Mont Ventoux drama: Tadej Pogačar obliterates EPO-era record; Jonas Vingegaard crashes into photographer at finish line; Uno-X rider collapses, loses consciousness, and given oxygen; French secure first Tour de France stage of 2025 + more on the live blog

I reckon today’s trip to the Ventoux is a good excuse for us to delve into the archives and look back to when our man VecchioJo rode up one of the Tour’s most legendary climbs three times in one day.

Also, can we have a big hand for Jo’s ‘Ventoux Three’ headline, please? Say it out loud, you’ll get it eventually…

> Ventoux Three: Riding up Mont Ventoux three times in a day

I’m back from the Tour de France! And, to be honest, I’m a bit exhausted. The Tour’s a lot, in case you hadn’t gathered that already.

On my way back to these gloomy isles last night, after a week chasing the peloton around the Pyrenees and southwest France, I was thinking about my highlights from the trip.

The scenery was spectacular, some of the racing exhilarating, and the pure chaos and scale of the Tour was fun, as always.

And to put the icing on the cake – or to add the garlic to the stew, to be more exact – I ended my week covering the race with a staple of any visit to Carcassonne: a big, hearty dish of cassoulet. Vegetarians, look away now…

Shout out to the Carcassonne local sitting at the next table, who warned me not to drive anytime soon after finishing my dinner.

Maybe that’s why I still feel exhausted?

 

 

 

 

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Feared, revered, and unmistakeable, Mont Ventoux is a climb like no other at the Tour de France.

Its singular presence, its domineering bulk, and mesmerising bleached summit has been the scene of triumph and tragedy, farce and frenzy, mayhem and madness.

Known as the Giant of Provence, the ‘killer mountain’, its desolate, otherworldly landscape, the stifling, suffocating, steep road through the forest, the cruel, whipping winds at the top, they are all emblematic of the Tour itself. Like the Tour, the Ventoux is multi-faceted, its stories layered, its heroes flawed.

Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com

It’s where Eddy Merckx ended up in an ambulance, where Tom Simpson’s story ended, where Ferdi Kübler was driven mad, where Eros Poli defied gravity, where Lance dished out the gifts, where Wout van Aert did the double, where Chris Froome ran.

But, as the peloton prepares to meet the Giant once again this afternoon, is it the Tour de France’s single greatest climb?

I’ve set the scene, now it’s up to you to cast your vote and decide. And if you have another favourite – Alpe d’Huez, the Tourmalet, the Galibier spring to mind – let us know in the comments!

Poll Maker

 

 

 

 

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Oh dear God, imagine you won the time trial helmet… Can you send prizes back?

Be afraid, be very afraid. Because, just when you thought Tadej Pogačar was winning this year’s Tour de France at enough of a canter, Colnago have gone and unveiled the new “even more aggressive” weapon that he’ll be using in the Alps and today on Mont Ventoux.

Colnago says the stripped back new bike is a “direct evolution” of the radical Y1RS used by the world champion during the mountain time trial to Peyragudes (and which they managed to skilfully hide from road.cc, even offering us photos of a dummy bike instead).

 

 

 

 

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“Built to tackle the toughest week of road racing this season”, Colnago says, the bike features a lightweight black carbon finish, carbon chainrings, and new Enve SES 4.5 Pro wheels, and likely tips the scales at just under 7kg.

And it looks pretty cool.

Though minus cool points go to Colnago’s social media person, who butchered AC/DC’s Back in Black in the caption to the promo video… and didn’t even play the song!

 

 

 

 

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Come on Colnago, sort it out.

It’s a big week coming up for Scotland’s newest Tour star. I caught up with Oscar Onley’s sports director Matt Winston to discuss the 22-year-old’s rise and why they’re still not putting any pressure on him to target GC:

> “We didn’t come here to do a GC, but people don’t believe me!” Team boss says “special talent” Oscar Onley’s Tour de France performance is “not surprising” – but admits podium bid is “exceeding expectations”

It may not be his favoured terrain, but Jake Stewart is no stranger to Mont Ventoux, having ridden up the Giant of Provence as a 10-year-old back in 2009, alongside his dad, captured in this brilliant photo posted by his Israel-Premier Tech team today:

[Credit: Phil Upton]

‘Hey kid, you know you’re going to race up this in 16 years’ time at the Tour de France, right?’

