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Race Results

Simac Ladies Tour stage 5: Lorena Wiebes wins in Arnhem as Lotte Kopecky seals overall

Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) sprinted to victory on the final stage of the Simac Ladies Tour

SD Worx won their fourth stage of the week as 

 sprinted to victory on the final day of the Simac Ladies Tour, beating 

 (Canyon-SRAM) had been away solo for much of the final 20km, but was caught by a reduced chasing group with 2km to go as a sprint finish approached.

 (Movistar) finished alone just behind the main peloton, marking the final day of her successful cycling career as she heads into retirement. 

Annemiek van Vleuten: I can leave the sport proud

Stage 5 of the Simac Ladies Tour was a lumpy affair, culminating in a five-lap circuit around Arnhem. 

A large group of riders got up the road after 40km with some big names present, including race leader Lotte Kopecky, as well as Lorena Wiebes, Floortje Mackaij (Movistar), Anna Henderson (Jumbo-Visma), Kasia Niewiadoma, Zoe Bäckstedt (both Canyon-SRAM), Elisa Balsamo and Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek).

The lead group took a lead of a minute and a half over the peloton, where Van Vlueten was riding on the front. It became clear however that due to the strength of those in the lead, the stage win would come from those up front. Kasia Niewiadoma tried a solo attack and managed to get a gap of 25 seconds, but with 2km she was caught. Mackaij also tried her luck in the finale but it all came back together for a sprint, which Wiebes won after being led-out by Lotte Kopecky. 

Kopecky finished third on the stage behind Elisa Balsamo and wrapped up the win in the GC. Wiebes took the second step on the podium, followed by Anna Henderson. Annemiek van Vleuten slowed up before the line to wave to her fans before crossing it for the final time in her illustrious career.

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Simac Ladies Tour stage 4: Lotte Kopecky wins as SD Worx go 1-2

Race leader Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) won stage 4 of the Simac Ladies Tour 

On a stage that included both the Cauberg and the Bemelerberg, 

 (SD Worx) made it two wins in three days by conquering the Classics-style stage of the 

After attacking on the uphill finish to catch the lone leader 

 (Movistar), Kopecky held off her teammate 

The Queen stage of the Simac Ladies Tour started and and finished in Valkenburg and was essentially a mini Amstel Gold Race, with a finish on the famous Cauberg climb.

In the first half of the race, there were multiple attacks from the peloton trying to establish a breakaway, but none were successful, so the peloton was complete for a long time. With 63km to go, there was a large crash, which took Riejanne Markus (Jumbo-Visma) out of the race. 

With 55km to go, Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar), in her penultimate race day of her career, made a move and brought race leader Lotte Kopecky with her as well as Kasia Niewiadoma. They were later joined by Pfeiffer Georgi (dsm-firmenich) and Lorena Wiebes and with 50km to go, Niewiadoma and Georgi made a move by themselves and established a gap over the others.

On the first ascent of the Cauberg, they were caught by the peloton and another group of six riders managed to get away. On the second time up the Cauberg, the break was again caught before another group managed to get away with 8km to go. Floortje Mackaij, Elise Uijen (dsm-firmenich), Quinty Schoens (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Elena Cecchini (SD Worx) started to work together, but the pace wasn’t enough for Mackaij who went off the front on her own. 

She lead going onto the final ascent of the Cauberg but the peloton behind had gained back enough ground and this provided another launchpad for an attack by Kopecky, Niewiadoma and Wiebes. These three seemed fairly equal on the climb but eventually it was Kopecky who proved the strongest and led home an SD Worx 1-2, with Wiebes second on the stage. Kopecky maintains her GC lead going into the final stage and looks set to win the race barring any mishaps.

Tour of Britain stage 7: Rasmus Tiller wins reduced sprint in Gloucester

Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X) won stage 7 of the Tour of Britain in Gloucester

After the race lit up over the final climbs, 

 (Uno-X) sprinted to victory on stage 7 of the 

 as a small group battled it out for victory in Gloucester. 

(Jumbo-Visma) finished in the reduced front group to hold onto his lead in the overall classifcation. 

