2021 Tour de France TV, live stream schedule

By OlympicTalkJul 14, 2021, 11:57 AM EDT

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Every stage of the 108th Tour de France airs live on NBC Sports and Peacock.

All NBC and NBCSN coverage also streams on NBCSports.com/live and the NBC Sports app.

Tadej Pogacar defends his surprise title from September, when he became the first Slovenian to win cycling’s most prestigious stage race.

Pogacar, then 21, was the second-youngest winner in race history, after Henri Cornet in 1904. (Cornet won after the first four finishers were disqualified for unspecified cheating. The 19-year-old Frenchman rode 21 miles with a flat tire during the last stage after spectators reportedly threw nails on the road.)

Pogacar was the first man to win a Tour in his debut since Frenchman Laurent Fignon in 1983. And the first in more than 60 years to pedal in the yellow jersey for the first time on the final day of a Tour.

Fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic, the 2020 Tour leader for nearly two weeks before ceding in the time trial on the penultimate day, also returns. Roglic is supported by a strong team of climbers, including American Sepp Kuss.

Chris Froome, a four-time champion, races the Tour for the first time since 2018 and with his new team, Israel Start-Up Nation.

Froome is coming back from a June 2019 crash, where he slammed into the wall of a house at 34 miles per hour after losing control on a training ride. He broke his right femur, elbow and several ribs, was in intensive care and underwent surgery for several hours. He is not a general classification contender.

Past Tour champions Geraint Thomas and Vincenzo Nibali are also in the field. It’s the first time that four past Tour winners start the race since 2009 (if you include Lance Armstrong) or 1993 (if you don’t include Armstrong).

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2021 TOUR DE FRANCE BROADCAST SCHEDULE

Date	Time (ET)	Stage	Platform
Sat., June 26	6 a.m.	Stage 1: Brest-Landerneau	NBCSN \| Peacock
Sun., June 27	7 a.m.	Stage 2: Perros-Guirec-Mur-de-Bretagne	NBCSN \| Peacock
Mon., June 28	7 a.m.	Stage 3: Lorient-Pontivy	NBCSN \| Peacock
Tue., June 29	7 a.m.	Stage 4: Redon-Fougeres	NBCSN \| Peacock (7:15 a.m.)
Wed., June 30	6 a.m.	Stage 5: Change-Laval	NBCSN \| Peacock (6:05 a.m.)
Thu., July 1	7 a.m.	Stage 6: Tours-Chateauroux	NBCSN \| Peacock (7:45 a.m.)
Fri., July 2	7 a.m.	Stage 7: Vierzon-Le Creusot	NBCSN \| Peacock (4:50 a.m.)
Sat., July 3	7 a.m.	Stage 8: Oyonnax-Le Grand-Bornand	NBCSN \| Peacock
Sun., July 4	7 a.m.	Stage 9: Cluses-Tignes	NBCSN \| Peacock (6:50 a.m.)
Tue., July 6	7 a.m.	Stage 10: Albertville-Valence	NBCSN \| Peacock (6:55 a.m.)
Wed., July 7	6 a.m.	Stage 11: Sorgues-Malaucene	NBCSN \| Peacock (5:50 a.m.)
Thu., July 8	7 a.m.	Stage 12: Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateux-Nimes	NBCSN \| Peacock (7:20 a.m.)
Fri., July 9	6 a.m.	Stage 13: Nimes-Caracassone	NBCSN \| Peacock (5:55 a.m.)
Sat., July 10	8 a.m.	Stage 14: Carcassone-Quillan	NBC \| Peacock (6:15 a.m.)
Sun., July 11	6 a.m.	Stage 15: Ceret-Andorra la Vella	NBCSN \| Peacock (6:10 a.m.)
Tue., July 13	7 a.m.	Stage 16: El Pas de la Casa-Saint-Gaudens	NBCSN \| Peacock (6:55 a.m.)
Wed., July 14	6 a.m.	Stage 17: Muret-Saint-Lary-Soulan	NBCSN \| Peacock (5:45 a.m.)
Thu., July 15	7 a.m.	Stage 18: Pau-Luiz Ardiden	NBCSN \| Peacock (7:25 a.m.)
Fri., July 16	7 a.m.	Stage 19: Mourenx-Libourne	NBCSN \| Peacock (6:05 a.m.)
Sat., July 17	7 a.m.	Stage 20: Libourne-Saint-Emilion	NBCSN \| Peacock (6:55 a.m.)
Sun., July 18	10 a.m.	Stage 21: Chatou-Paris	NBC \| Peacock (10:05 a.m.)

At the French Open, a Ukrainian mom makes her comeback

By OlympicTalkMay 31, 2023, 10:42 AM EDT

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Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, once the world’s third-ranked tennis player, is into the French Open third round in her first major tournament since childbirth.

