With 4,865 metres of climbing over a distance of 234 kilometres, the course was considered one of the toughest in Olympic history. The searing temperatures and over six hours in the saddle combined to whittle down the peloton with 82 of the 130 riders finishing the race.

24-year-old Cork man, Eddie Dunbar made an attack inside the final 50 kilometres. Dunbar was joined by Remco Evenepoel and Vincenzo Nibali but other nations recognised the danger and acted quickly to close the gap. The decisive move was made on the Mikuni Pass when one of the pre-race favourites, Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) blew the peloton apart on the steep climb. The move saw Eddie Dunbar distanced while Dan Martin remained in contention until a kilometre before the summit. Dan Martin crested Mikuni Pass in a chase group and battled on for a very respectable top 20 finish. Richard Carapaz (Ecuador) won gold with Wout van Aert claiming silver ahead of Tadej Pogačar in a photo finish.

Dan Martin’s reaction

Speaking afterwards today’s road race Dan Martin said:

“We came here with the idea of getting a medal and honestly, it’s been my best experience in an Irish team since I’ve been racing for Ireland. We had the best preparation possible; the staff have been amazing, and we really worked together. It was a great team performance and yeah, unfortunately I just didn’t have the legs when it mattered on the climb. It was super-hot there and I just missed a couple of seconds to be in that front selection that was fighting for the medals.”

The Irish cyclist continued:

“We did a perfect race today in my opinion. I wouldn’t change anything that we did today. That’s a really nice feeling coming out of an Olympic road race knowing that we all did our best. Nico did a great job of keeping me positioned and safe the whole way along and we had staff the whole way along giving us bottles. It really was a great team effort. I want to say thank you to everyone and just unfortunately we couldn’t come away with a medal this time but yeah it’s really promising for the future, how we’re developing as a team. It was really good to race with Eddie as well. I think he’s the future of Irish cycling, so it’s been good to share mine and Nico’s experience with him this week. The future’s bright and we can all look forward towards Paris now and try and improve our performance still.”

EQUESTRIAN

Irish equestrian athletes across all disciplines will wear a yellow ribbon during competition in commemoration of the loss of a highly talented young Irish athlete who tragically suffered a fatal incident in June.

Tiggy Hancock (15) was known across all equestrian disciplines and was a respected member of the Irish Pony High-Performance Eventing Programme. At the young age of 15, Tiggy had already made a mark on the sport and was one to watch whenever she competed, against both senior and youth athletes.

SWIMMING

Ellen Walshe was Team Ireland’s first swimmer in action at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre and she put in an impressive performance to win her Women’s 100m Butterfly heat. Her time of 59.35 seconds was just 0.03 seconds outside of her own Irish Senior Record set in June 2021. Walshe finished in 24th position overall, with the top 16 progressing to the semi-finals.

“It was a strong first swim for me, it’s just slightly off my PB.” Walshe said. “It would have been nice to get another Irish Senior Record but it wasn’t there, I felt strong, but you win some you lose some – I’m happy enough with the swim.”

Walshe is back in action on Monday (Day 3 – July 26th) in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley.

RESULTS

CYCLING:

Men’s Road Race: 16^th Dan Martin (6:00:04), 75^th Nicolas Roche (6:21:46), 76^th Eddie Dunbar (6:21:46).

SWIMMING

Women’s 100m Butterfly Heat: Ellen Walshe, 1^st in heat, 24^th overall with a time of 59.35.

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Roche, riding his eight World Championship Road Race, kept Irish hopes alive until the closing stages of the 258-kilometre race, before losing touch with the main group as Alaphilippe went on to end a 23-year wait for France cycling.

The Irish cycling team was led by Roche with support from Time Trial specialist, Ryan Mullen and 20-year old, Ben Healy. The difficult route featured over 5,000 metres of climbing, with the peloton of 177 men was reduced considerably as the day wore on.

Roche remained in contention until the final 45 kilometres where he was dropped from the leading group on one of many climbs which ramped up to a 15% gradient. He had the consolation of being the only Irish finisher, coming home 51^st from 177 starters.

Speaking afterward, Roche said:

“I think I rode a pretty decent race, just the legs let me go in the finish. I was always up the front, Ben (Healy) was around me for quite a long time and I just faded near the finish when the race really really started. I was just a little bit short.”

Healy and Mullen provided support in the early hours of the race, retiring before the finish. Just 88 riders could complete one of the toughest routes in memory.

Belgian Wout van Aert finished second and Marc Hirschi from Switzerland took third after more than six and a half hours in the saddle.