Saturday's stage finally saw some hills added to the profile in what has been a fairly flat and sprint-friendly edition so far. The 170km stage contained two significant climbs, the most significant being 25km from the finish into Gloucester.

Abram Stockman of Tour de Tietema-Unibet made it into his fifth (and the team’s seventh) breakaway of the week along with Alexandar Richardson (Saint Piran), Liam Johnston (Trinity Racing) and Mark Donovan (Q36.5 Pro Cycling). The leaders were allowed a gap of a maximum of three minutes with the peloton behind led by Jumbo-Visma controlling the pace.

On the climb of Crawley Hill, race leader Wout van Aert tried his luck and quickly got a decent gap. He continued on for a while but realised that he wasn’t going to bridge across to the lead group without help, and the peloton - with Ineos Grenadiers having a rider up front after Ben Turner bridged to the lead - were not willing to let him go. Van Aert managed to have enough energy left to try again and this time was able to make the catch to the front group, along with Stephen Williams (Israel Premier Tech)

Those up front were eventually caught but in the final kilometres, but Van Aert decided that he wasn’t going to wait around for a bunch sprint and put in another attack. Uno-X were on him this time and managed to catch the Belgian in the last 400m, with Rasmus Tiller winning the sprint to the line ahead of Danny van Poppel and Stephen Williams.

Wout van Aert keeps his 3 second lead in the GC heading into tomorrow’s final stage. A far hillier affair with some proper Welsh mountains to contend with and a double ascent of the fearsome Caerphilly Mountain before the finish, stage 8 should be one for the GC men to finally show their cards.

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Highlights

Watch: Vuelta a España stage 9 highlights

Check out our short highlights of stage 9 of the 2023 Vuelta a España, won by Bora-Hansgrohe's Lennard Kämna

 was the last tough test for the GC riders before the first rest day. It culminated in a steep final climb to the finish with gradients of over 20%.

Lennard Kämna sails to win from the breakaway amid GC confusion

 was characterised by crosswinds which ripped the race apart. A group of 14 riders, seven of which were from 

, managed to make a split, including race leader Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard, Primoż Roglič and Remco Evenepoel (

). They managed to get a lead of around a minute but teams worked hard behind to catch them before the first category 1 climb. 

After a moment of calm, whilst the race got back together, some more riders broke away including 

 (Bora-Hansgrohe), looking to complete the set of Grand Tour stage victories.

There was more crosswind action disrupting those behind but the break had a lead of around five minutes with 30km to go so the win would come from them. On the final climb, Kämna proved to be the strongest and soloed to victory. Due to a mudslide near the finish, the line was moved 2km down the road and because of this the GC race was all but neutralised, with only small gaps appearing on the road after a few attacks from the favourites.

 for all the latest news, results and tech from Spain.

Bretagne Classic: An emotional Valentin Madouas wins in a three-up sprint

It was Madouas' first victory in the iconic French tricolour jersey

French national champion takes his first victory in the tricolore jersey following impressive work by Stefan Küng

 crossed the line first and was able to celebrate an impressive victory in his home race. 

The 27-year-old enjoyed a fine lead-out from teammate 

 at the end of a hilly afternoon in the Brittany region, before beating 

 (UAE Team Emirates) in the three-up sprint. 

The Bretagne classic is a tough race in northern France, characterised by its numerous punchy climbs. At 258km, it is one of the longest races on the calendar, similar to that of the Monuments.

A group of only two riders made the early break of the day, they were 

 (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè). They managed to keep out front for 90km before they were caught by the complete peloton. 

Küng, Mick van Dijke (Jumbo-Visma), Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Gianni Moscon (Astana Qazaqstan) then made a move that managed to stick. They kept the peloton at bay for a while before Moscon and Calmejane had to drop away. The remaining pair continued on until 30km to go where Küng dropped Van Dijke and carried on solo. An elite group containing Tiesj Benoot, Jasper De Buyst, Benoît Cosnefroy, Madouas, Mauri Vansevenant, Marc Hirschi, Jai Hindley and Pavel Sivakov then went forward and managed to catch Küng with 20km remaining.

