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Japan Today
23-04-2025
- Sport
- Japan Today
Magnificent Pogacar soars to Fleche Wallonne triumph
cycling Tadej Pogacar powered up the steepest part of the final Ardennes hill Wednesday to reclaim the Fleche Wallonne classic title after a cold and rainy 205km slog over 11 climbs. With a mud-splattered face, the three-time Tour de France champion could barely raise a smile at the finish line, as plucky Frenchman Kevin Vauquelin emerged second and Briton Tom Pidcock third. The 23-year-old Vauquelin was also runner-up last year, proving he will often be a force in races culminating with a short, sharp hill. Pidcock, having quit Ineos in the close season for the second-tier Q36.5 team, can also be proud of a fine finish in a strong field. Winner of the Brabantse Pijl last Friday on his comeback from injury, Belgian hope Remco Evenepoel was right in the thick of the race before fading to ninth over the last 200m as Pogacar switched into a gear nobody else could find. More than just a warm-up race for Sunday's Liege-Bastogne-Liege raced in the same region, but 50km longer, this race runs through the Ardennes forest but over 11 of the region's steepest climbs. Pogacar, who last won at the Tour of Flanders on April 6, was clearly tired but delighted after his latest efforts. "It's a beautiful place, but as a cyclist you don't like it so much, such a tough finish," said the Team UAE Emirates leader. "It's a really great feeling, the weather wasn't so good but winning again is all that counts. We worked well as a team today and we'll have a similar one for Sunday at Liege," said the 26-year-old, who won at Liege last year in the absence of the injured Evenepoel. Wednesday's race culminated with the fearsome Mur de Huy, just 1.3km in length but with gradients hitting 19 percent with an average of 9.6. Pogacar said he attacked when he saw Irishman Ben Healy, who finished fifth, draw level with him. "I said 'Okay he looks fast'. So I accelerated and when I looked over my shoulder, no one was there. But really that's the hardest kilometre in cycling," he added. This was a return to winning ways for Slovenian Pogacar after his second-placed finish to Mathieu van der Poel at Paris-Roubaix, and another second place in the Amstel Gold race behind Mattias Skjelmose on Sunday. Skjelmose had been highly fancied again here but the 24-year-old was one of several riders who slid out of the race on a slick corner around 40km from home on a day of unrelenting rain. His Lidl teammate Thibau Nys had also been touted as a man who could beat Pogacar on the final climb but eventually came eighth, perhaps due to the fact Skjelmose had dropped out. A stubborn escape group clung on until the final ascent, in a sign of how little appetite there was for a long-range bid for glory from one of the race favorites. Many of Wednesday's competitors will be back in action Sunday in the same corner of the Ardennes for the Liege-Bastogne-Liege 'Monument' over 252km where an escape is more likely. © 2025 AFP
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
"Mes que una Cursa": Barcelona unveil 2026 Tour de France start
Barcelona will host the start of the Tour de France in 2026 with three days of racing unveiled by organisers and local officials on Tuesday showing off the Catalan region at its best. The world's greatest bike race will speed past the crowds of Spain's most vaunted avenue the Ramblas and take in some of Barcelona's architectural wonders such as Antoni Gaudi's modernist cathedral the Sagrada Família. Barcelona mayor Jaume Collboni said the city was honoured to welcome the July 4 'Grand Depart' after previously hosting the Olympics, men's World Cup and the America's Cup. "Today we fulfil a dream, the dream of seeing the Grand Depart of the Tour de France become a reality, a dream that Barcelona has pursued for years," he told gathered press in Catalan. The motto for the Catalan city's most famous football team is "More than a club" and the organisers latched onto this by calling their Grand Depart "Mes que una Cursa" ('More than a race'). A fierce struggle for the first yellow jersey will be decided in the form of a 19.7km team time-trial passing by the Olmypic port, the Sagrada Familia and ending at the Olympic stadium. This type of challenge would on paper at least suit Jonas Vingegaard's Visma outfit, rather than defending champion Tadej Pogacar's Team UAE Emirates. Stage two starts along the coast at Tarragona and runs back to the Barcelona Olympic stadium over 178km while stage three starts at Granollers and runs towards France to a finish which will be revealed in October with the rest of the 21 stage route. Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme mentioned former Spanish cycling greats Miguel Indurain and Luis Ocana, and described Barcelona as a shining city. He said he could hardly wait to "see the fervour of the fans as the race climbs the slopes of Montjuic," the mountain where Barcelona's 1992 Olympic stadium stands and which is now temporary home to Barcelona football club. After Copenhagen in 2022, Bilbao in 2023 and Florence in 2024 Barcelona's Mediterranean sea port provides the latest exotic backdrop for the globally broadcast extravaganza. The whole cycling world will gather in and around the city several days ahead of the race with the cream of world cycling, fans and curious onlookers alike and a huge tourist boom arriving fast on the heels of the worldwide audiences that tune in to the 21-day race in 190 countries. The remainder of the route will be unveiled in October and is likely to culminate July 28 on the Champs Elysees in Paris. The 2025 Tour de France will be raced exclusively in France for the first time since the 2020 race as it starts in northern captal Lille. jk/rbs-dmc/nr
