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The Guardian
12 hours ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Tour de France Femmes: Squiban's perfect attack earns home favourite stage six win
Maëva Squiban from Brittany won stage six of the Tour de France Femmes after a 32km lone breakaway through the forested climbs of the Livradois-Forez national park to Ambert. The 23-yea-old from Brest held off the pursuing peloton of favourites on the final climb to claim the biggest win of her career and also the second stage win for a French rider since the women's race was rebooted as the Tour de France Femmes in 2022. Squiban, riding for UAE Team ADQ, attacked alone, three kilometres from the top of the Col du Chansert, and maintained her lead on the fast descent, through the bonus sprint and into the finishing straight on the Boulevard Henri IV. 'When they told me I had a minute and a half (lead) I couldn't believe it,' she said after the stage. 'I mainly wanted to get a head start before the climb to the bonus sprint. Then I was hoping to be part of a small group from the bonus sprint to the finish.' Behind her, overnight race leader, Kim Le Court, was as good as her word at the bonus sprints, and made every second count. The Mauritian took another four seconds, just ahead of defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma, to extend her overall lead. 'The goal was to control the race, and then see if the legs were there,' Le Court said. 'After that, it was to take the remaining bonus seconds, as there was already a rider up ahead.' 'We tried to close the gap to Squiban to try and get the stage, but it wasn't going to happen so tried to get a bit more time at the finish. I couldn't wish for it to be better, apart from maybe winning the stage.' The 29-year-old now leads overall by 26 seconds from Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and by 30 seconds from Niewiadoma, who leap-frogged pre-race favourite Demi Vollering into third place. The first mountain stage of the 2025 edition included 2,475 metres of altitude gain over four categorised climbs, including the first category Col du Beal, and provoked significant time gaps through the peloton. Marianne Vos tumbled down the yellow jersey rankings, dropping from sixth position to 29th after stage six Although the rest of the favourites stayed together over the top of the 10km climb, Cédrine Kerbaol and defending champion Niewiadoma tried their hand on the descent, but were recaptured at the foot of the Col du Chansert, the platform for Squiban's solo attack. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Demi Vollering's FDJ-Suez team mate, Juliette Labous, set off in pursuit in the closing kilometres, but it was not enough to draw out any initiatives from the main challengers for final victory. Ferrand-Prévot, gold medallist in Olympic mountain biking, has been a discreet presence so far, after showing an explosive acceleration on stage one. Her stealthy performance is fuelling French hopes that she may break the host nation's 40-year Tour de France drought. FDJ-Suez team manager Stephen Delcourt's apparent anxieties over Vollering's chances may be heightened by the prospect of a French rider being guided to overall victory by his nemesis, Visma–Lease a Bike's Jos Van Emden, although the pair now appear to have ended their public feud. Friday's stage from Bourg-en-Bresse to Chambéry may have lesser altitude gain, but is expected to inflict yet more pain, as it crosses the summit of the 1,134m Col du Granier, just 17km from the finish. With three mountain stages still to come, only 132 of 154 starters remain in the race.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Tour de France Femmes 2025: stage five sets longest test into Massif Central
Update: Date: 2025-07-30T10:35:58.000Z Title: Preamble Content: The profile of stage five, between Chasseneuil-du-Poitou and Guéret, looks ripe for a breakaway in the final: there are three categorised climbs inside the last 36km, two category fours and one category three, after a relatively flat 130km or so. However, the location of the day's intermediate sprint, at Dun-le-Palestel after 127km, may lead certain teams to try and control the race until then. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx–Protime), who leads the green jersey standings after two stage wins in two days, said yesterday she may try to get in breakaways to fight for more points. But perhaps Marianne Vos, the overall leader and yellow-jersey wearer, and her Visma-Lease A Bike team will lend a hand in controlling things. At 165.8km, this transitional stage is the longest of this year's race. It will be interesting to see how fierce the battle to form an early breakaway becomes, because there are already plenty of tired bodies in the peloton, with a few teams and riders hoping for a relatively easy day with a non-threatening breakaway allowed up the road. This being the Tour de France Femmes, though, it'll probably be flat-out all the way. Stage start time: 12.35pm UK/1.35pm local
The Independent