On the local circuit, a group of five riders managed to attack and get a gap, including Küng and Madouas. In the last 5km, they had a gap of a minute and a half and looked set to contest the win between them. In the end, the French Champion Madouas proved the strongest and took the win ahead of Burgaudeau and Großschartner.

, however, finished 74th having struggled to maintain contact over the hilly terrain. 

“To win Plouay with the jersey is incredible," exclaimed an emotional Madouas after the finish. "I just wanted to win this race in my career and it’s great to win in front of the French public and in this jersey. The impact of the home crowd cheering me on was incredible.”

Tour of Britain stage 1: Olav Kooij wins sprint as Jumbo-Visma go 1-2

Olav Kooij has proved one of the sprinting sensations of 2023, but has ridden none of the three Grand Tours

Read our race report as Olav Kooij wins the opening stage of the 2023 Tour of Britain

Olav Kooij won the opening stage of the Tour of Britain as his Jumbo-Visma team pioneered the front of the peloton into the closing kilometre. Behind Kooij it was teammate 

(Bora-Hansgrohe) rounding out the podium in third. 

 started in Altrincham and finished 161km later in Manchester. The route contained a few hills along the way but nothing that would prevent the sprinters from making it to the finish.

The break of the day got away early and contained Harry Tanfield (TDT-Unibet), Jack Rootkin-Gray and Zeb Kyffin (Saint Piran), Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X) and James Fouché (Bolton Equities Black Spoke). They were never allowed too much of a lead as 

 controlled the pace for their sprinter Kooij as well as their favourite for the overall GC, Van Aert. Tanfield and Fouché took the mountain points of the day between them and soon dropped back to the peloton, leaving the remaining three out front.

Those three managed to keep their lead for a long time and it was only in the last few kilometres that they were eventually caught by the peloton who were expecting a sprint. At the finish, Jumbo-Visma played it brilliantly with Kooij taking the win and teammate Wout van Aert placing second behind him. Bennett finished on the podium with the best British rider being 

"The whole team did a great effort," said Kooij after the finish. "We had to pull quite hard to bring back the break to sprint for the win. The guys still managed to get me and Wout out first and second through the corner and then I had to just go the line. And to take a win where everyone is so much involved makes it even sweeter.”

Watch: Vuelta a España stage 8 highlights

Check out our short highlights of stage 8 of the 2023 Vuelta a España, which saw Primož Roglič emerge victorious

 saw the riders tackle a tough 165km route, culminating up the savage Xorret de Catí climb before a short drop down to the finish.

A breakaway of 30 riders went up the road, including 

With 100km to go, De Gendt went off on a solo break with a few riders jumping across to join him after around 40km off the front on his own. De Gendt eventually dropped back and four riders kept going at the front of the race. The peloton behind were keeping an eye on things however and it became apparent that the GC men would be taking the stage win, with the pace being controlled by Jumbo-Visma.

Red jersey wearer Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) quickly dropped away on the final climb, leaving Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) to take the virtual race lead. The three Jumbo-Visma riders, Primoż Roglič, Jonas Vingegaard and Kuss worked together to try and distance Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), but the Belgian was able to close any gaps. 

Eight riders reached the top together and in the fight for the sprint after a quick downhill, it was Roglič who emerged victorious, beating Evenepoel and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates). Sepp Kuss now leads the GC over Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), who sits 43 seconds down.

Mischa Bredewold wins the Classic Lorient Agglomération-Trophée

It is Mischa Bredewold's fourth victory of the season 

Mischa Bredewold won a bunch sprint from a group of 29 riders at the race commonly known as the GP de Plouay

) was quickest to the line in Plouay at the end of a tough afternoon's ride in Brittany. The versatile Dutchwoman won the sprint from a 29-rider group, with 

 (UAE Team ADQ) finishing second and third, respectively.

 calendar and a big target for the end of the season. The 159km race is characterised by its lumpy final half with many small hills scattered in the finale.

The first half of the race was a calm affair with a group of three riders making the break with 

 (CERATIZIT-CNT). They managed to get a lead of around three minutes but the peloton behind controlled it with Lidl-Trek managing the pace for three-time winner 

An attack from Letizia Borghesi (EF Education-Tibco-SVB) saw the peloton up the pace and within 23 km from the finish, the break was caught. Anderson briefly tried to make a go of it on her own but the pace was too high behind.

