Category: 6. Sports

The two competing teams:

KM0 CYCLING TEAM (blue team) will be coached by creator @laura_lavry and captained by her sister, @orlaneeee_lvr. This team will include content creators such as @daetienne, @valfootoff, @pj_martini_reno, as well as the famous diver Alexis Jandard from @equipefra, @ouestfrance, and footballer Adil Rami representing @ligue1. Special guests like the renowned Colombian chef @juanarbelaezche and tennis player @payet_pauline will also complete this team.

GAZIER CYCLING TEAM (yellow team) will be led by the twin brothers Grégoire (coach) and Antoine (captain), both content creators on the @ltdg_sports account. Alongside creators like @joggeuse and @oceane_dmg, who is also an Ambassador of the French Cycling Federation, as well as representatives from @parisbasketball, @eurosport_france, @velopack, and @harbatrunninglab. Finally, the famous Miss France 2021, @amandinepetitoff, and photographer @mathis_dumas will round out the team.

The preparation of both teams is already underway and can be followed on the TikTok accounts of each participant, promising an exciting build-up full of energy, emotions, and memorable moments.

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT TO DISCOVER AND A CONTEST TO BOOST ENGAGEMENT

To keep the excitement going, users will be able to access exclusive content related to the competition, supported by a broad ecosystem of cycling enthusiasts and creators:

• A dedicated mini-site, accessible from every video linked to the Tour de France, will provide easy access to all essential information: routes, teams, key dates…
• A specially designed in-app space for the Tour de France will centralize all videos, highlights, and activations around the event, including the TikTok Cycling Race. This hub will make it easier for all cycling and sports competition fans to access content by using the hashtag #TourDeFrance, which has 103.7K followers.
• A festive presence in the heart of the race, featuring two vehicles hosting creators and special guests.

Thus, TikTok will bring the 2025 Tour de France to life like never before, offering an immersive dive behind the scenes of this legendary race and each of its stages.

This year, TikTok is also launching a video contest from June 19 to August 3 to spark conversations around the Tour de France, inviting content creators and users to share their passion. To participate, they simply need to register on the dedicated page and post at least five videos using the hashtag #TourDeFrance. Winners will be selected based on the quality and engagement generated by their content.

 

Jean-Patrick Cheylan, Chief Operations Officer, TikTok France:

“The TikTok Cycling Race embodies our commitment to promoting sport in all its forms. By bringing an unprecedented race to the Tour de France, we are shaking up the norms to create an event within the event, placing the TikTok community at the heart of the race. It’s a new way to experience the competition, fueled by the energy of an engaged, creative, and inclusive community that celebrates sport in its own way.”

Julien Goupil, Director of Media and Partnerships at A.S.O.:

“Our partnership with TikTok is part of a desire to complement our existing setup with varied formats. This collaboration reflects a shared ambition: to bring the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift to life in a different and complementary way, thanks to the creativity and spontaneity that characterize the platform. During the previous edition, videos with the #TourDeFrance hashtag amassed 818 million views. This partnership fully aligns with our commitment to promoting the event to everyone, everywhere in the world.”

Travis Kelce is currently in talks to end one of his many important pastimes in order to focus on something that has always been very close to his heart.

The 35-year-old Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end, who is gearing up for his return to the training camp, opened up on Wednesday, July 9, about the fate of his New Heights podcast.

Travis and his brother Jason confirmed that their podcast is coming to an end for the time being, allowing the 37-year-old to focus more on his career.

Jason confirmed, “We have come to the end of the road,” as they will wrap up the third season of their popular show on July 23.

“Travis is going to training camp, as you all know. Whenever training camp starts, we take a hiatus from the pod, because it’s nearly impossible to do a podcast while somebody’s in training camp.”

In response to his brother’s claim about the podcast, Travis couldn’t help but cheer on in excitement about his new venture.

For the unversed, the NFL star has previously been occupied with the love of his life, Taylor Swift, in Florida and New York, and is now all set to return to the game.

Uber, the world’s leading mobility and delivery platform, is proud to announce it will be the official rideshare and on-demand delivery partner of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as Team USA. This exciting partnership marks a significant step in facilitating smooth transportation and delivery services during two of the world’s most celebrated sporting events.