6 days ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Kaden Groves clinches first Tour de France stage victory as Tadej Pogacar takes one more step to overall title
Kaden Groves won stage 20 of the Tour de France from a breakaway in Pontarlier as Tadej Pogacar came through the penultimate day unscathed to ensure he will wear yellow into Paris on Sunday. Groves left Frank van den Broek and Briton Jake Stewart behind with 16 kilometres of the rolling 184km stage from Nantua remaining, taking advantage of their hesitancy to quickly build a lead as he won by 55 seconds from Van den Broek, completing a trilogy with wins in all three Grand Tours. Behind, the peloton rolled in some seven minutes down, happy to survive a damp day that saw several riders crash as Pogacar retained his four minute 24 second lead over rival Jonas Vingegaard on the last day before Paris. The addition of three ascents of the Montmartre climb to Sunday's finale may rule out the usual Champs-Elysees sprint and keep the racing on for one more day - subject to a threat of rain - but Pogacar can almost start celebrating his fourth Tour title and begin plotting a record-equalling fifth. 'Today we weren't sure whether to go for the stage or wait for tomorrow but when the rain falls I have a super feeling normally in the cold weather,' an emotional Groves said. 'It's my first ever solo win and it's a Tour stage so it's pretty incredible. 'There's so much pressure at the Tour. Having won in the Giro and won in the Vuelta all I ever get asked is if am I good enough to win in the Tour and now I've shown them.' Groves' first career Tour stage win was a third of this race for his Alpecin-Deceuninck team but the first since stage two, with their previous two winners Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel since lost to injury and illness. Stage 20 was likely earmarked for Classics specialist Van der Poel but Groves demonstrated his class as not just a sprinter but an all-rounder, as he looked among the strongest riders on the day's punchy climbs through the Jura hills. Fourteen teams started the day without a win in this Tour so a furious fight for the breakaway was expected, but such was the pace that it was more a case of riders falling off the back than launching off the front of a rapidly-shrinking peloton. It was down to less than 50 when Tim Wellens attacked on the second-categorised climb, leading to 13 riders getting themselves clear before the peloton sat up with a little under 100km to go. A long-range attack from Harry Sweeny came to nothing as the groups came back together, but after a nasty crash for Ivan Romeo and local rider Romain Gregoire, only Groves, Stewart, Van den Broek were left with 20km left. When Groves attacked, Stewart and Van den Broek looked at each other, and in that moment the stage was decided. Pogacar mathematically secured the king of the mountains' polka dot jersey early on this stage, with yellow set to follow on Sunday provided he crosses the line in Paris.
Times
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Times
Tim Wellens surprises Victor Campenaerts to win his first Tour stage
The Tour de France rolled into Carcassonne for the 13th time on Sunday. Unlucky 13 for Visma-Lease a Bike. They came into the race believing they could win it, convinced theirs would be the strongest team. Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife, Arsène Wenger once said. Visma got two of their strongest into the 24-rider breakaway that had the 15th leg of the Tour to themselves. Their great rivals UAE Emirates XRG had one. There was one outcome Visma did not want. Which was the one they got. Tadej Pogacar's friend and team-mate Tim Wellens broke clear of his fellow escapees 42km from the finish and soon disappeared from view. They would not see him again until after the race. Visma's Victor Campenaerts was second and their other contender Wout van Aert was fourth. Such is the determination to protect Pogacar, UAE's equipiers do not often leave him. On this occasion, Wellens embodied the Oscar Wilde principle that man can resist anything except temptation. There were good reasons why Wellens went for it. Having had trouble with his bike the day before, he was left behind on the Col du Tourmalet and could not contribute to the team effort. That left him feeling unusually fresh as the race left Muret for their journey to Carcassonne. One hundred kilometres from the finish, the attacks were so numerous that soon they were uncontrollable. Wellens went with the flow. Once part of the escape, he was able to play the Yellow Jersey card: with my boss leading the race, how can I be expected to contribute to the pacesetting? Campenaerts noticed Wellens in their group and sighed. 'We said today we wanted to go for the stage. It was a good situation with Wout and me in the breakaway, but Wellens… We have a good relationship outside of cycling, but in the races, he's the guy that you don't want to have in the breakaway.' Wellens then played the rider Campenaerts believes him to be. 'He's smart, he's sneaky,' Campenaerts said. 'He knows how to play it. He wasn't allowed to do any pulls. He was sitting on, but he was very strong. He didn't miss any decisive moments, and he did a perfect move on the highest point of the course. 