With 9km to go Liane Lippert (Movistar) tried her luck with a powerful move and quickly got a 20 second gap. She was caught by the peloton, however, at 4km to go and a sprint to the finish was now inevitable. Bredewold was the fastest to the line, followed by Lach and Bertizzolo.

“I felt really good today, and we had a super-strong team today, so we were really in control, and then you don’t need to waste too much energy," admitted Bredewold. "The sprint is so chaotic and suits me really well. I just saw an opening, and then I had to go really early, so I'm completely dead, but I'm super happy to take the win today.”

"I really like this race, but there’s a lot of road furniture and twisting and turning. Of course, it's part of the race, but sometimes it was a bit dangerous because there was no protection for the road furniture, so it was a bit scary today. I crashed also, I dove into the gutter, luckily nothing serious, so we managed okay"

Watch: Vuelta a España stage 1 highlights

 started with a 14.8km team time trial around the streets of Barcelona. 

A typical Vuelta opening stage, it started in the evening with a start ramp on the beach, and with the race finishing in darkness. To make matters worse, there was heavy rain throughout the stage which saw multiple crashes and teams taking it carefully in order to preserve their GC interests.

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, the Spanish wildcard team were the first to finish but their time in the hotseat wasn’t for long as Team DSM-Firmenich stormed round with their leader Romain Bardet getting the perfect start to his campaign.

Bahrain Victorious, EF Education EasyPost and Groupama-FDJ set decent times but the teams of the main favourites had yet to start. 

Ineos Grenadiars put in a strong ride to keep Geraint Thomas safe but Jumbo-Visma, working for the two main GC favourites had a disaster with Jonas Vingegaard puncturing and the team having to wait. In the end they only lost 32 seconds.

Home favourites Movistar put in a phenomenal ride, unusually for them, and came agonisingly close to the win, on the same time as Team dsm - firmenich. Soudal Quick-Step of defending champion Remco Evenepoel were the last to set off but had to settle for fourth on the day. Lorenzo Milesi was the first of the Team dsm - firmenich team across the line and will wear the leader's jersey on stage 2.

 landing page, you will find everything you need to know ahead of the race, including our 

, the route, start list and individual stage previews. Check it out for all that and more.

Watch: Renewi Tour stage 4 highlights

 stage saw a flat finish from which a sprint would be almost inevitable. 

The break of the day was never allowed much of a lead and the sprinters' teams of Bahrain Victorious and Soudal QuickStep were keen to control the pace of the peloton.

 (Alpecin-Deceuninck) tried his luck from a way out with race leader Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) keeping an eye on things to keep his GC lead secure. 

The ‘Green kilometre’ saw various big names jump off to get bonus seconds before a bunch sprint to the finish.

A crash near the finish brought down some of the favourites but Alpecin-Deceuninck and Team dsm-firmenich had strength in numbers for the finale. 

In the end, Sam Welsford (Team dsm-firmenich) finished with a very tight margain in the sprint over Olav Kooij (Jumbo Visma) and Jasper Philipsen. Tim Wellens kept his race lead heading into tomorrow’s final stage.

, you will find everything you need to know about the race, including our 

Tour of Scandinavia stage 4: Grace Brown takes win as Annemiek van Vleuten storms into race lead

Grace Brown (FDJ - SUEZ) won stage 4 at the Tour of Scandinavia

 (FDJ - SUEZ) set a blistering time to the win on stage 4 of the 

, setting the fastest time in the individual time trial, while 

 (Movistar) finished third on the stage and moved into the leader's jersey.

Brown set a time of 20:36 over the 15.6km course in Herning and never looked off the pace as she beat Amber Kraak (Jumbo-Visma) into second place on the day, with the Dutch rider finishing 19 seconds adrift of the Australian. 

Van Vleuten finished a further four seconds back but her result ensured that she did enough to leapfrog over Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ - SUEZ) in the overall standings. 

The Dutch rider, who is set to retire in the next few months, now leads Uttrup Ludwig by 17 seconds with one stage remaining. Kraak's fine performance moved her up to third overall at 33 seconds. 

