Tour de France Femmes: Squiban sends home fans wild with second stage win
Maëva Squiban fuelled joyous scenes in the Haute-Savoie, winning the first high mountain stage of the 2025 Tour de France Femmes in Chambéry, just 24 hours after taking victory in stage six in Ambert.The French rider, who celebrated draped in a Breton flag, was part of a 13-rider breakaway that splintered on the first climb, the Côte de Saint-Franc, and then gradually dwindled as the gradients started to bite.Squiban, a former French junior champion when 15 years old, finally shed her last companion, Mareille Meijering, 2km from the top of the Col du Granier and accelerated clear alone.“At the start, I made a joke about attacking again,” she said, “but in the end it wasn’t a joke.”On the fast descent of the Granier, overlooking Chambéry, Squiban, nudging 80km/h on the narrow road, again held off the pursuing group of race favourites, including the defending champion, Kasia Niewiadoma, and rival Demi Vollering, to take successive stage wins.
Further down the Granier, Kim Le Court’s time in yellow appeared to have come to an end when the group of favourites picked up the pace, and her closest rival, France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, briefly became race leader on the road.But Le Court was saved by her fearless descending.The Mauritian did not panic and her dogged pursuit of the group containing Niewiadoma, Vollering and Ferrand-Prévot paid off when she rejoined them close to the finish.“I think I almost died a few times on the descent,” Le Court said.“The last 4km of the uphill were difficult.
My body just completely shut off,Once I got to the top, I knew I had to do the best downhill of my life to try and come back,I did a recon of the descent a few weeks ago so I knew what was coming, and I just had to go full gas,I think I went 10 times faster than the recon,”Meanwhile, on the eve of the toughest mountain stage in the race, Ferrand-Prévot’s drastic weight loss was the subject of some scrutiny after images of her racing jersey, pinned at the sleeve so it didn’t hang loosely, emerged in the Dutch media.
The debate has been fuelled by comments made by French rider Cédrine Kerbaol who, alarmed by the weight loss among her peers, told French media: “We’re in a dangerous moment,There are a lot of people that have won big races with very low weight, and young girls, who are trying to perform, will take them as an example,What’s happening is not great,”“Top-level sport is extreme in every way,” Rutger Tijssen, sport technical manager at Ferrand-Prévot’s Visma-Lease a Bike team, told Sporza,On SaturdayToday, when the women’s peloton will tackle both the 13km-long Col de Plainpalais and, later, a summit finish on the “beyond category” Col de la Madeleine – an 18.
6km climb to 2,000m – power-to-weight ratios will be pivotal.“Pauline’s leaner than in the spring,” Tijssen said, “but this also requires different things when you have to climb the Col de la Madeleine.Then it’s logical that you adapt.”Ferrand-Prévot won the Olympic mountain bike title at Paris 2024 but has since devoted herself to road racing with the goal of winning the Tour de France Femmes.“She’s not much leaner than she was a year ago,” Tijssen said.
“Of course, she stays healthy.You know what’s happening and you make choices, which we monitor.”The next 48 hours will decide the outcome of the race, which includes summit finishes on the Madeleine and at Châtel, as well as the daunting climb of the Col de Joux Plane on Sunday.Only 35 seconds currently separate the top five in the overall standings, but with more than 6,000 metres of climbing still to come, those gaps are certain to widen.
UK politics: Reeves refuses to be drawn on wealth tax after ex-shadow chancellor’s call – as it happened
Rachel Reeves has said the government has “got to get the balance right on taxation”, following a call by the former shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds for the Treasury to consider introducing a wealth tax.Asked about Dodds’ suggestion, the chancellor refused to be drawn on whether such a move would be introduced. She told the PA news agency:Decisions around tax are decisions that are made at a budget and we’ll make those decisions in the appropriate way, but the number-one priority of this government is to grow the economy.“And that means bringing more investment into Britain, creating more good jobs paying decent wages here in Britain.“We’ve got to get the balance right on taxation because we want that investment, we want those jobs to come here
Abstract verbs in, long descriptors out: How do you name a political party?
What’s in a name? Potentially a lot, if you are launching a movement with ambitions “to shape something truly transformative” in British politics.That’s the challenge facing Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, the former Labour MPs who announced plans last month, if not in the most coordinated fashion, to launch a leftwing political party. More than 600,000 people have already signed up for updates on the new group, which will be called … what?“The members will get to choose,” Sultana said earlier this week, as a consultation on the subject closed. It will not be called Your Party, however, despite having launched on a website with precisely that name. Her own preference is the Left Party, “because that’s what it says on the tin … We’ll obviously put that to the members and we’ll see what we get”
UK government has ‘got the balance right’ on tax, says Rachel Reeves
The government has “got the balance right” on tax, Rachel Reeves has insisted after a former Labour shadow chancellor said she should consider introducing a wealth tax.The chancellor said she had already increased taxes on the wealthiest in society with higher levies “on private jets, on second homes, and increased capital gains tax”.Speaking to reporters in Scotland, Reeves said: “In the budget last year, we got rid of the non-domicile status in our tax system, so people who make Britain their home have to pay their taxes here.“I think we’ve got the balance right in terms of how we tax those with the broadest shoulders, but any further decisions will be ones that are made at a budget in the normal way.”Reeves was speaking after Anneliese Dodds, who resigned as a Foreign Office minister earlier this year over aid cuts, said ministers should “look carefully” at proposals for a one-off levy on millionaire households
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Family of Briton murdered in Jamaica seek answers over UK officials’ ‘indifference’
The family of a “generous and loving” British man who was murdered in Jamaica are demanding answers over the British government’s “indifferent” response after the tragedy.Delroy Walker, from Birmingham, was stabbed to death weeks after retiring to the Caribbean island where he was building his dream home. The 63-year-old charity worker was murdered by a “jealous” tradesman he employed to help decorate the property in preparation for a family visit in summer 2018.Dwayne Barton, 32, was jailed for 27 years and his accomplice, Davian Edwards, 33, for 22 years this week after being found guilty of murder in a trial at St Mary circuit court in Jamaica.Walker, who was born on the island, was 11 years old when he moved to Britain with his parents who were part of the Windrush generation
Labour urged to revive Sure Start label to win back Reform voters
The government should greatly expand family centres under the Sure Start brand to help win back Reform voters in former Labour heartlands, a commission backed by Labour politicians has said.Hilary Armstrong, the Labour peer and former cabinet minister, was among those pressing for a fuller reintroduction of family centres under the Sure Start label, saying it would help to rebuild trust in neighbourhoods damaged by austerity.Armstrong is chair of the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods, which said its polling showed 62% of people recognised the Sure Start brand, and that 76% would like to see it revived.Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, announced last month that one-stop-shop family hubs similar to Sure Start would be introduced throughout England to give parents advice and support.The £500m project will open up to 1,000 centres from April 2026, meaning every council in England will have a family hub by 2028
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