'Of course, second is not what we race for, so it's a bit disappointing, but it is what it is. Wellens was really strong, and he didn't stroll this victory.' After the stage, the stage winner and the Yellow Jersey are obliged to do video conferences with journalists. As Wellens and Pogacar are team-mates, they opted for a duet. The race leader was content to let his team-mate bask in the limelight. Pogacar was asked why he chased down Matteo Jorgenson's attack at the time the breakaway was forming. He explained that when word came through that Jonas Vingegaard had been held up by a crash, he tried to get everyone to slow down so his No1 rival and others could safely return to the peloton. 'But the attacks to join the breakaway continued. Visma already had two riders in the break and when Matteo went, I thought you don't need a third rider in the group, so I went after him.' Pogacar's feeling was that Visma's riders should not have been attacking when their team leader was trying to rejoin the peloton. Visma's strategy though has changed. They still say their No1 priority is Vingegaard's pursuit of the Yellow but that has evolved as Pogacar's lead has stretched to more than four minutes. Now they want to play on two fronts, with stage wins a new priority. Do not, though, feel sorry for Campenaerts and Van Aert meeting Wellens on the wrong day. What sympathy you have got, save it for Julian Alaphilippe, who punched the air after winning the sprint for third place into Carcassonne, believing that he was sprinting for first. 'He had a crash at the beginning of the race,' Raphael Meyer, the Tudor sports director, said. 'He had pain and a dislocated shoulder. He was seen by the doctor and he still has some pain. He's going for x-rays.' Alaphilippe pressed his right shoulder back into its socket and carried on. In the crash, he also damaged his earpiece and had no contact with the team car for the rest of the stage. Joining the lead group after Wellens and Campenaerts had gone clear, he mistakenly thought he was in a group sprinting for victory. All the favourites were in a group 6mins 7secs down on Wellens which was a good place for Oscar Onley to be. He has now got the second rest day to consider the final push to Paris. He sits in fourth place overall, in position to emulate Robert Millar's fourth place in the 1984 Tour. For a 22-year-old in his second tour, Onley has been a revelation in the race so far. So too have been the size of the crowds. The Tour organiser Christian Prudhomme said the crowds at Lille for the opening weekend were the greatest since Yorkshire in 2014, which were the greatest of all. An hour before the finish at Carcassonne I met two Welshmen, Glenn Seaborne and his son Louis. What tempted them to leave Ebbw Vale for the southwest of France? 'Five years ago,' Glenn said, 'I was talking with Louis, who was 16 at the time, and he said he'd been watching the Tour de France and would love to spend a few days at the race. I said, 'We'll do it.'' Glenn had played rugby for 30 years, a semi-professional as an adult. Louis is a football goalkeeper, but once the kid mentioned the Tour, Dad decided it really would happen. After Glenn finished rugby, he became a bike rider. A year after that first conversation, he bought an old Volkswagen and converted it into a camper van. It was all part of a plan. Last year, they made their first trip to the Tour. Four stages. They loved every minute. This year, they've come for 16 days. 'We left home last Thursday week, drove three hours from Ebbw Vale to Portsmouth, took the ferry from there to Bilbao. Thirty-six hours. Then drove to Carcassonne from there. This time we'd brought our bikes and on Saturday we climbed the Col du Tourmalet together, reached the top and then went back down, had a bit to eat in the camper van and then watched the race go by.' Though Geraint Thomas will always be their hero, they couldn't help noticing Pogacar in the group of favourites. 'The way he sits on the bike,' Glenn said. 'He makes it seem just effortless,' Louis added. They are now on their way to Avignon and from there to the foot of Mont Ventoux which they will climb together on Tuesday morning, again before the race. This time, they are going to stay high on the Ventoux and see the riders on the upper slopes of one of the iconic climb. I joke that the Ventoux only gets really bad when they pass through Chalet Reynard and turn left to begin the last six kilometres. They say they cannot wait. I mention to Glenn that it must be some experience to make this trip with his boy. Suddenly this old rugby player, who doesn't seem like he would have been a pushover on the pitch, has tears in his eyes. 'I'm sorry, I'm getting upset now, emotional. It means the world to me to be able to do this. I never had anything like this with my own father. He was a miner, Marine Colliery at Blackwood in South Wales. When he was 40 and I was 10, he had a stroke. He didn't have very good mobility after that and I never could do anything like this with him. Doing this with Louis is unbelievable, just unbelievable.'