On a bitter-sweet day for FDJ - SUEZ, Brown also climbed twelve places in the overall classification to fifth. 

Stage 4 of the Tour of Scandinavia saw the riders take on a 16.5km individual time trial, taking them over the border from Norway to Denmark. 

Maike van der Duin of Canyon//SRAM was the first rider to post a time of under 22 minutes but by the time the favourites would come, we would see that time drop significantly. Grace Brown of FDJ-Suez was a major favourite and the Australian champion put in a phenomenal ride and clocked in at 20:36 at the line.T

he Dutch riders then had their turn to try and get on top. Amber Kraak of Jumbo Visma gave it a good go but was still 19 seconds off the pace. It was then the turn of Annemiek van Vleuten, competing in her penultimate stage race of her career. 

She finished 23 seconds down on Brown but crucially put enough time into race leader Cecile Uttrup Ludwig in her home country to take the race lead. 

She now leads the GC by 17 seconds going into tomorrow’s final stage and barring any incident should come away with victory.

“The aim is to make it look easy because then, you're probably doing a smooth ride but in the legs, it never feels easy," Brown said at the finish.

"It adds a little bit of pressure when, on paper, you're pinpointed as the most likely to win the course. Then you feel like you've got something to lose, rather than being a dark horse and having everything to win but it also gives me motivation. So I went out there and used the pressure to push harder."

Women's

Women's Racing

Baloise Ladies Tour: Lucinda Brand seals overall title

Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) on the podium after winning the overall at the Baloise Ladies Tour

Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) sealed overall victory at the 

 on Sunday, finishing safely in fourth whilst 

) held on from the break to win the final stage.

) in the sprint to the line as the leaders narrowly stayed in front of the chasing pack.

Former leader and winner of the first four stages Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich) did not start the final stage after showing signs of illness overnight, and with no dsm-firmenich to control the race, the breakaway was finally able to survive to the line after an aggressive week of racing.

The peloton did nearly catch the leaders on the line, though, meaning Brand did not give away any time on the stage and secured overall victory after climbing into the lead with her stage 4 time trial victory.

During the final stage around Deinze, a group of five riders got up the road and built up a lead of around a minute as the peloton tried to control their gap.

Erić, De Vries, Arzuffi went up the road with Sofie van Rooijen (Parkhotel Valkenburg) and Aniek van Alphen (Fenix-Deceuninck), who had both been active all week. Their gap was coming down towards the finish, but went out again in the final 10km as Lidl-Trek were left to the responsibility of chasing behind.

Van Rooijen dropped away in the finale, and Van Alphen's early hit-out in the sprint saw her swept up in the sprint, but Erić and De Vries were able to go head-to-head to the line with the Movistar just edging it to win.

Brand led the chasing bunch home in fourth to secure her overall victory. Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) took second overall after a consistent week of racing, whilst Anna Henderson (Jumbo-Visma) completed the final podium in third.

Tour de France stage 15: Wout Poels wins mountain stage

Wout Poels wins his first Grand Tour stage win

 secured their second win in the space of a week at the 

 emerged from a large breakaway to take his first Grand Tour stage victory after years of dedicated service on behalf of teammates. 

His efforts would be reserved for his own attack this time around, with the Dutch climber dropping 

) atop Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc. 

The last time that the Tour visited this category-one test, Poels was all set to contest the win for Team Sky, but their plans were derailed by 

's crash prior to the final climb. No such duties foiled Poels this time around, with the 35-year-old winning a stage in the 21st Grand Tour of his career.

“I always dreamed to win a stage at the Tour. I won a Monument and now a stage in the Tour," exclaimed Poels in disbelief at the finish. "When you are young, you dream of it, look at all the people watching on tv and at the side of the road. The Tour is the Tour." 

Referring to the four Tours de France he helped Team Sky (now 

, Poels was in a reflective mood at the finish. 

"I’ve had great memories at this race; this is my tenth. I’ve always worked for people, so it’s incredible to have my chance and achieve this dream."

 was another incredibly tough Alpine stage at the Tour de France with a summit finish to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, with several other passes along the way to finish the second week. 

