgenson sits in fourth. Pogačar, who races for UAE Team Emirates XRG, also moved ahead of Belgian Tim Wellens to claim the polka dot jersey as the top climber at the Tour de France through Stage 4. Advertisement Here's a look at the complete stage 4 results and 2025 Tour de France standings after Tuesday, July 8, as well as what's coming up for cycling's biggest race: 2025 TOUR DE FRANCE: How to watch, schedule, stages for cycling's top race Stage 4 results Final results of the 174.2-kilometer Stage 4 from Amiens to Rouen at the 2025 Tour de France on Tuesday, July 8. Pos. Rider Team Time Gap B 1 Tadej Pogačar UAE Team Emirates XRG 03h 50' 29'' - B : 10'' 2 Mathieu van der Peul Alpecin-Deceuninck 03h 50' 29'' - B : 6'' 3 Jonas Vingegaard Team Visma | Lease a Bike 03h 50' 29'' - B : 4'' 4 Oscar Onley Team Picnic Postnl 03h 50' 29'' - - 5 Romain Gregoire Groupama-FDJ 03h 50' 29'' - - 6 Joao Almeida UAE Team Emirates XRG 03h 50' 29'' - - 7 Remco Evenepoel Soudal Quick-Step 03h 50' 32'' - - 8 Matteo Jorgenson Team Visma | Lease a Bike 03h 50' 32'' - - 9 Mattias Skjelmose Lidl-Trek 03h 50' 36'' - - 10 Kevin Vauquelin Arkea-B&B Hotels 03h 50' 39'' - - Tour de France 2025 standings Mathieu van der Poel, Netherlands: 16h 46' 00'' Tadej Pogačar, Slovenia: 16h 46' 00'' Jonas Vingegaard, Denmark: 16h 46' 08'' (8 seconds behind) Matteo Jorgenson, USA: 16h 46' 19'' (19 seconds) Kevin Vauquelin, France: 16h 46' 26'' (26 seconds) Enric Mas, Spain: 16h 46' 48'' (48 seconds) Oscar Onley, Great Britain: 16h 46' 55'' (55 seconds) Joao Almeida, Portugal: 16h 46' 55'' (55 seconds) Remco Evenepoel, Belgium: 16h 46' 58'' (58 seconds) Mattias Skjelmose, Denmark: 16h 47' 02'' (1 minute, 2 seconds) 2025 Tour de France jersey leaders Yellow (overall race leader): Mathieu Van der Poel, Netherlands Green (points): Jonathan Milan, Italy Polka dot (mountains): Tadej Pogačar, Slovenia White (young rider): Kevin Vauquelin, France Advertisement Who's wearing the rainbow jersey at 2025 Tour de France? In addition to the four traditional colored jerseys at the Tour de France, the reigning world road race champion wears a rainbow-colored jersey. It's white with five colored stripes – blue, red, black, yellow and green (same as the colors of the Olympic rings) – and is currently worn by Tadej Pogačar of Slovenia. 2025 Tour de France next stage Stage 5 is a 33-kilometer individual time trial in Caen on Wednesday, July 9. Contributing: Steve Gardner, USA TODAY Sports This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tour de France Stage 4: Tadej Pogacar wins, closes in on yellow jersey
Times
09-07-2025
- Sport
- Times
Tadej Pogacar takes Tour de France lead with time-trial statement
On Tuesday night they were stacking chairs in the Hall Antoine de Saint-Exupéry at Rouen, silently waiting for me to pack up so they could get to a late-opening restaurant. If there were a Yellow Jersey for last to leave the Centre de Presse, I'd have more than Tadej Pogacar. Still, long after many such evenings are forgotten, the one in Rouen will survive. I had written a story about the first four days of the Tour de France explaining that while Pogacar was very much on form, the performance of his principal rival, Jonas Vingegaard, had been highly encouraging. A two-times Tour winner, Vingegaard had raced more aggressively than at any time in the past, so strong that he was able to match Pogacar on the shorter climbs of northern France that don't suit him. The thrust of the argument was that Vingegaard was ready for another joust with his great Tour rival. Pogacar, of course, remained the favourite but it didn't seem to be pie-in-the-sky talk to suggest this could be their closest battle. Between them, they have dominated the past four Tours; two to Pogacar, two to Vingegaard, and they have finished first and second on more stages than any other two riders in history. After Rouen came the 33-kilometre individual time-trial at Caen. Remembering what Vingegaard had done to Pogacar in a 22.4km race against the clock in the 2023 Tour and more recently at the Critérium du Dauphine, I predicted he would make up his eight-second deficit on Pogacar and take the Yellow Jersey. At the time it seemed plausible. After filing the story, a good friend called. He is a sports scientist who has worked for a long time in cycling and has spent his working life analysing performance. He had watched the first four days of the race and thought it was obvious how the Tour was going to play out. 'How exactly?' I asked. 'Tadej will win by five to seven minutes. He will do a very good time-trial in Caen. I'm not sure Jonas can on such a flat course. I can also see Tadej winning the sixth stage to Vire Normandie and the seventh to Mûr de Bretagne. In my opinion Jonas has no chance of beating Tadej in theTour.' This wasn't what I wanted to hear. He explained. 