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Many riders had identified stage 6 of the Tour de France 2025 as a first proper opportunity for long-range attackers – and Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) proved to be the most expert of them! Among the very first attackers of the day, the ever-aggressive Irish man survived a most intense battle for the breakaway and eventually dropped his companions with 42 kilometres to go to claim Ireland’s 15th stage win in the Tour, the first since Sam Bennett’s triumph on the Champs-Élysées in 2020. Among the attackers,  Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Michael Storer (Tudor) complete the stage top 3. And Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) regains for 1 second the Maillot Jaune he had lost to Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in the individual time trial! Tomorrow, the race and the Flying Dutchman return to Mûr-de-Bretagne, where he had claimed his first Tour successes in 2021.

On the day after the ITT, 179 riders set off Bayeux – Kévin Vauquelin’s hometown – for a much different challenge. The 3,550 metres of elevation gain to overcome en route to Vire Normandie (201.5 km) make stage 6 of the Tour 2025 “the most leg-breaking flat stage in the recent history of the Tour”, according to the director Christian Prudhomme.

A brutal start

This terrain inspires attackers, furthermore since Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) hinted the Maillot Jaune could be up for grabs if the right breakaway formed today.

But first, Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan and Biniam Girmay’s Intermarché-Wanty control the bunch en route to the early intermediate sprint in Villers-Bocage (km 22.2). The Italian powerhouse goes first on the line ahead of Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), while Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) get in the mix to anticipate the battle for the break.

The duo set off right after the intermediate sprint and a flurry of attacks ensues. Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) and Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) take over at the front but the brutal pace – 49.5 km covered in the first hour – also nullifies their attempt.

A fierce battle

Healy and Simmons insist, so much so that they’re part of a 5-man group that get away at km 57 with Van der Poel by their side, as well as Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) and Will Barta (Movistar). Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla) bridges the gap at km 69. He’s rapidly followed by Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Michael Storer (Tudor), making it an 8-man breakaway.

The battle goes on, with more riders willing to get away form the bunch, including local heroes Kévin Vauquelin and Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet (Groupama-FDJ, hailing from Sainte-Honorine-la-Chardonne, at km 74.8). Calm eventually returns after Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Energies) is caught by the bunch at km 95.

A significant margin for Healy, the tightest for Pogacar

UAE Team Emirates-XRG control the bunch and the gap gradually increases: 1’15’’ halfway through the stage, 2’25’’ with 70 kilometres to go, 3 minutes atop the Côte de Mortain Cote 314 (63.5 km to go)… Van der Poel leads the virtual GC as he only trailed by 1’26’’ at the start of the stage.

The ever-aggressive Healy puts the hammer down with 42.5 kilometres to go. At the bottom of the second last climb of the day, the cat.-3 Côte de Saint-Michel-de-Montjoie, the gap is up to 47’’. Over the top (27.2km to go), Simmons and Storer trail  by 45’’ while the rest of the chasers are 15’’ further behind.

Healy never looks back and opens significant gaps to take his first Tour stage win, Ireland’s 15th (the first came from Seamus Elliott in 1963, the last from Sam Bennett in 2020). Simmons comes 2nd (+2’44’’) ahead of Storer (+2’51’’) while Van der Poel finishes with a gap of 3’58’’. As Pogacar leads the GC group over the line with 5’27’’ behind Healy, it means Van der Poel takes the Maillot Jaune for only 1 second!

Nottingham Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White is set to undergo a medical at Tottenham on Friday before completing a £60m move.

Well-placed sources have told BBC Sport the 25-year-old has a £60m release clause, which Spurs are set to trigger with the formalities of his switch to accelerate in the next 24 hours.

Gibbs-White, who has four England caps, was on Manchester City’s radar this summer but Pep Guardiola’s side have cooled their interest.

He scored seven goals and added eight assists in 34 Premier League games last season, and has attracted interest from a number of England’s top clubs in recent months, but Spurs have stepped up their efforts to sign him.

Gibbs-White is set to follow Anthony Elanga out of the City Ground with Forest agreeing the latter’s £55m sale to Newcastle earlier this week.

Spurs, who appointed Thomas Frank as new head coach last month, are also set to sign Mohammed Kudus from West Ham for £55m and have an interest in Brentford attacker Yoane Wissa.

Wimbledon 2025 – Amanda Anisimova advances to championship final in gutsy performance

A gorgeous day in south-west London set the stage for the first of four semi-final clashes, with the sun beaming down on Centre Court’s elegance and butterflies fluttering across the grass ahead of a mighty duel between two big-hitters: Sabalenka and Anisimova.