There were many attacks to get in the breakaway of the day and in the end, it was Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) who got in a two-up move. 

A crash in the peloton behind took down a lot of riders and because of this the two up front managed to get a lead of eight minutes. 

A huge group of 32 riders then started off following those up front, including Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Dylan Teuns (Israel Premier-Tech), Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Mike Woods (Israel Premier-Tech) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis).

At the foot of the Col de la Forclaz, the chasing group had nearly caught the two up front and were within a minute of them. 

Alaphilippe began to drop Lutsenko on the descent but the pair remained together and after the descent, they were caught by the chasers. 

On the Col des Aravis, an attack from Mark Soler (UAE Team Emirates) saw Wout van Aert and Wout Poels follow and the three riders got a gap and went on alone. There were several crashes on the descent but the three up front continued together.

On the climb preceding the final one, Wout Poels managed to attack and immediately got a gap on the other two. Poels continued up the final climb and kept extending his lead, he eventually won comfortably by over two minutes from Van Aert, with Soler having dropped back to help his team leader Tadej Pogačar. 

This was Poel’s first-ever Grand Tour stage win, after being in the winning teams working for Chris Froome on other occasions, he finally got his own win today.

The GC favourites then hit the final climb and steadily riders dropped away until it was just three up front, Pogačar, teammate Adam Yates and the yellow jersey of Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma). 

They set a pace at the front until Adam Yates rode away, apparently unaware that he’d dropped his leader, but he managed to bridge across to Soler and put time into Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers), who had joined them at the front, and hone in on a podium spot. Pogačar and Vingegaard behind were equally matched and neither could shake the other. 

They sprinted for the line but ultimately crossed it together, maintaining Vingegaard’s slim ten-second lead on GC. 

With a rest day tomorrow and a time trial the next day, will the GC be as evenly matched coming out of it?

Tour de France stage 14: Carlos Rodríguez takes maiden Grand Tour stage win in Morzine

Carlos Rodríguez takes his first Tour de France stage win

On a day that many thought would be a showdown between the two 

) took advantage of the cat-and-mouse racing between 

) to get away on his own and take a big win in Morzine.

Whilst Vingegaard and Pogačar played a game for bonus seconds on the Col de Joux plan, the young Spanish star managed to recover from behind to rejoin the pair over the top, before attacking them on the descent and soloing to victory on the line.

The top two were then left to duke it out for second and third, with Pogačar claiming runner up on the stage but conceding a second to Vingegaard on the overall after the Dane won the sprint for bonus seconds on the final climb. 

“It’s incredible,” Rodríguez said. “I have no words. Being here was a dream, getting a victory in the best race in the world is incredible. It’s something I’ve always wanted to achieve, and now I’ve got a victory. I’m super happy, super grateful to the team, for all the work, for believing in me. It wouldn’t have been possible without them."

“I just focused on doing the best climb I could,” he said of his return on the climb. “Going at my own rhythm, and then doing the descent as fast as possible. They started looking at each other and I thought, going full gas to the finish I could descend well, so I wanted to take advantage of it. I took some risks without going to the absolute limit because I didn’t want to crash, although I was close in a couple of corners that I thought weren’t so sharp.”

Thanks to his efforts, Rodríguez moves up to third overall, displacing Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) for a spot in the podium places. The victory also makes it two in two days for Ineos Grenadiers, after 

Michał Kwiatkowski's triumph on stage 13

Stage 14 of the Tour de France presented a huge day in the mountains for the riders to tackle. A few leg-stretching climbs early on led to the double header of the Col de la Ramaz and the monstrous Col de Joux Plane and then a fast and technical descent into Morzine and the finish line. 

Shortly after the start of the stage, there was a huge crash that caused the race to be halted whilst medical staff saw to riders. Unfortunately it saw the abandonment of Antonio Pedrero (Movistar), Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Esteban Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost). Shortly after racing restarted, Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich) and James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost) also crashed on a descent and had to abandon. 

There was a battle for the breakaway meanwhile and a group of strong climbers got away at the front, which ended up being a group of 21 men, including the King of the Mountains, Neilson Powless of EF Education EasyPost. The group got a gap of around a minute but Jumbo-Visma behind were keeping them in their sights.

Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) made an effort on the Col de Feu to grab some mountains points and then before the start of the Col de la Ramaz, the lead group was down to 11 riders. Ciccone and Mike Woods (EF Education-EasyPost) tried to go clear on the climb but by now the chasing peloton had caught them and passed with the duo 8km from the top, led by a strong Jumbo-Visma train. 

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) found the pace too much and was dropped before the top of the climb. A reduced group of 15 riders then started the descent led by Wout van Aert and Jumbo-Visma and into the valley road.

On the Col de Joux Plane, there was an infernal pace set by Jumbo-Visma but UAE Team Emirates, working for Tadej Pogačar were looking strong too and each team was shelling riders out the back. Seven riders then were following behind Rafal Majka of UAE until around 5km to go when Adam Yates came to the front and managed to distance Sepp Kuss of Jumbo-Visma. 

It was now three at the front with Yates leading Pogačar and the yellow jersey of Jonas Vingegaard behind. 

Pogačar managed to put in an attack but he sat up before the top so he could fight for the bonus seconds at the top of the climb. In the end, he attacked as a moto was in front of him, which Vingegaard countered to pick up the seconds instead.

Carlos Rodríguez managed to catch back on over the descent off the Joux Plane and sailed past the lead two down towards the finish. Pogačar and Vingegaard never let the gap out beyond a couple of seconds but the young Spanish rider managed to hold on and take his first stage of the Tour de France and Ineos’s second stage in a row. 

Pogačar managed to sprint to second ahead of Vingegaard but due to bonus seconds he now loses one second overall to now sit behind yellow by ten seconds. 

With his stage win bonuses, Rodgríguez jumped past Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) onto the third step on the podium by just one second. Another huge day is in store tomorrow with another summit finish up to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc.

News

Round-ups

News Round-ups

News Round-up: Eruptions up the mythical Puy de Dôme

The Puy de Dôme delivered on its return to the Tour de France

 visits the Puy de Dôme mountain for the first time since 1988 and sees a battle for the ages between the breakaway. Also today, the 

 has its final stage. All this and more in today’s Edition...

 climb was on the menu today for the Tour de France riders, a climb that has not been raced up since 1988. The first attacks of the day came with 

) who went up the road early and established a 14-man breakaway including 

). The peloton behind tried keeping them close enough but to no avail and the break quickly got a gap of over nine minutes.

Powless went off in search of mountain points and did so on the first climbs of the day. Jorgenson attacked and went clear on the descent of a climb and the chase was on to catch him but his lead kept extending on the run into the huge final climb. Mohorič and Powless led the chase behind and tried bridging the gap to the lone man out front but at the bottom of the climb, the American out front had more than a minute lead and was looking strong. In the final 5km, Jorgenson started to lose time and Mohorič started to bring him back, but in the end, it was Mike Woods who was climbing very strongly and managed to get across on the steep slopes.

With around 500m to go, Woods caught and went past Jorgenson and accelerated to the line to take his first Tour de France stage win. ​

) came past to take second, and then Mohorič and the brave fighter Jorgenson had to settle for fourth on the day.

Behind, UAE Team Emirates and Jumbo-Visma were working on the front 16 minutes back, setting it up for their GC leaders. On the mountain, a select group containing 

There was an attack from Simon Yates which came to nothing before Pogačar made one that stuck. Vingegaard was able to react but not close the gap to the Slovenian who kept going to the line and took eight seconds out of Vingegaard. He now trails yellow by only 17 seconds going into the first rest day. Pidcock rode well to finish the day in seventh overall.

| Chiara Consonni wins final stage of Giro Donne

 was one that the sprinters were all eyeing despite a relatively hilly route for most of the stage. The last 50km were downhill though so there was a high chance of a bunch sprint to finish this edition of the race. GC leader 

) had a lead of nearly four minutes heading into the stage so unless anything exceptional happened, she would win her fourth title.

The peloton stayed together for the first part of the stage and there was no early break that went away. On the first climb of the day, 

Nick Aldridge

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