Former champion Tadej Pogacar on Sunday took the overall lead of the Tour de France on a sweltering run to Bologna won by French rider Kevin Vauquelin.
Pogacar, who won the 2020 and 2021 Tours, attacked from the closing peloton on a steep hill near the finish line of the second stage as he, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel all gained time on the day.
“I was so close to taking the yellow jersey last year, but then I cracked,” the 25-year-old Slovenian said. “Maybe this is confirmation I’m the strongest.”
Photo: AFP
“Jonas was quite fast on my wheel, but I’m glad I blew that peloton open, took some time off some people,” Pogacar said.
Overnight leader Romain Bardet, winner of Saturday’s opening stage, had predicted he would be unable to defend the yellow jersey and so it proved as he was dropped on the final ascent.
A 10-man attack had led as the race arrived in Bologna through apricot and peach orchards from the coastal resort of Cesanatico.
Vauquelin, making his Tour debut, broke away from the remnants of the escape on the final hill, and won solo at a packed finish line in the city center with temperatures hitting 33°C.
“It was painful, but I did it for myself, my family and my team,” said the 23-year-old winner, who had lost 30 minutes on the opening stage.
“This is mad, yesterday I was on the bottom rung of the ladder, but today was perfect, how mad is that?” Vauquelin said.
Behind them Pogacar produced a blistering acceleration on the very steepest part of the final climb, but was immediately shadowed by defending champion Vingegaard of Denmark.
This pair were then joined downhill by former Vuelta winner Evenepoel and former Giro winner Richard Carapaz.
“I made a mistake, I shouldn’t have taken Carapaz with me,” Evenepoel said.
While Carapaz led that group across the line, official results gave Pogacar the yellow jersey, with the others on the same time.
“I managed to close the gap, but I could have done better,” said Evenepoel, who took the best young rider’s white jersey.
While the Quick Step man did himself down, he received high praise from the man in yellow.
“He’s some rider, it was no surprise to see him get back on my wheel,” Pogacar said.
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book