In this pivotal role, Uber will deploy its advanced mobility solutions to design, implement and optimize rideshare operations across Los Angeles to help stakeholders navigate the city effortlessly. With venues spread across the city and beyond, Uber will lend its expertise to LA28 and its transportation partners providing tech capabilities, operational best practices, and a strategic network of pickup and drop-off locations to support a seamless and multi-modal mobility experience across the greater LA region.

As the world’s largest food delivery service operating across six continents, Uber Eats will power the Olympic and Paralympic Village’s on-demand delivery program, delivering to athletes during their stay. LA28 plans to feature Uber Eats mobile ordering within-venue at select locations, enhancing the spectator experience.

“We’re honored to partner with LA28 and Team USA. It’s a tremendous privilege for us to help people from across the globe move around LA and offer on-demand delivery to the Olympic and Paralympic Village,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber. “The drivers, couriers and merchants who will show up for visitors and locals are the backbone who make the partnership come together. The Olympic and Paralympic Games are a true celebration of the human spirit, and we’re incredibly proud to be LA28’s trusted partner.”

“Mobility is at the heart of what makes the Olympic and Paralympic Games extraordinary, connecting athletes to venues, fans to experiences and our global community across LA,” said LA28 Chairperson and President Casey Wasserman. “Uber’s commitment to innovation and seamless service aligns with our vision to deliver an unparalleled Games experience that showcases the very best of what our city and these athletes represent.” 

LA28 is committed to hosting a transit-first Games, and Uber will provide comprehensive rideshare solutions including cars, bikes, and scooters to support multi-modal journeys to and from LA28 venues and mobility hubs. 

As part of the partnership, Uber will support NBCUniversal’s multi-platform coverage of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 and the LA28 Games. Together, Uber and NBCUniversal will bring athlete stories and the competitions of the Milano Cortina and Los Angeles Games to life in new and exciting ways.

“With its leadership in tech and innovation, Uber embodies the spirit of the Olympics, making them the perfect partner for the upcoming Games,” said Mark Marshall, Chairman, Global Advertising and Partnerships, NBCUniversal. “As we prepare to showcase the incredible athletes competing in Milano Cortina and Los Angeles, we look forward to collaborating with Uber throughout our extensive coverage and highlighting the seamless mobility experience they’ll provide during the Games.”

 

ABOUT LA28 OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMES

The LA28 Games will mark Los Angeles’ third time hosting the Olympic Games, previously hosting in 1984 and 1932, and first time to host the Paralympic Games. Los Angeles will host the world’s most elite athletes in 2028 as it welcomes Paralympians and Olympians from around the world to compete on the biggest stage in sports. The LA28 Games are independently operated by a privately funded, nonprofit organization, with revenue from corporate partners, licensing agreements, hospitality and ticketing programs, and a significant contribution from the International Olympic Committee. 

ABOUT UBER

Uber’s mission is to create opportunity through movement. The company started in 2010 to solve a simple problem: how do you get access to a ride at the touch of a button? More than 61 billion trips later, we’re building products to get people closer to where they want to be. By changing how people, food, and things move through cities, Uber is a platform that opens up the world to new possibilities.

ABOUT TEAM USA

Team USA is the world’s largest and most diverse team of athletes from across the United States who compete at the Olympic, Paralympic, Youth Olympic, Pan American and Parapan American Games. The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, founded in 1894, serves as the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and is responsible for protecting, supporting and empowering Team USA athletes. For more information, visit TeamUSA.org.

ABOUT NBCUNIVERSAL

NBCUniversal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. We create world-class content, which we distribute across our portfolio of film, television, and streaming, and bring to life through our theme parks and consumer experiences. We own and operate leading entertainment and news brands, including NBC, NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC Sports, Telemundo, NBC Local Stations, Bravo, USA Network, and Peacock, our premium ad-supported streaming service. We produce and distribute premier filmed entertainment and programming through Universal Filmed Entertainment Group and Universal Studio Group and have world-renowned theme parks and attractions through Universal Destinations & Experiences. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation. Visit www.nbcuniversal.com for more information.

Two first-time Wimbledon semifinalists will square off in the bottom half of the draw for a place in Saturday’s championship final — but these are not newcomers to bigtime matches.

Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draws

At one end of the court will be five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek of Poland. Her final-four showing here means the former World No. 1 has at last made the semifinals or better at all four Grand Slam events.

At the other side will be Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, less than 15 months after giving birth to daughter Bella. This is only Bencic’s second Grand Slam semifinal, but the former World No. 4 is an Olympic gold medalist (2021 Tokyo) and a two-time WTA 1000 champion.

Swiatek leads the head-to-head 3-1. Their most recent meeting came at 2023 Wimbledon, and Swiatek won it. However, Bencic’s win did come at a Grand Slam event (2021 US Open).

Who will prevail and make their first Wimbledon final? Let’s break down the showdown:

The case for Swiatek

One of the great ironies in women’s tennis is that clay-court expert Iga Swiatek’s only Junior Grand Slam singles title came on grass, at 2018 Junior Wimbledon.

“[The] year that I won juniors was super hot,” Swiatek pointed out, not for the first time. “The grass was already not a grass. It was more clay, you know.

“[In the main draw] next year against Golubic, the grass was so long. It was totally different, like a totally different tournament.”

Swiatek lost that 2019 first-round match to future Wimbledon quarterfinalist Viktorija Golubic. To this day, it is the only time Swiatek has ever lost in the first round of a Grand Slam event.

That is because Swiatek takes every experience she has, good or bad, and learns from it. Year by year, Swiatek’s grass-court acumen has expanded — she has yet to win a title on the surface, but she keeps growing and adjusting.

“[This year] we mainly focused on my movement,” Swiatek said on Wednesday. “Also, just on fast hands because obviously it’s important here not to, like, stop the movements, even though the ball sometimes is fast, and the serve.”

Swiatek has been rewarded with her best grass-court season by far. She made her first grass-court final two weeks ago in Bad Homburg, and has won eight matches on the surface this year — her most in a single season. 

And if Swiatek can serve like she did in Wednesday’s first set, she will be very tough to break on Thursday. En route to a 6-2 lead over Liudmila Samsonova, Swiatek won 100 percent of her first-serve points (10-for-10).

Samsonova made a valiant comeback in the second set, but Swiatek stayed firm and closed out the quarterfinal win 6-2, 7-5. Perhaps in previous years she would have become more rattled on grass — but that chapter seems to have closed.

“Obviously if your opponent is winning two games in a row and is breaking you back, you need to change something ’cause you can’t let her keep winning,” Swiatek said. “I just know that what I need to do and I try to focus on that. 

“Anytime the momentum changes, you just need to get back to work and do something better. That’s it.”

Swiatek hasn’t won a title in over a year, so it would be another great irony if she could win her first title of 2025 by hoisting the Venus Rosewater Dish — but bet against her at your own risk.

The case for Bencic

After giving birth to Bella in April 2024, Bencic came back to action at the very end of October, at ITF and WTA 125 events. Her first tour-level match of her return was at the very start of this season at United Cup.

So, in a seven-month time frame at tour-level events, Bencic has won a title (WTA 500 Abu Dhabi in February), picked up three Top 20 wins (including over Mirra Andreeva in Wednesday’s quarterfinals) and is projected to already be back in the Top 20 herself on Monday.

And now, of course, a first Wimbledon semifinal — confirming Bencic’s suspicion that she was ready to get back on tour at a faster pace than some might have predicted, including herself.

“I feel great on the practice court,” Bencic said on Monday. “That’s why I felt like I came back earlier than expected, than I expected for myself. 

“I’m also surprised about how fast the results are coming. I think it’s just really a result of the work we put in and also the mindset that I have now. … I am surprised, but of course, I’m not going to complain about it.”

Like Swiatek, Bencic is a former Junior Wimbledon singles champion (2013). But unlike Swiatek, once she hit the Hologic WTA Tour, grass became one of her top surfaces.

Her very first WTA singles title came on grass, at 2015 Eastbourne, and she has made four additional grass-court finals. She made the Wimbledon Round of 16 in 2015 as well, then matched that result in 2018 and 2023.

Finally, she cracked the fourth-round code this year and has gone deep at SW19. Taking the ball early and mostly keeping it low, her game is a natural fit for the skiddy grass. 

