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Wednesday, July 16, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else. - Charles Dickens
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Current racing:
- July 5 - 27: Tour de France
- July 9 - 13: Tour of Austria
Upcoming racing:
- August 2: San Sebastian Classic
Latest completed racing:
- June 21 - 29: Most national road championships
- June 24: Giro dell'Appennino
- June 15 - 22: Tour de Suisse
- June 18 - 22: Baloise Belgium Tour
- June 8 - 15: Critérium du Dauphiné
- June 13: GP Kanton Aargau
- June 8: Brussels Cycling Classic
- May 9 - June 1: Giro d'Italia
The team sent me this:
After ten action-packed days of racing across the north of the country, the Tour de France has reached its first rest day. With a long transfer south to Toulouse in the books, UAE Team Emirates-XRG's staff and riders are busy gearing up for the second week of the race, where some mighty tests in the Pyrenees await.
With two stage victories and two spells in the Yellow Jersey already in the bank, however, the Emirati squad has enjoyed a successful start to this year's race. In fact, Monday's tenth stage was perhaps a microcosm of the fighting spirit which has served UAE Team Emirates-XRG well throughout the Tour's first act.
Tadej Pogacar with Jonas Vingegaard on his wheel late in stage ten. Sirotti photo.
Without the support of Tour de Suisse winner João Almeida, who was sadly forced to abandon the race on stage 9 thanks to injuries sustained in a hard-hitting stage 7 crash, the rest of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad stepped up in a bid to support the three-time Tour de France champion, Tadej Pogačar.
Battling his way through the day's first climbs, Pavel Sivakov provided important support before handing over the reins to the ever-dependable Nils Politt and Tim Wellens. For Wellens, stage 10 marked a fifth day in the King of the Mountains jersey, a just reward for his constant presence at the front of the peloton through the opening week.
With Politt and Wellens having controlled proceedings for yet another afternoon, Marc Soler came to the fore and maintained a relentless pace on the front before the team of Jonas Vingegaard, Visma-Lease a Bike, looked to apply the pressure.
It was here, when Pogačar's rivals looked to isolate the Slovenian from afar, that Jhonatan Narváez and Adam Yates dug deep to support their UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate. In the end, Pogačar himself was a match to it all, producing a counter-attack of his own to head into the first rest day on the front foot.
Though he may have handed over the Yellow Jersey to breakaway artist Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), the world champion sits in second place overall, a minute ahead of his nearest competitor, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step).
It is the same team spirit and strength that was shown on Monday that has helped Pogačar to two memorable stage wins so far - in Rouen and Mûr-de-Bretagne - and will be vital to the Emirati squad as it goes in search of a fourth Tour de France title in the coming weeks.
The team has enjoyed a fantastic start to this year's Tour, and looks well set heading into the second week of the race.
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Here's the Tour de France stage 10 report from Team Picnic-PostNL:
Monday’s are for rest days at the Tour de France, you say? This year due to Bastille Day falling on the Monday, the Tour de France peloton had one more stage to deal with before getting to the first rest day. It wasn’t just any stage that lay ahead of them, the most amount of altimeters of the race so far spread across several climbs would make for a tough day out.
It was a good day to make the breakaway so a fierce battle ensued at the start of the stage. Team Picnic PostNL tried to make the move with Frank van den Broek but unfortunately he just missed the main group that went clear, so instead the team fully turned their attention to protecting and looking after Oscar Onley. It was a day where you had to step on the pedals throughout the route and coming into the final 30 kilometres Warren Barguil and Frank van den Broek were with Onley in the reduced yellow jersey peloton.
Oscar Onley racing at the 2025 Tour de Suisse. Sirotti photo
Out front those ahead fought for the stage win, while behind there were several attempts to try and split up the yellow jersey group, with Onley really attentive and following closely at the front. On the penultimate ascent the group split with Onley making into the nine who forged on. It then became a showdown on the final ascent, where it was a case of pushing all the way to line with Onley securing 14th place on the stage and with that holding onto seventh on GC going into the first rest day.
Team Picnic PostNL coach Matt Winston expressed: “It was a really good job again by the guys and Oscar showed on the final climbs that he was in good shape and in a good position. We go into the rest day having had a very good first week at the Tour. We will continue with our approach of taking it step-by-step and we’ll re-evaluate along the way. I hope that we can continue performing and riding like this as a team in the coming days.”
After a strong showing on the hills on Friday where Oscar Onley battled to third place, Team Picnic PostNL turned their focus to the sprint where they planned to set-up Tobias Lund Andresen for the punchy finish into Laval.
It was a steady afternoon with no breakaway for a long time, before two riders went up the road. However, the peloton were always in control and those ahead were caught inside the last ten kilometres. The team bided their time on the technical run-in, where several roundabouts stretched out the peloton before things bunched up again. Coming into the last kilometre Pavel Bittner brought Lund Andresen forward, dropping him off in the top ten wheels as the sprint approached. Lund Andresen delivered an impressive kick and came around several riders, having to go the long way around in the final sweeping corner to the line, taking sixth place on the stage; making it another day where Team Picnic PostNL were in the mix for a top result at the Tour de France.
