Latest news with #stagevictory
Irish Times
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Tim Wellens storms to Stage 15 win in Tour de France
Tim Wellens had time to high-five fans inside the final kilometre as he soloed to victory on Stage 15 of the Tour de France into Carcassonne with his UAE Team Emirates team-mate Tadej Pogacar retaining the yellow jersey. Wellens (34) completed his set of Grand Tour stage victories, attacking from a breakaway with 44 kilometres of the 169km stage from Muret and quickly opening a sizeable gap before the long downhill run into the medieval city where his margin of victory over Victor Campenaerts was 88 seconds. In the confusion of another frantic day of racing, Julian Alaphilippe celebrated as though he had won the stage when he edged a three-way sprint for third, having apparently been without a working radio after hurting his shoulder in an earlier crash. Instead, it was a fifth stage victory of this Tour for UAE, with Pogacar having taken the other four on his way to building an advantage of four minutes 13 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard going into Monday's rest day. READ MORE Ireland's Ben Healy rolled in with the peloton alongside Pogacar and Vingegaard, six minutes seven seconds behind Wellens. The 24-year-old, racing for ED Education-EasyPost, is now 10th in the general classification, 15 seconds back on Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) with six stages left in this year's Tour. Ireland's Ben Healy (centre) with his EF Education-EasyPost ahead of Sunday 169.3km Stage 15 between Muret and Carcassonne. Photograph: Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images 'It was a very special victory,' said Wellens after Sunday's stage win. 'Everybody knows the Tour de France, everybody wants to ride the Tour de France but not many get to win at the Tour de France so it's very beautiful. 'I knew it was going to be very beautiful to complete my trilogy of the Giro, Tour and Vuelta and I knew I had to enjoy the moment. I kept riding to the finish line because I wanted a big gap and to maybe put my bike in the air on the finish, but I was so happy I forgot to do it.' In keeping with so much of this Tour to date, it was another chaotic stage as a hilly route across southern France offered little let-up after three days in the Pyrenees. A furious fight to get into the breakaway was interrupted by an early crash that split the peloton, with Vingegaard and Florian Lupowitz, who is third in the GC, among those held up. Pogacar tried to slow the pace to allow them to close a one-minute gap, but others were still attacking to get down the road and it took a full 20 kilometres for the GC leaders to come back together.
The Independent
20-07-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Tim Wellens completes set of Grand Tour victories with solo win on stage 15
Tim Wellens had time to high-five fans inside the final kilometre as he soloed to victory on stage 15 of the Tour de France into Carcassonne with his team-mate Tadej Pogacar retaining the yellow jersey. Wellens, 34, completed his set of Grand Tour stage victories, attacking from a reduced four-man breakaway with 44 kilometres remaining of the 169km stage from Muret. The Belgian national champion quickly opened a sizeable gap before the long downhill run into the medieval city, where his margin of victory over compatriot Victor Campenaerts was 1:28. In the confusion of another frantic day of racing, Julian Alaphilippe celebrated as though he had won the stage when he edged a three-way sprint for third, having apparently been without a working radio after hurting his shoulder in an earlier crash. Instead, it was a fifth stage victory of this Tour for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, with Pogacar having taken the other four on his way to building an advantage of four minutes 13 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard going into Monday's rest day. There was no change at the top of the general classification, with the main favourites finishing some six minutes after Wellens took the win, although Ineos Grenadiers' Carlos Rodriguez made the most of getting in the breakaway by leapfrogging Ben Healy into ninth overall. Florian Lupowitz remains third, just shy of eight minutes off yellow and one minute 25 seconds ahead of 22-year-old Scot Oscar Onley. Wellens, who triumphed in the Belgian champion's jersey a day before his home country's national day, and a day after compatriot Remco Evenepoel was forced to exit the race in tears, savoured every moment on the ride into town. 'It was a very special victory,' Wellens said. 'Everybody knows the Tour de France, everybody wants to ride the Tour de France but not many get to win at the Tour de France so it's very beautiful. 'I knew it was going to be very beautiful to complete my trilogy of the Giro, Tour and Vuelta and I knew I had to enjoy the moment. I kept riding to the finish line because I wanted a big gap and to maybe put my bike in the air on the finish, but I was so happy I forgot to do it.' In keeping with so much of this Tour to date, it was another chaotic stage as a hilly route across southern France offered little let-up after three days in the Pyrenees. A furious fight to get into the breakaway was interrupted by an early crash that split the peloton, with Vingegaard and Lipowitz among those held up. Pogacar tried to slow the pace to allow them to close a one-minute gap, but others were still attacking to get down the road - including Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike teammates - and it took a full 20 kilometres for the main favourites to come back together. Around 35 riders did go clear of the main bunch, and Wellens used all his experience to sit in the wheels and not offer up turns until launching his decisive attack, where the road continued to rise after the summit of the final categorised climb. It was Wellens' first Grand Tour stage win since he won two stages of the 2020 Vuelta a Espana to add to his two Giro d'Italia stage victories.