'The stages to Boulogne and then Rouen were like one-day classics and Jonas was going full gas with six kilos less than Tadej (Vingegaard's weight is 60kg, Pogacar's 66kg). For him this was really taxing on his body and I am sure Jonas is going to pay for it. I would go further and say João Almeida [Pogacar's main lieutenant at UAE Team Emirates] will finish second in the Tour.' We have had these conversations many times. He is a scientist, a numbers man. I am a words man. Most times, the numbers man is right. And sometimes you write a piece that an hour later you wish you could take back. As soon as my friend made the point about Vingegaard paying for his efforts, little things fell into place. At the finishes in Boulogne and then Rouen, where he'd ridden so hard, it was clear from Vingegaard's body language that he'd gone deep into himself. Pogacar's face didn't even suggest he'd been in a race. Others lie on the road in exhaustion after their efforts, he jumps on his warm-down bike. Then there was Pogacar's mood. Asked about the likelihood of losing time to Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel in the race against the clock, he talked about it like it was his best friend's stag do. Couldn't wait. When on the night before the team suggested he go round to the hotel of the race organiser to get fitted up for his polka-dot skinsuit (as King of the Mountains), he shrugged his shoulders and said they could use the measurements he gave them for last year's time-trial at Nice. There are aspects to his character that we're still discovering. His performance in a time-trial at last month's Dauphine was seriously disappointing as he lost more time than expected to both Evenepoel and Vingegaard. Since then he has often spoken of being complacent that day and getting his pace wrong through the first half of the test. All down to him. Publicly he never mentioned serious technical issues with his bike but everyone in the team knew the bike was a big problem. It felt unstable. He let those responsible know that he wasn't happy but, in public, toys are never thrown from the pram. On the 33km loop at Caen, he was ready and the bike was right. He was right. His second-place finish and 16-second loss to the specialist Evenepoel was, in reality, a victory. With it came the Yellow Jersey and a 65sec gain on Vingegaard, who finished a lowly 13th, 1min 21sec down on Evenepoel. 'No, I don't have an explanation,' Grischa Niermann, directeur sportif at Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike team, said. 'Before the TT, everything was good, so there were no problems. In the TT he was not able to talk to me; I'm only able to talk to him, but we already heard after a few kilometres that he was eight seconds down on Remco, and he just lost more time as it progressed. I haven't spoken to him yet, but of course we hoped for more.' Vingegaard himself was matter-of-fact in his assessment. 'My legs were not feeling so good, so the result is matching my legs. I was fighting my bike and my legs today. Luckily, the Tour is long and I still believe in myself, in our plan, and still believe that we can win.' There were notable performances from the young French rider Kévin Vauquelin, who finished fifth and moved up to third place overall, behind Pogacar and Evenepoel. Vauquelin, 24, is from the town of Bayeux in Normandy. It is from here that the sixth stage will begin, traversing the roads that have been and still are Vauquelin's training ground. When he finished second in the Tour de Suisse last month, he apologised to his team-mates for not winning. He, too, has got something about him. Scotland's Oscar Onley was always going to find this pancake-flat time-trial difficult because he is a climber but he did well, finishing 2min 2sec down in 23rd place. He drops to 11th overall but a place in the top ten remains within reach. That would a terrific achievement. For another 22-year-old Briton, Joe Blackmore, the time-trial proved difficult as he lost 4min 34sec and dropped to 27th overall. That may not seem much but Geraint Thomas, winner in 2018 and riding his 14th Tour, now sits in 44th place and so the performances of Onley and Blackmore are admirable. They will both gain enormously from the experience. If they are to one day challenge Pogacar, they will have to progress. Victory at Caen went to Evenepoel but the day belonged to the reigning Tour and world champion. Evenepoel delivered a perfect time-trial but only a handful of seconds faster than Pogacar. In the mountains Evenepoel will have days where he will be left behind by Pogacar. If offered second place right now, he might well take it. Five days into the race, Pogacar has the Yellow, Green and Polka Dot jerseys. Quite the collection. He wasn't attaching much significance to it. 'The most important is Yellow, and the most important thing is to have it on the Champs-Élysées,' he said. 'Now, it's not important.' The difficulty for his rivals is actually seeing themselves as rivals.