As he entered the famous Imola race track, Alaphilippe knew that he was getting closer and closer to a memorable victory, and after a short glance over his shoulder, he powered towards the line, which he crossed with tears in his eyes. Sunday’s win cemented the 28-year-old’s reputation as one of the peloton’s finest and most complete riders.

Alaphilippe, who became the fourth different Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider to win the World Road Race Championships – after Tom Boonen (2005), Paolo Bettini (2006, 2007) and Michal Kwiatkowski (2014) – dedicated Sunday’s triumph to his late father:

“It’s hard for me to describe how I am feeling right now, there are so many things I think of now, so many feelings. This is my greatest victory, a win which I promised to my father I will get one day. Once I attacked with 12 kilometres to go and opened a gap, I was focused on staying at the front and going close to my limit. When I arrived alone at the finish, I couldn’t believe that my dream came true. The coveted rainbow jersey is the most beautiful one in cycling and to know that I will wear it for twelve months gives me huge pride.”

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Two Irish riders, Ryan Mullan and Nicolas Roche will race the elite men’s time trial tomorrow, Friday, 25 September. The largely flat 31.7-kilometre route starts and finishes at the Imola autodrome and passes through the town of Borgo at the halfway mark. Unlike the road race, the time trial course has just 200m of elevation gain meaning it is expected riders will need to average in excess of 50kph to be in contention.

Roche suffered a crash on stage 10 of this year’s Tour however recovered well to feature in multiple breakaways and secure his 64^th top 10 stage finish in a Grand Tour.

Mullan is a 4-time Irish National Champion in the time trial and bronze medallist at the 2017 European Championships while Roche has 2 TT National titles to his name.

Both Roche and Mullen will also compete in the men’s road race over an arduous 258.2 kilometres featuring 9 loops and 5,000m of climbing on Sunday, 27 September. They will be joined in the race by Ben Healy and Dan Martin.

Martin started the Tour de France just 2 weeks after fracturing a bone in his lower back. The injury forced Martin to maintain a low profile in the early stages of the race however he sprung into the limelight on stage 13 in a long-range breakaway finishing 11^th and again on stage 17. With the Israel Start-Up Nation cycling team member coming into form, the 2020 UCI Road World Championships course looks to suit the punchy climber.

Ireland Squad for UCI Road World Championships, Imola, 25-27 September

Elite Men road race: Dan Martin, Nicolas Roche, Ben Healy, Ryan Mullen.

Elite Men Time Trial: Nicolas Roche, Ryan Mullen.

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The Carrick-On-Suir man, who won his first Tour de France stage yesterday, was bidding to become the first Irish cyclist to win consecutive stages in the world’s most famous cycle race, and was hoping to emulate his fellow ‘Carrick’ man, Seán Kelly, who the first of his five Tour de France stages in Poitiers in 1978.

Wednesday’s 167.5 kilometres stage from Châtelaillon-Plage went to Australian Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), who was taking his second stage in this year’s event, with Peter Sagan second across the line and Bennett third.

When officials reviewed the race finish, Sagan was deemed to have shoved Jumbo-Visma sprinter Wout van Aert in the closing metres and was relegated to 85^th place, last in the finishing bunch sprint.

This meant Bennett was promoted to second, earning him more green jersey points, to add to the points he claimed earlier in the day when taking second behind breakaway leader Matthieu Ladagnous at the intermediate sprint.

“I don’t really know what happened it was so hectic,” admitted Bennett. “It (the final sprint) was hard to make the switch from following my teammate to going alone. I found myself too far forward too early and then I was trying to drift back and it was a bit late to drift back. Then they came at speed – it was just a complete mess. I just tried to limit my losses and get the best result I could.”

The Irish rider is now on 234 points, 68 points ahead of seven-time points’ classification winner Sagan on 175, with Frenchman Bryan Coquard third on 157.

Race leader Primoz Roglic from Slovenia maintains his lead over the defending Tour champion Egan Bernal.

Dan Martin and Nicolas Roche finished in 133rd and 138^th respectively on today’s stage, with Martin maintaining his position as the leading Irish rider in this year’s race. The Israel Start-Up Nation rider is 64^th on the general classification, with Roche 75^th and Tuesday’s stage winner Bennett 139^th, almost two-and-a-half hours behind the yellow jersey wearer.

Stage 11 result

1. Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) 4hrs 00mins 01secs
2. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) same time.
3. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) same time.

General classification after stage 11

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 46hrs 15mins 24secs.
2. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) + 21secs.
3. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) + 28secs.

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The Carrick-On-Suir rider, who became the sixth Irishman to win a stage in the Grande Boucle, held off Australian Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) and Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) to take victory in Ile de Re Saint-Martin-de-Re.