The opening set saw two stoppages for medical emergencies in the crowd, due to the humid heat, with Sabalenka offering water bottles and ice packs from her own stash.

Of the eight break points created, it was the final one that proved decisive — a double fault from Sabalenka handing Anisimova the break and the set. For the second straight match, the world number one had to recover from a set down to stay in contention.

The 27-year-old returned from the changing room revitalised, and just as her own serve had previously been broken, an Anisimova double fault allowed Sabalenka to break and then hold for the first time during the afternoon. Though the American player was able to fend off four set points on her own serve, her opponent capitalised on serve to level the match.

Olympic champions Bryony Page (three-time trampoline medallist) and Jonathan Edwards (two-time triple jump medallist and world record holder) were in attendance, while football coach Emma Hayes, who led the US women’s national team to gold at Paris 2024, added to the Royal Box’s medal count.

After an early exchange of breaks in the deciding set, it was world number 12 Anisimova who stood resolute, securing a double break in an increasingly tense fight, letting out all her emotions with every strike and point won on Centre Court.

She only grew with motivation and firepower throughout the duel, yet when she had match point, Sabalenka refused to back down and broke for the first time in four service games, drawing a standing ovation from the SW19 crowd.

If the drama needed another twist, a long Sabalenka forehand offered Anisimova three more match points.

On the third of the trio—her fourth overall—the New Jersey native sealed the deal in emphatic fashion, turning to her box and freezing in pure disbelief at the sensation of becoming a Grand Slam finalist for the first time.

The ITA reports that the Player Ahmed Jalal Abbas Mansoor Fadhul has agreed¹ to the consequences imposed for his anti-doping rule violation (ADRV).

The Player provided a sample on 23 January 2024 during an in-competition anti-doping control at the 2024 Asian Men’s Handball Championship. After analysis by a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited laboratory, the sample returned an adverse analytical finding for 5-methylhexan-2-amine (1,4-dimethylpentylamine).²

5-methylhexan-2-amine (1,4-dimethylpentylamine) is prohibited under the WADA Prohibited List as S6. Stimulants. It is prohibited in-competition only and is classified as a specified substance. This substance may improve concentration and alertness by increasing energy levels and endurance, and accelerating the metabolism.

The Player did not challenge the ADRV and agreed with the consequences proposed by the ITA, namely a period of ineligibility of two years from 23 January 2024 until 22 January 2026 and disqualification of his individual competitive results from 23 January 2024 onwards.

The parties’ respective deadlines to appeal the agreement on consequences before the appeals division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport have now expired; the agreement on consequences is considered as final.

The ITA will not comment further on this case.

WIMBLEDON — As the baking temperatures of Wimbledon’s first two days returned, No. 13 seed Amanda Anisimova kept a cool head to reach the first Grand Slam final of her career, defeating No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in 2 hours and 37 minutes.

Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draws

The result is Anisimova’s sixth career Top 5 win, and first over a reigning World No. 1. Four of those Top 5 wins have come over Sabalenka, against whom she now holds a 6-3 head-to-head record. The 23-year-old American becomes the first player born in the 21st century to reach the Wimbledon final; No. 8 seed Iga Swiatek could become the second, should she defeat Belinda Bencic in the second semifinal. Anisimova is the seventh player born in the 21st century to reach any major final, following Bianca Andreescu, Swiatek, Emma Raducanu, Leylah Fernandez, Coco Gauff and Zheng Qinwen.

A star junior who quickly brought her prodigious talent to the Hologic WTA Tour, reaching the 2019 Roland Garros semifinals as a 17-year-old, Anisimova’s path to this moment has not been straightforward. In 2023, she took a seven-month mental health break from tennis. This time last year, she was on the comeback trail, but at No. 189 was ranked too low to get into the Wimbledon main draw; she fell in qualifying to Eva Lys.

But since then, Anisimova has rocketed into the Top 20 following her first WTA 1000 final in Toronto last August, then her first WTA 1000 title in Doha this February. She is guaranteed to make her Top 10 debut next Monday.

Anisimova’s six-year, 34-day gap between her first two major semifinals is the fourth-longest in the Open Era (behind Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Natasha Zvereva and Lori McNeil); fellow semifinalist Bencic is in fifth place with a 5-year, 309-day gap between the 2019 US Open and this week.