More importantly, she is playing the pressure points superbly this year. She has been forced into a tiebreak four times in her last three matches — each time, she rose to the occasion, winning them all.

“I tried to forget some setbacks, and some games that you fail to serve [out] or to return, I tried to forget it very quickly,” Bencic said on Wednesday. “I think as a tennis player you need to do that.”

If Bencic can take the ball on the rise and rush Swiatek, the Swiss player’s proclivity for the grass courts could become a determining factor. A maiden Grand Slam final is certainly not out of the question for Bella’s mom.

Leanne McCrotter

‘School is the only thing he has’

Leanne McCrotter

‘Change is crucial to him’

Getty Images

But it wasn’t always like this. Being mixed race, he had to deal with racism in the sport, ever since he was a teenager growing up in the Greek capital, Athens, being told that black people don’t pole vault.

Still, he never lost the passion for the heights, soaring over the underlying prejudices, and landing on a career of many firsts.

His first Olympic appearance was at Tokyo 2020 in 2021.

His first medal at the Games was the bronze at Paris 2024, and exactly 20 days after that, he leapt over the magic six for the first time, at the Diamond League event in Silesia, Poland.

“Paris gave me fuel to jump even higher and have been able to grind more,” Karalis said of the achievement.

A new season and new targets for Karalis

In 2025, the first Greek to clear six meters in pole vaulting achieved an even greater feat by winning the silver medal at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing. He also leapt to a new Greek record of 6.05m.

“I had a pretty good start to the season,” he told us. “I was able to jump over six meters in most of the meets. So, the next barrier after 6.05 is 6.10.”

He now ranks in a tie for seventh in pole vaulting history, a list headed by Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis, the world record holder and Paris 2024 gold medallist, who is also 25 years old.

Karalis and Duplantis have been competing together on the circuit since the 2016 European U18 Championships, where the Greek prodigy earned his first continental medal, a bronze, behind the Swedish star, who topped the event.

“It’s always amazing, because we have known each other for so long, and it’s always nice to be able to compete with the guys that we’ve been competing with for so many years, and they’re now the best vaulters ever. They keep pushing me to jump even higher,” said the reigning European indoor champion, referring to the camaraderie he shares with Duplantis, as well as USA’s two-time world champion Sam Kendricks.

“I feel blessed, I feel very proud that I’m able to be in this era with Mondo and all these guys. It’s the best era of pole vaulting right now. I feel honoured to be a part of this history.”

The Junior Boks completed the pool stage unbeaten after beating Australia, defending champions England and Scotland with bonus-point victories to finish top of their pool and top of the overall rankings and to secure their place in the semi-finals.

The South African Under-20 side delivered another clinical performance in their 73-14 victory over Scotland in the bright Italian summer sunshine, delighting the crowd with their powerful forward play and ability to attack from deep to score some brilliant tries.

Foote said afterwards he was happy with the score and proud of the team – especially since some of the players were playing the first time in the competition – as they executed the game plan and played with intensity.

“It was a mature effort and our squad is in a good place – I thought our back row were excellent around the breakdown.” Said Foote.

“They are a humble bunch and immediately after the game in the changeroom room they were happy, but there was a real purpose amongst them to move onto the next job.

“Some of those tries were great and most of them were as a result of the work done at the breakdown and massive effort upfront, which gave the boys such a good platform. And when they got the space in front of them, they really are exciting on attack.

“The support lines of the guys were excellent today. The whole team were just so clinical in how they went about it. Scotland were brave in the second half and hey held us up three times and stayed in the fight.”

On the question of team selection for the semi-final, Foote said: “It is a difficult problem to have and I keep on going on about the talent we have in the country. It will be a very difficult job and will be hard to leave guys out.”

Thando Biyela, the captain on the day, led by example and said afterwards it was a tough game, despite the convincing scoreline.

“It was a good win but a tough game,” said Biyela.

“I thought we started the game well and had a good opening 20 minutes, which set us up for the rest of the game. But I must give credit to Scotland who tested us in the second half.

“Of course there’s always room for improvement. We want to put in an 80-minute performance and play to our full potential.”

The three teams that will join the Junior Boks in the semi-finals will be confirmed once all the pool games have concluded. The playoffs are scheduled for Monday, 14 July in Viadana.