Category: Cycling

Updates from the flat 175.1km stage from Hagetmau
Stage-by-stage guide | Stage six report | Mail Luke

There are six stages categorised as “flat” on the official route guide. Stage 21 in Paris may not quite count for the pure sprinters because of the three ascents of the Côte de la Butte Montmartre towards the end … long story short, the sprinters’ teams cannot afford to mess this up today. If a breakaway was allowed to succeed, the atmosphere would be frosty at dinner tonight for those teams.

Here we go then. The riders are out on the road and have another 3.5km or so until the flag drops. We should see a very decent scrap to form the breakaway.

• Vingegaard keeps yellow jersey with six-second lead

• Fires mean no spectators and ‘adapted route’ for stage three

Isaac del Toro took a victory orchestrated by Tadej Pogacar on stage two of the Tour de France in Barcelona as Jonas Vingegaard retained the yellow jersey.

A day after Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike squad had their moment winning the opening team time trial, stage two belonged to their rivals UAE Team Emirates-XRG as they engineered a one-two with Pogacar allowing his 22-year-old teammate to take the win just two days into his debut Tour.

• Vingegaard keeps yellow jersey with six-second lead

• Fires mean no spectators and ‘adapted route’ for stage three

Isaac del Toro took a victory orchestrated by Tadej Pogacar on stage two of the Tour de France in Barcelona as Jonas Vingegaard retained the yellow jersey.

A day after Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike squad had their moment winning the opening team time trial, stage two belonged to their rivals UAE Team Emirates-XRG as they engineered a one-two with Pogacar allowing his 22-year-old teammate to take the win just two days into his debut Tour.

The hype around Paul Seixas is fully justified as the 19-year-old bids to end four decades of French disappointment

When you write about the Tour de France for the best part of (deep breath) 40 years, the same themes recur, constantly evolving and mutating. The contorted fortunes of France’s finest cyclists have been a constant narrative since 4 July 1990, when the late Laurent Fignon put foot to tarmac in the feed zone somewhere in the bocage between Avranches and Rouen. It was cold, dank and wet, which given the canicule concerns gripping France at the moment seems like a bit of history in itself.

Fignon had started as one of the favourites, but that was the beginning of the end for “the Professor”. The search for a successor to the five-time winner Bernard Hinault had begun in 1986, the Badger’s retirement year when the ephemeral heir apparent was Jean-François Bernard; 1990 was when the doubts gained pace, intensifying with each passing year and with each potential champion who emerged, went under the spotlight, and eventually crumbled: Richard Virenque, Luc Leblanc, Laurent Jalabert, Romain Bardet, Warren Barguil, Thibaut Pinot.

Jonas Vingegaard is coming off a Giro d’Italia victory, but Tadej Pogacar remains favourite and can take his fifth title

Two strings to the Dutch team’s bow: Jasper Philipsen to add to his 10 stage wins and repeat his 2023 points jersey, Mathieu van der Poel to do VDP things: crazy breaks, forceful lead-outs, sniffing out openings. Philipsen has just won the Tour of Belgium; his co-leader hasn’t won since March but was a force in the spring Classics, then after time out from racing, ran Pogacar close in the Tour de Suisse time trial. He also copped a fine for going topless in the leader’s hot seat; not many make headlines merely for sitting down, but that’s charisma for you.

The team time trial returns as this year’s Tour starts in Barcelona for the first time in race’s history

The first team time trial since 2019, past many of Barcelona’s prime tourist sites – La Rambla, Sagrada Familia – but with a novel format: riders’ times will be taken individually at the uphill finish. So rather than trying to finish four or five riders together, teams will wear out non-climbers early on, then have lighter men peeling off one by one in the finale – replicating the usual approach to a summit finish in a road race. Advance warning: Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma, Remco Evenepoel’s Red Bull, and Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Emirates are masters of this game.

The British rider and unvarnished free spirit is in a good place heading into the Tour de France next month

When Tom Pidcock talks about how it feels to chase down the greatest cyclist of his generation, his language is so vivid you can almost taste the salt-baked sweat on Tadej Pogacar’s jersey.

But as we discuss the pair’s epic duel at the Milan–San Remo classic in March, and what it was like when a bloodied Pogacar went nuclear on the final climb, Pidcock can’t help but smile.

Giro d’Italia triumph completes grand slam of Grand Tours although the Dane may still require a dip in from from his great rival to prevail in July

Jonas Vingegaard’s achievement in completing a grand slam of Grand Tours lifts him into a select club of champions that have recorded victories in the tours of Italy, France and Spain. The 29-year-old Dane joins Belgium’s Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil of France, Spain’s Alberto Contador, Italians Felice Gimondi and Vincenzo Nibali and Chris Froome, of Great Britain, as winners of all three Grand Tours.

It’s an accomplishment that has, to date, proven beyond his great rival, Tadej Pogacar, who, despite his multiple successes in other races, has yet to add the Vuelta a España to his wins in the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia. “It is a special day for me,” Vingegaard said, showing rare emotion as he paid tribute to the support of his family. “It’s way more than I could ever dream of when I was a kid.”

• Red Bull BORA-hansgrohe rider, who won in 2022, finishes third

• No stages won by an Australian but four finish in top 17

Jai Hindley has roared again in the “pinnacle of cycling”, making history as just the second Australian to enjoy three overall podium finishes in Grand Tours as he rode home for a valiant third place in the Giro d’Italia.

As new champion Jonas Vingegaard confirmed his place among the sport’s all-time elite in Rome by completing his set of the three Grand Tour triumphs and dominating the 109th Giro with five magnificent stage wins, Hindley underlined why he is one of Australia’s greatest.

• Overall leader leaves nothing to chance on final climb

• Dane will claim first Giro by reaching Rome finish

Jonas Vingegaard all but won the Giro d’Italia on Saturday and his attention will soon turn to the Tour de France as he attempts to become the ninth man to complete the Giro-Tour double.

The Dane wrapped up the first part in style, soloing to victory atop Piancavallo at the end of the 20th and penultimate stage to extend his overall lead to more than five minutes from Felix Gall. Jai Hindley remained in third, 6min 25sec behind Vingegaard.

• Kuss completes grand tour stage win trilogy

• Vingegaard stays 4min 3sec clear of Gall in the GC

Teammates Sepp Kuss and Jonas Vingegaard dominated the high mountains for Visma-Lease a Bike on Friday as the former claimed a historic solo victory on stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia, and the latter firmly defended his overall lead.

By winning the brutal mountain stage atop Piani di Pezzè in the Dolomites, Kuss became the 116th rider to complete the Grand Tour stage victory trilogy, with the American adding an Italian success to wins at the Tour de France in 2021 and the Vuelta a España in 2019 and 2023.