BBC News
20-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Wellens cruises to maiden Tour win on stage 15
Belgian champion Tim Wellens claimed his first Tour de France stage victory with a breakaway win on stage UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider has done a lot of work for race leader Tadej Pogacar in the opening two weeks of the Tour but, freed from his domestique duties for the day, attacked on the final climb of the hilly 169.3km ride from Muret to 34-year-old ultimately won by one minute 28 seconds, with fellow Belgian Victor Campenaerts finishing second and Julian Alaphilippe team-mate Tadej Pogacar crossed six minutes later in the peloton to maintain his lead of four minutes 13 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard in the general classification standings. "It is a very special victory," said Wellens. "Everybody knows the Tour de France but not many people win in the Tour de France, so it was very beautiful."I felt super good today. On the last climb of the day I felt really good. I knew the others felt really good but I knew I had to go solo. At the top of the climb I found my moment and I felt I had the legs to keep it to the end."I knew I had to enjoy the moment and kept riding until the end so I had a big gap to enjoy it and maybe put my bike in the air after the finish - but I was so happy I forgot to do it." Stage 15 results Tim Willens (Bel/UAE Emirates XRG) 3hrs 34mins 9secsVictor Campenaerts (Bel/Visma-Lease a bike) +1min 28secsJulian Alaphilippe (Fra/Tudor) +1min 36secsWout Van Aert (Bel/Visma-Lease a bike) Same timeAxel Laurance (Fra/Ineos Grenadiers)Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)Jasper Stuyven (Bel/Lidl-Trek)Jordan Jegat (Fra/TotalEnergies)Michael Valgren (Den/EF Education-EasyPost)Valentin Madouas (Fra/Groupama-FDJ)
BBC News
20-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Tour de France - Veteran Wellens breaks away to win first Tour stage
Update: Date: 16:46 BST Title: 'I am happier for Wellens to win than when I win' Content: Race leader Tadej Pogacar after UAE team-mate Tim Wellens' stage victory: "I am more happy for him today than when I win. Beyond happiness. "This week was one of the hardest second weeks of the Tour that I have ridden because of the terrain, the time trial on the climb and yesterday with 5,000m of elevation [gain]. "The gap is now big but we still have big mountains to come. We need to fight until the end." Update: Date: 16:30 BST Title: General classification after stage 15 Content: Update: Date: 16:27 BST Title: 'Everybody knows the Tour, but not many people win here' Content: Tim Wellens after his maiden Tour de France stage victory: "It is a very special victory. Everybody knows the Tour de France but not many people win in the Tour de France so it was very beautiful. "I felt super good today. On the last climb of the day I felt really good. I knew the others felt really good but I knew I had to go solo. At the top of the climb I found my moment and I felt I had the legs to keep it to the end. "I knew I had to enjoy the moment and kept riding until the end so I had a big gap to enjoy it and maybe put my bike in the air after the finish - but I was so happy I forgot to do it!" Update: Date: 16:21 BST Title: Rodriguez leapfrogs Healy in GC Content: The peloton came in six minutes after Tim Wellens, and Carlos Rodriguez's effort in the chase group sees the Ineos Grenadiers rider leapfrog Ireland's Ben Healy to ninth position in the overall standings. Update: Date: 16:19 BST Title: Stage 15 results Content: Update: Date: 16:11 BST Title: Post Content: Julian Alaphilippe lunged for the line to get there before Wout van Aert and then held his arms aloft. We've just got word that Tudor's French leader did in fact think he'd won the stage and declined an interview. Tough one to take. Update: Date: 16:04 BST Title: Wellens wins stage 15 Content: Tim Wellens secures a breakaway win on stage 15 of the Tour de France. It is the 34-year-old Belgian's first stage win on 'Le Grand Boucle' and his fifth Grand Tour win overall. The yellow jersey group is still 4km from the line. Update: Date: 1km to go Title: Post Content: Tim Wellens gives high-fives to some of the crowd as he rides towards the line in Carcassone. Update: Date: 5km to go Title: Post Content: Tim Wellens is now almost two minutes clear. He's currently 53rd on the general classification standings, almost two hours behind race leader Tadej Pogacar. Update: Date: 10km to go Title: Post Content: Tim Wellens looks set to become the second UAE rider to win a stage on this year's Tour - after Tadej Pogacar, of course. The Belgian's lead has now gone past one minute 30 seconds. Update: Date: 15km to go Title: Post Content: Quinn Simmons tries to break free from the chase group but Tim Wellens now leads by one minute 27 seconds. Update: Date: 20km to go Title: Post Content: Tim Wellens has won two stages at the Giro d'Italia and two at the Vuelta a Espana but he is yet to win in the world's biggest and best cycling race. This would see the 34-year-old complete a Grand Tour treble and be his first Grand Tour win since 2020. Update: Date: 25km to go Title: Wellens lead increases Content: Carlos Rodriguez and Alexey Lutsenko have got back to the first chase group, taking it up to seven riders. Tim Wellens is now clear by one minute 15 seconds. Update: Date: 30km to go Title: Post Content: Tim Wellens' lead is now up to a minute, with five riders in the next group. His UAE