BBC News
13-07-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Van der Poel caught inside final kilometre after epic breakaway as Merlier wins final sprint
Update: Date: 16:26 BST Title: Bastille Day awaits Content: Tomorrow would normally be a rest day but it is Bastille Day so a big day of climbing is coming up instead. The 4,400m of elevation gain across seven category-two climbs and a category-three ascent is likely to put the sprinters in trouble almost from the start on a stage that looks made for the breakaway specialists. There will likely be a strong posse of home riders trying to get in any group heading up the road with the objective of becoming the first French stage winner on the national holiday since Warren Barguil in 2017. The first trip into the mountains should provide a decent shake up of the GC standings although it unlikely to cause any of the main favourites issues. We'll see you for that at noon on Monday. Update: Date: 16:21 BST Title: General classification after stage nine Content: Update: Date: 16:20 BST Title: It was 'fast and furious' Content: Race leader Tadej Pogacar speaking after stage nine: "Today was fast and furious thanks to the two guys in front and also the wind was blowing to make it hard. Tomorrow is a solid day. A proper climbing day, it does not look so hurtful on the profile but I think it is going to be a really hard race and we are ready for tomorrow. "Sadly Joao had to abandon. It was too much to bear and I think everybody understands and wish him all the best." Update: Date: 16:13 BST Title: Van der Poel drops a spot in GC Content: Poor old Mathieu van der Poel. Delivers a mammoth effort to almost win from basically the flag drop and then finds himself being the only rider inside the top 10 in the general classification to lose time and drop a place from fifth to sixth. Update: Date: 16:10 BST Title: Van der Poel goes all in Content: Tim Merlier may well have claimed his second stage of this year's Tour but what about that performance from Mathieu van der Poel. The Dutch rider spent 173km of 174.1km up the road at an average speed of 49.9 kmh but ended up crossing the line 17 seconds after Merlier in a group containing Wout van Aert and Sepp Kuss. Update: Date: 16:03 BST Title: Stage nine results Content: 1. Tim Merlier (Bel/Soudal Quick-Step) 3hrs 28mins 52secs 2. Jonathan Milan (Ita/Lidl-Trek) Same time 3. Arnaud De Lie (Bel/Lotto) " 4. Pavel Bittner (Cze/Picnic PostNL) " 5. Paul Penhoet (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) " 6. Biniam Girmay (Eri/Intermarche-Wanty) " 7. Phil Bauhaus (Ger/Bahrain Victorious) " 8. Jordi Meeus (Bel/Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) " 9. Stian Fredheim (Nor/Uno-X Mobility) " 10. Kaden Groves (Aus/Alpecin-Deceuninck) " Update: Date: 15:56 BST Title: Tim Merlier wins stage nine Content: Belgium's Tim Merlier takes stage nine with Jonathan Milan in second and a fast-finishing Arnaud de Lie in third. Update: Date: 250m to go Title: Post Content: Jonathan Milan hits the front as Tim Merlier starts to come through... Update: Date: 500m to go Title: Post Content: Jake Stewart opens up a sprint... Update: Date: 1km to go Title: Post Content: Mathieu van der Poel is caught just inside the flamme rouge. A valian effort. Update: Date: 1.8km to go Title: Post Content: Jonathan Milan has no lead out train today. He will have to freelance and pick a wheel. Mathieu van der Poel has seven seconds. Update: Date: 2km to go Title: Post Content: The peloton is coming in hot. Mathieu van der Poel is riding like his life depends on it but it's only a matter of time now as Kaden Groves begins to tighten his shoes up for the expected bunch sprint. Update: Date: 3km to go Title: Post Content: Tudor Pro Cycling are picking up the pace. Mathieu van der Poel is giving everything but his lead is falling and is 13 seconds. Update: Date: 4km to go Title: Post Content: The gap comes down by four or five seconds. This could be touch and go. Update: Date: 5km to go Title: Post Content: Mathieu van der Poel has a 28-second lead. Will the peloton be able to reel him in from here? Update: Date: 6km to go Title: Post Content: Mathieu van der Poel is going solo. He effectively has a six kilometre time trial to deliver a sensational victory. Update: Date: 7km to go Title: Post Content: Fred Wright and Remco Evenepole are right up front as Magnus Cort pulls. The Dane almost creates a huge gap. There is serious fatigue setting in among that chasing group. The leaders still have 35 seconds. Update: Date: 8km to go Title: Post Content: Jasper Stuyen peels off the front but an Alpecin-Deceuninck rider is in his wheel to slow the chase. Update: Date: 9km to go Title: Post Content: The time gap is coming down but slowly. The leading pair have 45 seconds. Can Mathieu van der Poel pull off a remarkable victory here? Update: Date: 10km to go Title: Post Content: Mathieu van der Poel and Jones Rickaert have 50 seconds as Jasper Stuyven pulls the main bunch.