Twenty-nine-year-old Bennett’s win gave his Belgian Deceuninck – Quick-Step team a second stage win at this year’s Tour following the victory of Julian Alaphilippe on stage 2.

Bennett’s victory means he has won a stage at all three of cycling’s Grand Tours, having taken three at the Giro d’Italia in 2018 and two at the Vuelta a Espana in 2019, both for his former team, Bora-Hansgrohe.

Bennett who has shown great consistency since the beginning of this year’s Tour, with second, third and fourth place finishes during the opening week of the race, said of his first Tour de France stage win:

“You dream of it and never think it will happen. It hasn’t hit me at all yet. Oh man, I was waiting to go and I thought I might have left it too late. I thought he might have got me.”

While reflecting on the day’s sprint, the Irish cyclist admitted:

“I forgot to throw the bike at the line in the moment and I thought he might have got me. I thought I’d be in floods of tears but I’m in shock.”

Bennett, who became very emotional and broke down in tears, continued:

“I just want to thank everyone that has been involved, the whole team, Patrick for giving me this opportunity and just everybody it took to get to here. I want to thank my wife, everyone around me.

“You dream of it, you never think it’ll happen. It did and, I don’t know, it took for a while to hit me.”

To add to today’s success, Bennett now regains the lead in the points classification, by 21 points, from seven-time green jersey winner Peter Sagan.

Tour de France leader Primoz Roglic retained the yellow jersey as he safely negotiated the flat 168.5km route from Ile d’Oleron Le Chateau. The Slovenian maintains his 21 seconds advantage over defending champion Egan Bernal.

In the day’s intermediate sprint Matteo Trentin (CCC) outsprinted Peter Sagan and Sam Bennett at Châtelaillon-Plage with 39 kilometres to go. Jumbo-Visma and Ineos-Grenadier put the pressure on with 18 kilometres to race before the bunch split into three pieces.

With the field back together 10 kilometres from the finish, Jumbo-Visma kept the situation under control before Nicolas Roche’s Team Sunweb went to the front. In the end, it was the races big sprinters who fought it out, with the Carrick-On-Suir man coming out on top.

Bennett becomes the sixth Irishman to win a stage at the Tour de France after Shay Elliott (1963), Seán Kelly (1978, 1980, 1981 and 1982), Stephen Roche (1985, 1987 and 1992), Martin Earley (1989) and Dan Martin (2013 and 2018).

Stage 10 result

1. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 3hrs 35mins 22secs.
2. Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) same time.
3. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) same time.

Dan Martin finished 130^th on the stage, 5 minutes and 25 second behind his fellow Irish rider. Martin’s cousin Nicolas Roche was 10 minutes 52 seconds back after a crash.

Martin is now the highest ranked of the three Irish riders at this year’s Tour, standing in 64^th place on general classification, 1 hour 11 minutes and 13 seconds behind the race leader Primoz Roglic.

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Stage 8 from Cazères-sur-Garonne saw early attacks as Benoît Cosnefroy and Nans Peters (AG2R-La Mondiale), Ilnur Zakarin (CCC), Kevin Reza and Quentin Pacher (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept), Michael Morkov (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Neilson Powless (EF), Fabien Grellier and Jérôme Cousin (Total Direct Energie), Carlos Verona (Movistar), Toms Skujins (Trek-Segrafredo), Soren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb) and Ben Hermans (Israel Start-Up Nation) formed a 13-man breakaway group which at one stage of the day’s race had an advantage of 14’15’.

On the climb of the Port de Balès, Cousin rode away from the breakaway with 60km remaining but was reeled in 9km before the top of Port de Balès. Peters, Zakarin and Pacher moved into position while Jumbo-Visma seized the reins of the peloton.

Eventual stage winner Peters crossed the Port de Balès in first position with 36.5km to go, along with Zakarin but the Russian didn’t manage to follow the Frenchman in the downhill.

Peters started the ascent to col de Peyresourde with an advantage of 45 seconds’ over his rival. Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) worked hard at the front of the chase but Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) was first to attack, followed by Primoz Roglic and Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic).

Pogacar went again, so did Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and Quintana at the beginning of the downhill. While Peters kept his advantage to win stage 8, the yellow jersey group was reunited behind Pogacar who reduced his deficit on General Classification.

Bardet gained two seconds to move up as well but Yates remained in the yellow jersey with Rogli content to stay in second place.

Ireland’s Sam Bennett did claw back two points in the green jersey race thanks to the day’s intermediate sprint.