team-mate and race leader Tadej Pogacar is way back in the peloton, almost seven minutes adrift. Update: Date: 40km to go Title: Wellens takes lead Content: UAE's Tim Wellens has done a lot of work for race leader Tadej Pogacar so far on this Tour but now he wants to grab his own glory. The Belgian road champion has burst out of that lead group and soon establishes a 20-second lead. Update: Date: 44km to go Title: Post Content: Warren Barguil, Alexey Lutsenko, Aleksandr Vlasov and Carlos Rodriguez have caught up with Tim Wellens, Michael Storer, Victor Campenaerts and Quinn Simmons to make it an eight-man breakaway. Update: Date: 48km to go Title: Post Content: Warren Barguil joins Alexey Lutsenko, Aleksandr Vlasov and Carlos Rodriguez, 20 seconds behind the leaders. Update: Date: 50km to go Title: Post Content: Hilly, 169.3km, Muret to Carcassonne The 166 remaining riders are now into the final 1,000km of this year's Tour - and the final 50km of today's stage. The gap to the main bunch has grown to six minutes on the gradual descent to the finish in Carcassonne. Update: Date: 52km to go Title: Polka-dot jersey - Storer takes final climb Content: Michael Storer attacks inside the final kilometre of the ascent of the Pas du Sant to take the maximum mountain points: Update: Date: 53km to go Title: Post Content: Michael Storer attacked from the bottom, followed by Quinn Simmons, but they're then joined by Victor Campeanaerts and Tim Wellens.
The Guardian
20-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Tour de France 2025: Arensman holds off Pogacar and Vingegaard for solo stage win
Thymen Arensman rescued what had been an anonymous Tour de France for Ineos Grenadiers with a solo stage victory in the final Pyrenean stage, to Superbagnères in Haute-Garonne. Earlier, an Ineos Grenadiers team car had knocked down a spectator on the approach to the summit of the Col de Peyresourde. The team car was in the middle of the road, about 200 metres from the top of the ascent, when it struck the spectator, who was cheering the riders on. The driver, the sports director, Oliver Cookson, was handed a 5,000 Swiss franc (£4,650) fine and a yellow card for 'dangerous behaviour that endangered spectators'. A second yellow card triggers exclusion from the race. Local police have been investigating the accident. In a statement, Ineos Grenadiers said: 'Our thoughts and sincere apologies go out to the fan who was accidentally and regretfully hit by one of our race cars while supporting the riders during today's stage. Like all teams we take great care to maintain a safe race environment for everyone – including the passionate fans who make our sport so special.' On a murky day in the Pyrenees, Tadej Pogacar finally allowed others their chance. Already the winner of four stages, the Slovenian controlled some tentative moves by Jonas Vingegaard in the closing kilometres, before outsprinting the Dane in the final 150 metres to increase his overall lead to 4min 13sec. Pogacar said the wet and misty conditions had affected his enthusiasm for the stage. 'We were riding strongly, but also thinking to be safe. I was quite scared descending in white fog, you don't even see the road,' the Slovenian said. 'When you are riding super-hard for two and a half hours already and you come to top of the Tourmalet and you think: 'Ah, it's a descent, it's easy,' but then [there is] this really thick fog on the top – mist, bit of rain, slippery road – you still need to focus so much on the downhill. 'It's so different to when it's dry and sunny. In this fog today, you could see maybe 20 metres ahead of you. We went really conservatively on the downhill and we managed in the end without any stupid mistakes.' Meanwhile, Oscar Onley, who finished sixth on the stage, has moved into the top four as the Tour ends its second week. The Scot benefited from the withdrawal of Remco Evenepoel, who started the day third but quit the Tour at the base of the Col du Tourmalet. Evenepoel, clearly at the end of his rope after Friday's time trial to Peyragudes, was drifting behind well before the peloton arrived at the foot of the Tourmalet, but as the 19km climb began, it became apparent the Belgian's race was run. 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 'He didn't feel great,' his Soudal Quick-Step sports director, Tom Steels, said of the Olympic road and time-trial champion. 'He hoped for the best, but things didn't turn. He didn't have the legs to suffer. I think it's wise not to continue. He still has some goals this year, and maybe if he'd continued in the condition he had, maybe the rest of the season would be lost. 'Remco was very disappointed he had to leave the Tour. He is not himself. Already, this was the third day in a row that he didn't feel great. You have to be very careful not to go over the limit and lose months instead of days.' With almost 5,000m of climbing packed into 125km of racing, it was one of the most brutal stages in recent Tours, but Pogacar was happy to let an earlier breakaway, which included Arensman, move clear, with Lenny Martinez, chasing yet more points in the King of the Mountains classification, also in the move. Crucially, the French rider was first over the mammoth and mist-shrouded Tourmalet and harvested enough points to move into the polka dot jersey lead, as the Tour exited the Pyrenees. Sunday's stage to Carcassonne offers the sprinters a further opportunity for success, before the second rest day and the final week's assault on the Alps.