#TDF2025

Windy conditions with Mont Ventoux at the horizon pic.twitter.com/hYcGpS1F1M

— ProCyclingStats.com (@ProCyclingStats) July 22, 2025

It was originally forecast to be calm, but things look rather blowy on the approach to the Ventoux.

Let’s just hope there isn’t a repeat of Chris Froome’s running-man antics from 2016, caused by the decision to move the finish line further down the mountain due to especially blustery conditions. Though I wouldn’t mind seeing a Pog versus Jonas running race, to be fair. Might not be as predictable…

A 20-year-old man who had never held a driving licence and inhaled laughing gas while behind the wheel has been sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for killing an 81-year-old cyclist in South Yorkshire earlier this year.

Read more: > Unlicenced driver who inhaled laughing gas before and after killing 81-year-old cyclist at pedestrian crossing jailed for more than 11 years

Yep, I reckon pulling out of the Tour – and ignoring the app’s call to “hang in there” – was a good shout.

(I imagine when Whoop’s telling you to hang in there, it means you might be able to head into the office tomorrow if you perk up. Not race up the bleedin’ Ventoux…)

Some bad news this morning from Montpellier, where the Tour de France peloton has been enjoying its last rest day of the race.

Mathieu van der Poel, who’s enjoyed his most successful Tour since his debut 2021 edition, has been forced to abandon the race ahead of the final week after contracting pneumonia.

The Dutch star beat Tadej Pogačar to win the second stage of this year’s Tour in Boulogne-sur-Mer, a victory that saw him move into the race lead for three days. After ceding the lead on the stage five time trial, the 30-year-old regained the yellow jersey the following day, courtesy of a gutsy ride in the breakaway on the stage to Vire Normandie, won by Ben Healy.

Zac Williams/SWpix.com

Van der Poel, at his swashbuckling best normally reserved for the spring classics campaign, was an attacking presence throughout the race, making it into the breakaway on four other stages, including stage nine’s brilliant two-up escape with teammate Jonas Rickaert to Châteauroux (which saw Van der Poel agonisingly caught within sight of the line) and on Sunday’s stage to Carcassonne.

However, after seemingly suffering with a cold in recent days, Van der Poel endured a rough rest day. After developing a fever last night, he was taken to hospital, where it was revealed that he has pneumonia, forcing him to quit the race.

“We regret to announce that Mathieu van der Poel is forced to abandon the Tour de France prematurely,” his Alpecin-Deceuninck team said in a statement this morning.

ASO/Billy Ceusters

“Mathieu had been experiencing symptoms of a common cold over the past few days. Yesterday afternoon, his condition began to worsen significantly. The team doctor monitored him closely throughout the day.

“By the evening, Mathieu developed a fever and was taken to the Centre Hospitalier de Narbonne for further examinations.

“Medical tests revealed that Mathieu is suffering from pneumonia. In consultation with the medical staff, it was decided that he can no longer continue the race. His health is the top priority, and rest and recovery are now essential.

“Mathieu will be required to rest for at least one full week. After this period, he will undergo further medical examinations to assess his recovery and determine the next steps in his rehabilitation.”

After Sunday’s stage to Carcassonne, yellow jersey Pogačar admitted that sickness is rife throughout the peloton at the moment, with riders coughing and spluttering their way through the race. Let’s just hope Van der Poel is the only big-name rider forced to leave the Tour during its brutal final week.

> The Giant on the Giant: When the Tour de France’s tallest, heaviest rider conquered Mont Ventoux – and held off Marco Pantani

It’s Ventoux time – and Julian Alaphilippe, after testing his dislocated shoulder during the rest day ride, is looking lively at the bottom, as part of a front group containing Superbagnères winner Thymen Arensman, Enric Mas, and Simone Velasco, with previous breakaway member Jonas Abrahamsen now dropped.

Those five leaders are about a minute and a half clear of a large chasing group, which includes the very dangerous Ben Healy, as well as Fred Wright, and over six minutes clear of the bunch.

It’s all hotting up, both literally and metaphorically…

Watch out, Thymen, we don’t need any more moto-related crashes on the Ventoux, not after 2016…

A close call just now for Arensman, who almost rode straight into the back of a motorbike while trying to follow Julian Alaphilippe.

The Ineos rider has been forced to deal with Alaphilippe’s stop-start climbing style on the lower slopes through the forest, but who is now trying to ride away on his own, as the irrepressible Ben Healy shuts the gap from behind.