Svitolina, 28, swept 2022 French Open semifinalist Martina Trevisan of Italy, then beat Australian qualifier Storm Hunter 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the last 32 at Roland Garros. She next plays 56th-ranked Russian Anna Blinkova, who took out the top French player, fifth seed Caroline Garcia, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 on her ninth match point.

Svitolina’s husband, French player Gael Monfils, finished his first-round five-set win after midnight on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. She watched that match on a computer before going to sleep ahead of her 11 a.m. start Wednesday.

“This morning, he told me, ‘I’m coming to your match, so make it worth it,'” she joked on Tennis Channel. “I was like, OK, no pressure.

“I don’t know what he’s doing here now. He should be resting.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Svitolina made at least one major quarterfinal every year from 2017 through 2021, including the semifinals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2019. She married Monfils one week before the Tokyo Olympics, then won a singles bronze medal.

Svitolina played her last match before maternity leave on March 24, 2022, one month after Russia invaded her country. She gave birth to daughter Skai on Oct. 15.

Svitolina returned to competition in April. Last week, she won the tournament preceding the French Open, sweeping Blinkova to improve to 17-3 in her career in finals. She’s playing on a protected ranking of 27th after her year absence and, now, on a seven-match win streak.

“It was always in my head the plan to come back, but I didn’t put any pressure on myself, because obviously with the war going on, with the pregnancy, you never know how complicated it will go,” she said. “I’m as strong as I was before, maybe even stronger, because I feel that I can handle the work that I do off the court, and match by match I’m getting better. Also mentally, because mental can influence your physicality, as well.”

Svitolina said she’s motivated by goals to attain before she retires from the sport and to help Ukraine, such as donating her prize money from last week’s title in Strasbourg.

“These moments bring joy to people of Ukraine, to the kids as well, the kids who loved to play tennis before the war, and now maybe they don’t have the opportunity,” she said. “But these moments that can motivate them to look on the bright side and see these good moments and enjoy themselves as much as they can in this horrible situation.”

Svitolina was born in Odesa and has lived in Kharkiv, two cities that have been attacked by Russia.

“I talk a lot with my friends, with my family back in Ukraine, and it’s a horrible thing, but they are used to it now,” she said. “They are used to the alarms that are on. As soon as they hear something, they go to the bomb shelters. Sleepless nights. You know, it’s a terrible thing, but they tell me that now it’s a part of their life, which is very, very sad.”

Svitolina noted that she plays with a flag next to her name — unlike the Russians and Belarusians, who are allowed to play as neutral athletes.

“When I step on the court, I just try to think about the fighting spirit that all of us Ukrainians have and how Ukrainians are fighting for their values, for their freedom in Ukraine,” she said, “and me, I’m fighting here on my own front line.”

Svitolina said that she’s noticed “a lot of rubbish” concerning how tennis is reacting to the war.

“We have to focus on what the main point of what is going on,” she said. “Ukrainian people need help and need support. We are focusing on so many things like empty words, empty things that are not helping the situation, not helping anything.

“I want to invite everyone to focus on helping Ukrainians. That’s the main point of this, to help kids, to help women who lost their husbands because they are at the war, and they are fighting for Ukraine.

“You can donate. Couple of dollars might help and save lives. Or donate your time to something to help people.”

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Marcell Jacobs still sidelined, misses another race with Fred Kerley

By OlympicTalkMay 31, 2023, 7:07 AM EDT

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Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy will miss another scheduled clash with world 100m champion Fred Kerley, withdrawing from Friday’s Diamond League meet in Florence.

Jacobs, 28, has not recovered from the nerve pain that forced him out of last Sunday’s Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco, according to Italy’s track and field federation.

In his absence, Kerley’s top competition will be fellow American Trayvon Bromell, the world bronze medalist, and Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala, the world’s fastest man this year at 9.84 seconds. Kerley beat both of them in Rabat.

The Florence Diamond League airs live on Peacock on Friday from 2-4 p.m. ET.

Jacobs has withdrawn from six scheduled head-to-heads with Kerley dating to May 2022 due to a series of health issues since that surprise gold in Tokyo.

Kerley, primarily a 400m sprinter until the Tokyo Olympic year, became the world’s fastest man in Jacobs’ absence. He ran a personal best 9.76 seconds, the world’s best time of 2022, at last June’s USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. Then he led a U.S. sweep of the medals at July’s worlds.

Jacobs’ next scheduled race is a 100m at the Paris Diamond League on June 9. Kerley is not in that field, but world 200m champion Noah Lyles is.

The last time the reigning Olympic and world men’s 100m champions met in a 100m was the 2012 London Olympic final between Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake. From 2013 to 2017, Bolt held both titles, then retired in 2017 while remaining reigning Olympic champion until Jacobs’ win in Tokyo, where Kerley took silver.

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