Lund Andresen expressed: “At ten kilometres to go we found each other and from there it was mostly like we planned. I think we maybe lost our focus a bit going into the last five kilometres with the right hand turn before the big roundabout, as you needed to be at the front there because it dragged up. We had to use too much energy then to move forward and because we were out of position there, we were a bit too far back on the last climb with one and a half kilometres to go. Pavel then brought me up and dropped me off, but it cost a bit in my legs. In the end I think I still had more left to sprint for than the sixth place.”
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Here's the Tour de France stage 10 report from Lenny Martinez's Team Bahrain Victorious:
Exactly 45 years after his grandfather Mariano won Stage 17 at the 1980 Tour on Bastille Day, and three days after turning 22, Lenny Martinez took over the lead of the King of the Mountains competition at the Tour de France on Monday.
For fun, here is Lenny Martinez's grandfather Mariano winning stage 11 of the 1978 Tour de France at St. Lary-Soulan. Sirotti phto
It was the 14th of July, the most significant date in French history, and possibly the most significant in this young rider’s career so far.
For the second time in this first phase of the race, the Frenchman was the catalyst in forming a very early breakaway. Buoyed by a vociferous and partisan home support on the roadside, Martinez stayed at the front with an incredible array of talent which included victor four days ago Ben Healy (EFE), multiple Grand Tour stage winners, and even this year’s Giro d’Italia champion Simon Yates (TVL). He was also one of five French escapees flying the flag in front of thousands of their enthusiastic compatriots.
The 165.3 km from Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy was a genuine test of legs, with over 4000m of climbing, and eight cat 2 & 3 climbs, plus many more that were just as tough, even if uncategorised. The Bahrain Victorious youngster took maximum points on all of the opening five passes, and with those he had gathered on S4, a total of 27 guaranteed the polka dot jersey going onto the first rest day.
“I’m very happy. The ‘maillot à pois’ is incredible. It’s something I have dreamed of since I was young and watching the Tour de France. It’s the jersey for the best climber, so I am so happy about today. I tried for the stage but the guys ahead were just too strong. I am over the moon to have the climbers’ jersey.”
Eventually it was Yates who crossed the line first, followed by Thymen Arensman (IGD) and Healy, who wrestled the yellow jersey off the shoulders of reigning champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE). Lenny faded towards the end compared to his more experienced and illustrious companions, but still came in eighth, before pulling on that mythical King of the Mountains jersey that grandad Mariano Martinez had also donned on ‘Quatorze Juillet’, back in 1978.
“On the course there were ups and downs, at times I felt stronger, at times not so strong, it’s different on every climb. I think I started to weaken a bit and the top guys’ strength stays pretty constant. But that will come for me.”
Martinez adds the days in which he will wear the Tour de France KoM jersey to the two days he spent leading the Vuelta a Espana in 2023.
Sports Director Roman Kreuziger acknowledged this milestone in the development of such a young rider:
“I think we should be proud that Lenny knew what was coming on this stage because we reconned it. He had it in his mind, so in the beginning we went for the points, which didn’t really cost us that much, but he had a difficult moment between 30 & 25 km to go. He lost some momentum which is a pity, but now we will have to analyse whether holding onto the jersey is a possibility. We’ll have to do some calculations, which will take some time, because planning the stages in detail for Lenny but also keeping the team’s main objective of winning a stage is something we need to work out.
We are proud; it’s great to have him on the podium, especially as a French rider on Bastille day, and he has an 11 point advantage. Let’s see what tactics might work for both him and the team in The Pyrenees & The Alps.”
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And here’s the Tour news from Julian Alaphilippe’s Tudor Pro Cycling Team:
As the peloton reaches its first well-earned rest day in the 2025 Tour de France, we take a moment to reflect on an exciting, determined, and milestone-filled opening block in the Team’s inaugural Tour de France. We came to France with purpose, to race aggressively, seize our chances, and prove we belong on cycling’s biggest stage. Ten stages in, the black-and-red of Tudor Pro Cycling has not only been visible, it’s been impactful.
Our Tour began with a bang on Stage 1. Team Captain Matteo Trentin sprinted to an impressive 5th place finish, with Marius Mayrhofer right behind in 9th. Their combined effort crowned Tudor as Best Team of the Day, a historic and symbolic achievement on our very first Tour stage.
As a result, the Team was awarded the honor of wearing yellow helmets and yellow race numbers on Stage 2, an unmistakable sign of teamwork.
As the terrain turned hillier, Aussie Michael Storer came to the fore. He delivered back-to-back standout rides, finishing 3rd in Vire on a punchy hilly stage and 5th in Mont – Dore Puy de Sancy in the race’s first major mountain test, firmly establishing himself among the contenders as soon as the roads go up.
French crowds favourite Julian Alaphilippe, bringing both flair and experience to the squad, reminded the peloton of his class and panache with a brilliant 5th place finish on the second stage.
Julian Alaphilppe heads to the start of stage 2 of the Tour. Sirotti photo
Alberto Dainese added two top-10 finishes in stages decided with a sprint.
From solid breakaways and top results to resilience in the face of setbacks, Tudor Pro Cycling embraced the Tour’s challenges head-on. Our riders are motivated, our staff tireless.
As the race heads into the Pyrenees and beyond, our goals remain the same: fight for a stage win. The Tour continues tomorrow with a 156.5km stage around Toulouse.
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