It’s Enric Mas, however, who’s up the road alone, a minute ahead of the Arensman and Healy-led chasers, and five minutes clear of the Visma-fronted peloton.

Mas has been fairly anonymous so far at this Tour. This would be some way to remind people ho good you are.

Visma-Lease a Bike are really up for this.

They were driving the pace on the lower slopes and then, even before we’ve reached Chalet Reynard and the iconic moonscape at the top, Jonas Vingegaard launched his first blistering attack. Pogačar was able to follow – but for almost the first time at this Tour, the yellow jersey looked like he was putting in some serious effort.

Vingegaard then bridged to his teammate Tiesj Benoot, who set the pace before the Dane launched another big attack. Now it’s time for Victor Campenaerts, another member of the break, to take over for Vingegaard.

This could get very interesting…

Cyclists using a pavement to avoid what has been described as a “very dangerous” junction on the A4 in west London are being fined by private enforcement officers working on behalf of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC).

This move came after the council designated the area a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) zone without visible signage from the neighbouring borough or any public announcement to non-residents.

Read more: > Cyclists fined for riding on pavement beside “very dangerous” road into London, as rider claims they are being made to “choose between £100 and my life”

It’s been 11 long years since a Tour de France stage last finished atop the fearsome Mont Ventoux – thanks to some particularly strong winds back in 2016 – and today’s return certainly did not disappoint.

In an attack-filled thriller on the road leading to the legendary mountain’s bleached summit, Soudal Quick-Step’s featherweight climber Valentin Paret-Peintre outsprinted the seemingly inexhaustible Ben Healy to secure by far the biggest win of his career – and the first French stage victory at their home grand tour since Anthony Turgis on stage nine of last year’s race.

 

 

 

 

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Paret-Peintre and Healy were part of a large breakaway of 30 or so riders that slipped away halfway through the stage from Montpellier.

An elite splinter group, containing previous summit finish stage winner Thymen Arensman and Julian Alpahlippe, forged a gap before the foot of the Ventoux, with Movistar’s underperforming Enric Mas, seeking to reverse his luck at this year’s race, riding clear through the climb’s stifling forest.

On the approach to Chalet Reynard, Healy, Paret-Peintre, and Santiago Buitrago bridged across, after the Irishman angrily remonstrated with his breakaway companions about the lack of cohesion in their chase.

A.S.O./Aurélien Vialatte

Healy – in the top ten and chasing more time on GC – was doomed to fight against the breakaway’s unco-operative agenda and, like he’d done countless times before at this year’s Tour, forced the pace, demonstrating once again that he’s one of the strongest riders in the race.

But, in the frenetic closing stages, Paret-Peintre proved he had both the climbing ability and the kick to beat his Irish rival, driving out of Healy’s wheel after the final bend to secure a memorable, possibly career-defining victory.

Behind, the action was just as relentless, as Visma-Lease a Bike and Jonas Vingegaard entered the final week desperately searching for chinks in Tadej Pogačar’s impenetrable armour.

An infernal pace through the furnace-like woods and two strategically placed teammates, Tiesj Benoot and Victor Campenaerts, enabled the Dane to launch three blistering attacks, which shattered the lead group into fragments.

ASO/Billy Ceusters

They did not, however, shatter Pogačar, who responded swiftly each time, firmly seated. But was that a grimace flickering on the world champion’s usually unmoving visage? The tell-tale signs of struggle, a clue a bike race could maybe, just maybe, break out in the Alps?

Of course, just as we were all getting carried away, Pogačar showed he’s capable of matching his Danish rival – on the climb where Vingegaard first got the better of him – launching his own attack, before nipping ahead at the observatory, taking an extra second in the process.

Further down the road, the battle for the places behind the big two went the way of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, a rejuvenated Primož Roglič leading home teammate Florian Lipowitz, almost 40 seconds clear of rival Oscar Onley. The Scot’s gutsy ride, however, was enough to keep him in fourth, with the Alps to come.

Mont Ventoux is known to some as ‘death mountain’ – today’s battle on it may have proved there’s still some life in this Tour de France yet.

 Tobias Halland Johannessen, the Uno-X rider sitting in eighth on GC, has been taken to hospital after briefly losing consciousness at the top of Mont Ventoux this afternoon, and requiring oxygen.