The Carrick-on-Suir rider is now just seven points behind points classification leader Peter Sagan, with 131 points to the Slovakian’s 138.

Team Sunweb’s Nicolas Roche is in 59th place overall, 46 minutes and 36 seconds behind yellow jersey-wearer Adam Yates, while Israel Start-Up Nation’s Dan Martin in 71st, almost an hour down.

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Van Aert of Jumbo-Visma became the first rider to win two stages in the 107th Tour de France as he outsprinted Edvald Boasson Hagen (NTT) and Bryan Coquard (B&B) in Lavaur after a fierce battle.

It was a double victory for van Aert’s team after they helped to split the 168 kilometres stage with just over 40km to go in a move that saw them work with rivals Ineos Grenadiers as both teams looked to exploit the opposition in the crosswinds.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain McLaren) both missed the split and would lose well over a minute at the finish but they weren’t the only riders to see their General Classification bids dented with the Trek-Segafredo duo of Richie Porte and Bauke Mollema both missing out. Richard Carapaz, also lost time after he was forced to drop back after a late mechanical on a day that also saw the peloton fracture as early as the first climb due to extensive pressure from Peter Sagan and his Bora-hansgrohe team.

Sagan, for all the effort from his team, could only manage 12th at the line after getting boxed in and being forced to slow. His consolation came from the fact that he now leads the green jersey by nine points ahead of Sam Bennett.

Bennett finished a tough day empty handed, part of a group that finished more than 10 minutes down on the road. That means that Sagan, who began the day trailing Bennett by 12 points in the fight for green, now leads the category by nine.

Nicolas Roche is the leading Irish rider on general classification, 27 minutes 53 seconds down in 54th place, while Dan Martin is 72nd, nearly 14 minutes behind his cousin.

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Bennett, who became the first Irish cyclist to wear the green jersey since Seán Kelly, gained six points on the day’s intermediate sprint to increase his lead over his current main rival for the jersey, Sagan. With Bennett set to spend a second day in green on Friday, he will match the feat of his fellow Irishman, Stephen Roche, in 1987.

“Wearing this jersey today was amazing, a lovely experience”, Bennett proudly admitted. “People applauded me, I heard my name as the stage progressed, and to see the support I got was just beautiful. Coming into the Tour it wasn’t a goal, but it would be a huge honour to win it. I know it’s still a long way to Paris and a lot of work has to be put in to conquer this jersey, but I will take it day by day and see what happens”, the Waterford rider said of his first day’s experience of wearing the green jersey.

The day’s eight-man breakaway included Team Sunweb’s Nicolas Roche, who won two King of the Mountain points before a difficult finish, which saw the group splinter on the day’s principal climb, the Col de la Lusette, late in the 191km stage from Le Teil.

Roche, who won the stage’s combativity award as the day’s most aggressive rider, is now third overall in the polka-dot rankings, on 11 points, behind leader Benoit Cosnefroy on 23 points and Michael Gogl on 12.

Adam Yates, who yesterday became the ninth Briton to wear the Tour de France’s yellow jersey, retained the race leadership following today’s stage.

Nicolas Roche finished 56th in the stage, seven minutes and seven seconds down on the stage victor Lutsenko and now finds himself in 44th place overall, 11 minutes and 59 seconds behind Yates.

Israel Start-Up Nation’s Dan Martin was 71^st today and now finds himself in 76th position in the general classification, almost 40 minutes behind the race leader.

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The Carrick-On-Suir rider finished just behind stage winner Wout van Aert and Cees Boll but ahead of green jersey holder Peter Sagan, who was fourth on the 183km trip from Gap to Privas.

Bennett won the intermediate sprint after 48 kilometres at l’Épine this afternoon, giving the Deceuninck – Quick-Step cyclist 20 points. With the incumbent Peter Sagan of Slovakia claiming only 13 points for a fourth-place finish in the sprint, Bennett moved to the head of the standing with 103 points, ahead of Sagan on 96 points, with the yellow jersey wearer after stage 1 on Saturday, Alexander Kristoff next on 90 points.

Bennett’s teammate Michael Morkov took second in the intermediate sprint, taking 17 points away from the Irishman’s main rivals, with the stage winner on Monday, Australian Caleb Ewan finishing third. With Bennett finishing ahead of Sagan in the sprint at the end of the stage, the Irishman moved to 123 points, ahead of Sagan on 114 in the points classification.

“It’s special for me to be the third Irishman to wear the green jersey,” Bennett said. “I will do everything I can to keep it.”