More to come…

The upcoming Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting in Bangladesh is facing a potential change of venue following a formal request from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), according to Indian media.

Reports by multiple India media outlets suggest that the BCCI is reluctant to send its delegation to Dhaka for the ACC meeting which was originally slated for July 24, citing “security and political concerns” in Bangladesh.

Sources indicate that the Indian cricket board has officially conveyed its reservations to the ACC and has requested that the meeting be shifted to a neutral venue.

This development comes after the BCCI has previously postponed a bilateral series in Bangladesh scheduled for August, reportedly due to similar apprehensions.

Now, with India set to host the 2025 Asia Cup, the board’s stance on travelling to Bangladesh has once again come under scrutiny.

Further reports state that if the meeting is not shifted from Dhaka, the BCCI may consider withdrawing from the proceedings altogether.

Meanwhile, preparations for the 2025 Asia Cup are ongoing, with uncertainty surrounding the defending champions’ participation in matches against Pakistan due to ongoing geopolitical tensions.

Despite this, sources affirm that India and Pakistan are expected to continue competing against each other in ICC and ACC events, as no official directive has been issued by either board to avoid such encounters.

According to the proposed plan, the Asia Cup could be hosted in the UAE, with the tournament tentatively scheduled to begin on September 5 and conclude by September 21.

Dubai is likely to host the high-voltage Pakistan vs India clash on September 7, with the potential for a second meeting between the arch-rivals in the Super Four stage.

The 17th edition of the Asia Cup will be played in the T20 format and is expected to feature six teams: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and the UAE.

The Indian board has also approached the government for clearance on all Asia Cup-related matters, as it awaits a final decision on venue selection and participation protocols.

India are the defending champions, having clinched the previous Asia Cup (played in the ODI format) with a dominant 10-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the final.

Japan, the other Group B juggernaut, arrive with a chip on their shoulder. After five straight titles from 2013 to 2021, their Asia Cup dynasty was halted in 2023 by China in the semis. While still ranked 9th in the world and known for their rapid ball movement and long-range shooting, questions remain over their depth and ability to close out tight games — issues that haunted them in their last two campaigns and at Paris 2024, where they surprisingly finished last. However, Aka-tsuki Faibu are boosted by the return of Tokashiki Ramu, who missed the 2023 tournament and the 2024 Olympics. The two-time JBL Most Valuable Player is one of the most experienced players at the competition, and brings the size and leadership this team sorely needs. Japan’s group-stage showdown with Australia could double as a preview of the final, assuming both teams navigate their knockout rounds successfully.

With those two likely to progress, the focus shifts to the Philippines and Lebanon — two nations whose priority remains staying in Division A. The Philippines squad’s cohesion, forged through years playing together under coach Pat Aquino, is a major strength. But to finally break through at this level (Gilas Women have not finished higher than sixth in the Asia Cup), they’ll need breakout performances from veterans like Jack Animam while also minimising turnovers and rebounding deficits that have plagued them in past editions.

Through coach Georges Khalil, Lebanon has adopted a youth-first approach, building a core that could blossom in future cycles. For now, though, it’s crucial the Cedars beat the Philippines to have any chance of escaping the group stage. Solid performances against Japan and Australia will provide encouragement that Lebanon’s basketball program is on the right track.

Emmanuel Wanyonyi: the young pretender to the throne

Leading the charge at the Monaco Diamond League is Kenyan starlet Emmanuel Wanyonyi.

At just 20 (yes, 20), the middle-distance prodigy has a resumé filled to the brim with accolades. A silver from the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest was followed by two Diamond League titles in 2023 and 2024.

But the best was yet to come.

In the Paris 2024 Olympic final, the athlete became the third-fastest 800m runner of all time as he raced to gold in 1:41.19.

Wanyonyi’s rapid rise through the ranks even drew the appreciation of Rudisha himself, who said to Olympics.com:

“Emmanuel Wanyonyi is still young and when you see him running, I believe he still has a lot of opportunity for improvement.

“The way he is taking his competition I am real confident that he has some courage and has the chance of some good progression.”

It didn’t take long after the Olympic final for Wanyonyi to see that progression, as he lowered his own personal best to 1:41.11, just two tenths of a second away from the fastest time ever.

So far this year, he has continued to show the impressive form that makes many think of him as Rudisha’s successor, clocking 1:41.95 in June’s Stockholm Diamond League.

But while Wanyonyi may be the clearest threat to the 800m world record, he’s not the only one in Monaco.

Far from it.