The Norwegian, who was at the centre of a social media storm after being blamed for Tadej Pogačar’s crash in Toulouse last Wednesday, finished 28th on the stage alongside teammate Andreas Leknessund, five minutes behind winner Valentin Paret-Peintre and over four minutes down on Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard.

Shortly after the finish line, Johannessen – who had been complaining of stomach cramps during the final kilometres of the climb – collapsed. According to Norwegian TV2, he lost consciousness and was given oxygen, before being taken to the Tour’s medical truck.

[Credit: Daniel Friebe]

ITV’s Daniel Friebe later reported that Johannessen left the medical truck on a stretcher, but was smiling and giving the thumbs up to onlookers.

“Team reassured but he’ll now go to hospital in Avignon for liver and blood checks before decision on him continuing or not,” Friebe tweeted this evening.

And speaking to WielerFlits, Uno-X’s manager Thor Hushovd confirmed that the 25-year-old is “feeling much better now”.

“It looked dramatic,” the former world champion said. “He was suffering from stomach cramps and is now going to the hospital for a medical check-up, on the advice of our team doctor. That’s the best thing to do.”

The drama on Mont Ventoux wasn’t just confined to the racing.

Jonas Vingegaard, after crossing the line a second down on yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar, the Tour de France’s leading duo sharing several blistering attacks towards the summit, says he crashed right after the finish – because a race photographer ran out in front of him.

“Some photographer just ran straight out in front of me, straight after the finish line,” the Dane told a scrum of reporters at the finish, confirming he hit the deck in the crash.

“I don’t know what he was doing. I went down. I think people in the finish area should use their eyes a bit more.”

But despite that late sting in the tail, Vingegaard says he was happy with his ride on the Ventoux, which – while failing to dislodge Pogačar – appeared to indicate that the pair were on a similar footing, perhaps for the first time in the mountains at this year’s Tour.

“I was feeling very good today, so I’m happy with the feeling today and the attacks I tried to do. Of course I didn’t gain any time today, but I take a lot of motivation,” he said, before noting the work of his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates.

“We wanted to have somebody in the break, and the team did amazingly today. Everyone worked with everything they had, it was really commitment from everyone.”

Asked whether he sensed any weakness in Pogačar during his three searing attacks on the way to the Ventoux’s bleached summit, Vingegaard was less sure.

“He followed me every time I attacked, and I followed him when he attacked, so I don’t think I could see any weaknesses today,” he said.

“But at least it gives me some motivation, how good I felt today, and I’ll keep trying.”

Which certainly bodes well for the race – as long as no photographer steps out in front of him in the Alps, of course…

We’re getting used to Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard storming up the sport’s hardest climbs, breaking records that many assumed would be unbreakable for years to come.

Hell, even Bjarne Riis’s benchmark on Hautacam – a record viewed as emblematic of the turbo-charged, EPO-guzzling, wild west days of the 1990s – appeared in serious danger of being broken last week, when the world champion went on a rampage up the Pyrenean climb.

So, it’s no surprise then, that Pogačar and Vingegaard’s long-range, attack-laden duel on the slopes of Mont Ventoux resulted in one longstanding relic of the blood doping age being smashed to pieces.

In 2004, Basque climber Iban Mayo – then viewed as a possible threat to Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France, who was later banned for two years after testing positive for EPO – broke the climbing record for Mont Ventoux, during the pre-Tour Dauphiné Libéré.

Gero Breloer/EPA

Mayo’s time of 55.51 was set during the race’s fourth stage, a 21.6km time trial starting from Bédoin and ending at the summit. The Euskaltel leader famously beat Armstrong by two minutes on his way to the record.

Today, at the end of a 171.5km road stage, at the start of the third week of the Tour de France, and into a headwind, Tadej Pogačar beat Mayo’s time by a staggering one minute and 10 seconds, covering the climb from Bédoin in 54.41.

> Two eras, one climb: Pogacar’s Colnago vs Armstrong’s Trek on Mont Ventoux

Of course, finishing just a second behind the world champion, Vingegaard easily slots into second on the all-time list.

For some further comparison, the leading duo’s time today on Ventoux was over four-and-a-half minutes up on Vingegaard’s 2021 time and over four minutes faster than Chris Froome’s scintillating ride in 2013.

Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com

It was also 4.19 faster than Armstrong in 2002, 4.24 faster than Marco Pantani in 2000, and 2.53 faster than Pantani during his Eros Poli-chasing, climb-destroying breakout year in 1994.

The times really are a-changing.