“I’m honoured to wear (green) at least once and I’m really happy that happened today. It’s hard to go for stages and the green jersey – today I was so focused on the green I almost forgot to really, really try to win”, the 29-year-old Irishman said.

“I’ve never had such mixed feelings in my career. I’m really happy to have green but sad to have lost the stage. But I did everything I could. In the last two kilometres I didn’t have the legs to sprint, but I’m pretty happy with my performance in the end.

“It was a really hectic sprint, and to be honest, at three kilometres to go I felt that I didn’t have the legs to sprint anymore. The final was really difficult, I could feel that as we were approaching the line. I was focused today on taking the green jersey and having it and following in the footsteps of Seán Kelly and Stephen Roche feels amazing. I am delighted and proud with it and want to enjoy this moment and continue fighting for green.”

Seán Kelly was the overall winner of the green jersey four times in the Tour de France, 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1989, while former Tour de France winner Stephen Roche also wore the green jersey.

The stage victory for Van Aert was another success for the Jumbo-Visma team after Primoz Roglic’s stage win to Orcieres-Merlette on Tuesday.

Dan Martin of Israel Start-Up Nation was 137^th today, 4 minutes 50 seconds behind the leaders, while Team Sunweb’s Nicolas Roche was 7 minutes 4 seconds behind the stage victor. Though Roche falls from 22^nd to 44^th in the general classification, he still remains the leading Irishman on GC in this year’s Tour de France.

Unfortunately for Bennett’s teammate, Julian Alaphilippe, he lost the yellow jersey when penalised 20 seconds by the race jury for taking a water bottle inside the last 20 kilometres of the stage. The Frenchman lost the race leader’s jersey to Briton Adam Scott of Mitchelton-Scott and slips down the general classification to 16^th position, 16 seconds behind the new leader.

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Alaphilippe, who was involved in one of the many crashes on the opening stage of the race on Saturday, launched a perfectly-timed attack on the final climb of the day, the Col des Quatre Chemins, before outsprinting former World U-23 champion Marc Hirschi of Nicolas Roche’s TeamSunweb and Adam Yates of Mitchelton-Scott.

Sunday’s stage, which brought the riders into the high Alps with ascents of both La Colmiane and the Col de Turini, saw Philippe Gilbert (Lotto-Soudal) and Rafael Valls (Bahrain-McLaren) fail to start due to a fractured kneecap and femur respectively, it really is like playing on Gclub with the fun and excitement.

In an eventful day on the 107^th Tour de France, Alaphilippe attacked with 13km to go. Hirschi (Team Sunweb), the eventual stage runner-up, went across to him while Tom Dumoulin of Jumbo-Visma) crashed after touching the back wheel of Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos).

Britain Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) counter-attacked and rejoined Alaphilippe and Hirschi at the front. Yates took the 8 seconds bonus at the top, before Alaphilippe and Hirschi, with an advantage of 20 seconds over the peloton. They kept the same gap until the final kilometre before Alaphilippe outsprinted Hirschi, with Yates crossing the finishing line in third place.

A tearful Alaphilippe, whose father Jo died in June, dedicated the victory to him.

“It’s always a special emotion to win on the Tour” he said, “but this is a special year. I haven’t won a race since the beginning of the season, although I’ve always continued to work hard despite the difficult moments. I just wanted to dedicate this victory to my dad. It meant a lot to me and I’m happy I did it.”

A chasing pack of 32 riders came in just two seconds behind Alaphilippe, with Greg Van Avermaet (CCC) taking fourth place ahead of Sergio Higuita (EF Pro Cycling) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo).

Despite crashing on the final ascent after touching wheels with Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos), General Classification contender Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) came home in that group among the principal overall contenders, though Critérium du Dauphiné winner Dani Martínez (EF Pro Cycling) came home 3:38 down following his crash.

Stage 1 winner and yellow jersey wearer today Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) struggled and came home over half an hour behind the stage victor.

Nicolas Roche was the first of the three Irishmen home today, as the Nice-based rider finished in 24th, 17 seconds behind Alaphilippe. Dan Martin was 17 minutes 45 seconds behind in 100th while Sam Bennett, who was fourth on Saturday’s opening stage, finished 168^th, 28 minutes 55 seconds behind his stage-winning teammate.

In the overall standings, Alaphilippe holds a lead of 4 seconds over Yates with Hirschi of Switzerland a further 3 seconds back in third, while Higuita and the other GC contenders are 17 seconds behind the Frenchman.

Nicolas Roche is 26^th overall, 17^th seconds off the yellow jersey, Dan Martin is 101^st at 18 minutes down, while Sam Bennett is 149^th, 29 minutes and 10 seconds behind the race leader.

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