Tadej Pogacar claims another title in remarkable season for Slovenian rider
Tadej Pogacar claims another title in remarkable season for Slovenian rider/node/2617902/sport
Tadej Pogacar claims another title in remarkable season for Slovenian rider
Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar celebrates as he wins the Men’s Elite Road Race at the European Cycling Championship 2025 near Valence, southeastern France on Sunday. (AFP)
Tadej Pogacar claims another title in remarkable season for Slovenian rider
The European Championships are generally not a key moment in the calendar but this year’s road race attracted particular attention with Remco Evenepoel of Belgium and Jonas Vingegaard also on the starting line in France
Pogacar’s appetite for victory appears insatiable and he has clearly established himself as the No. 1 rider in the world, drawing comparisons with the greatest of all time, Eddy Merckx
Updated 06 October 2025
AP
GUILHERAND-GRANGES, France: Tadej Pogacar added the European title to his world crown on Sunday after yet another solo breakaway that marked the latest milestone in a stunning season.
Pogacar, the best rider of his generation, has been in a class of his own this season, winning the Tour de France for the fourth time in July along with prestigious victories at one-day races.
The European Championships are generally not a key moment in the calendar but this year’s road race attracted particular attention with Remco Evenepoel of Belgium and Jonas Vingegaard also on the starting line in France.
The hilly race was competed in the Drôme-Ardeche region and Pogacar made the most of the demanding ride to hurt his rivals. After his 66-kilometer solo effort in Rwanda last week on the way to his second world title, the Slovenian went solo with 75 kilometers to go as Evenepoel could not keep up with the pace in a steep ascent.
Evenepoel finished second, with up-and-coming Frenchman Paul Seixas claiming the final spot on the podium. Vingegaard was not in the mix and the Danish rider did not finish the race.
Pogacar’s appetite for victory appears insatiable and he has clearly established himself as the No. 1 rider in the world, drawing comparisons with the greatest of all time, Eddy Merckx.
Vonn crashes out of Winter Olympics in brutal end to medal dream
The 41-year-old was just 13 seconds into her run when she lost control
Skiing legend was aiming to win another medal despite competing with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament
Updated 49 min 39 sec ago
AFP
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy: Lindsey Vonn crashed out of the Winter Olympics downhill on Sunday, brutally ending the American skiing great’s improbable dream of winning a medal despite competing with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
Vonn was just 13 seconds into her run in bright sunshine in Cortina d’Ampezzo when she lost control, twisted in the air and crumpled in the snow.
The 41-year-old’s cries of pain could be heard on the microphones as medical staff attended to the stricken skier on the piste.
Thousands of spectators at the bottom of the run fell silent as they watched the images of the crash on giant screens.
The United States' Lindsey Vonn crashing during an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo. (AP)
Vonn was eventually strapped into a stretcher and winched into the air by helicopter to be flown to hospital.
Her US teammate Breezy Johnson went on to win the gold medal, but her first thoughts were for Vonn, saying: “My heart goes out to her. I hope it’s not as bad as it looked.”
Johnson finished in front of Germany’s Emma Aicher by just 0.04sec with Italy’s Sofia Goggia taking bronze in front of her home fans.
Vonn’s sister Karin Kildow, who watched the crash on giant screens at the course, said: “That definitely was the last thing we wanted to see.”
Hopes dashed
Just two weeks ago, Vonn, one of global sport’s most recognizable faces, looked in contention to cap a remarkable comeback from retirement by winning the second Olympic gold medal of her career — her last came 16 years ago in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
She had retired in 2019 but returned to the slopes in 2024 after surgery to insert a titanium implant in her right knee to quell persistent pain.
But her Olympic plans were thrown into disarray when she crashed in a World Cup race at Crans Montana, Switzerland, on January 30.
In a press conference once she arrived in Italy, she admitted she had ruptured her ACL in the crash, but insisted she could still compete for medals.
Lindsey Vonn shows the gold medals of the Women's Downhill and super-g races, at the World Alpine Ski Championships, in Val d'Isere, France in 2009. (AP)
“This is not obviously what I had hoped for.... I know what my chances were before the crash and and I know my chances aren’t the same as it stands today,” she said then.
“But I know there’s still a chance, and as long as there’s a chance I will try.”
She even batted aside those who doubted her ability to perform with such an injury, taking to social media to fire back at a sports doctor for doubting her ACL tear was as bad as she claimed.
In other action on Sunday, the second full day of the Milan-Cortina Games, Czech snowboarder Zuzana Maderova won gold in the women’s parallel giant slalom after the shock exit of defending champion Ester Ledecka.
Ledecka crashed out in the quarter-finals as the Czech chased what would have been a historic snowboarding title in three consecutive Olympics.
Maderova enjoyed a comfortable victory over Ledecka’s conqueror Sabine Payer, cruising to victory by 0.83sec.
In Tesero, Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Klaebo racked up the sixth Olympic gold medal of his career by taking the skiathlon title.
Later, attention will switch the ice rink as the USA go into the final day of the figure skating team event seeking to resist a stiff challenge from Japan.
Ilia Malinin, the US sensation who was upstaged on his Olympic debut on Saturday by Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, skates again on Sunday in the free program.
