The Tour triumph marks the Slovenian’s third win in a row and draws him level with four others on the all-time list
Published On 27 Jul 202627 Jul 2026
Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar secured a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title on Sunday after safely navigating the final stage, won by Mathieu van der Poel, to seal a third consecutive crown in cycling’s greatest race.
The 27-year-old UAE Team Emirates XRGcyclist, affectionately known as “Pogi”, only needed to avoid a race-ending mishap on the run into Paris to join Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as a five-time Tour champion.
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Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel finished second overall, while Mexico’s Isaac del Toro rounded out the overall podium in third.
“Thank you to all the fans and to all of France for hosting this great race,” Pogacar said.
“Thank you to my competitors for putting on a great show. We fought hard over the last three weeks.”
Van der Poel takes final stage
Pogacar and Van der Poel broke away on the final ascent of Montmartre with about 10km (6 miles) remaining and took a slender advantage into the run to the Champs-Elysees as the chasing group closed relentlessly.
The Slovenian’s challenge faded inside the final kilometre, but Van der Poel pressed on to secure victory in a photo finish ahead of Alpecin-Premier Tech teammate Jasper Philipsen, with Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek in third.
“When I was sick last year, and I had to watch the stage on television, I was already thinking about this moment,” Van der Poel, 31, said.
“The way it went, it’s a dream. It’s incredible. It was super hard, and to be up there with the best rider in the world, all my respect for Tadej.
“I thought we were going to get caught back, then I was just thinking about this moment. I put my head down in the last 500 metres. I just went as hard as I could.
“I’m super happy. I have a few races I still wanted to win in my career, and this was one of them.”
Premier Tech’s Mathieu Van Der Poel holds a bouquet on the podium after winning stage 21 [Papon Bernard/Reuters]
Supreme Pogacar
Pogacar underlined his supremacy throughout the Tour by claiming five stage victories.
His path to a third straight yellow jersey became less complicated when two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard, widely regarded as his principal challenger, withdrew after a crash on Stage 15.
The Tour’s traditional finale in Paris was shortened after security forces were redeployed to help tackle wildfires near Bordeaux. As a result, Stage 21, which customarily takes the peloton into Paris before several laps of the Champs-Elysees, was reduced to 89km from the 133km originally scheduled.
This year’s race also produced a remarkable first: no rider from France, Italy or Spain won a stage, making it the first Tour de France without a stage victory from any of the three nations that created and host cycling’s Grand Tours.
Pogacar’s latest triumph caps three weeks of racing since the Grand Depart in Barcelona and further cements his status as the dominant rider of his generation.
UAE Team Emirates XRG’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the yellow jersey, and UAE Team Emirates XRG’s Isaac Del Toro, wearing the white jersey, celebrate with their teammates after stage 21 [Garnier Etienne/Reuters]
Maja Lardner scored her first NWSL goal and scored again on a second-half header to give Racing Louisville a 2-1 win over Angel City at BMO Stadium on Sunday.
The rookie opened the scoring in the 24th minute for Louisville (3-10-3) after midfielder Katie O’Kane’s long-range effort bounced through Angel City’s penalty area. Lardner touched the loose ball past goalkeeper Angelina Anderson.
Kayla Fischer sent a lofted ball to Lardner in the 55th minute, which she headed past Anderson.
Sveindis Jonsdottir scored for Angel City (7-7-1) in the 80th minute when defender Sophia Mattice sent a long ball forward.
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He introduced Bowen to wheelchair racing, in which she immediately won medals, before she found a passion for throwing.
“I had just started shot put, discus and javelin when Covid happened. I went back after and was thrown into a competition and I won best performer,” she said.
“So I was like, ‘oh, I’m okay at it’ and then I just kept going and fell in love with it.”
It is hard to imagine there will be many spectators at Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium more proud than Bowen’s parents who still regard themselves “lucky” to have her.
“We nearly lost her at 13 months old, but she’s here and doing amazing,” said her mother Anne.
“Growing up, she wanted to be like her siblings and would say, ‘they can ride a bike, why can’t I ride a bike?’ So she did.”
Bowen’s determination is only matched by the efforts of her parents to make sure their daughter can achieve her potential in the sport.
Her father Martin built a specially adapted bicycle so she could ride with her family, then moved onto bigger things when he built a campervan to ensure his daughter could to travel to athletics competitions.
“She has just come on so well. Nothing has ever been an obstacle for her,” said Martin.
“Whatever you put ahead of her, she’ll try and do it and if she can’t do it, she’ll get around it.”
Now Bowen hopes she can make her parents proud when they cheer her on in Glasgow.
“It’s the biggest competition I’ve ever done and I’m just happy to be there,” she said.
“It would mean the world to me to win a medal but just being there, I’m so thankful.”
England’s Adam Ramsay-Peaty will have the chance to defend his men’s 50m breaststroke title at the Commonwealth Games after qualifying third fastest for the final.
The 31-year-old, who broke down in tears after taking bronze in the 100m on Saturday night, finished second in his semi-final with a time of 26.82 seconds.
World record holder Ramsay-Peaty will have to close the gap to South Africa’s Michael Houlie – who set the pace with 26.61 – when he races in the final on Monday at 20:07 BST.
Australia’s 100m breaststroke gold medallist Sam Williamson and Jersey’s silver medallist Filip Nowacki will also line up in the final.
“I think I’ve still got a little bit more to grow. I think there was a massive lesson in yesterday,” three-time Olympic gold medallist Ramsay-Peaty told BBC Sport.
“I can’t change anything obviously, so we have to get over it. I also know the trajectory I have to be on now and it’s a little bit different to what I thought it was.
“I’ve also got to remind myself that I haven’t swam a championships in two years. I put a lot of expectation on myself coming into this games.
“But as you know, the best athletes in the world, you don’t do it in training, you have to actually compete well and that is a skill on its own and we have to get used to that.
“I’m enjoying it and we’ll have to see what that result is tomorrow.”
Ramsay-Peaty’s team-mate Max Morgan finished sixth in the same semi-final race and was eliminated.
SAN FRANCISCO — Mike Trout had his first four-hit game in more than five years, Jorge Soler and Jo Adell homered and the Angels beat the San Francisco Giants 4-3 on Sunday to snap a three-game skid and avoid a series sweep.
Angels starter José Soriano (9-6) allowed an unearned run in five innings. The 27-year-old right-hander gave up three hits, walked three and had five strikeouts. Mitch Farris got the final two outs for his first career save.
San Francisco, which had its four-game home win streak snapped, is the only team in MLB without a series sweep of three-plus games this season.
Trout’s first four-hit game since April 26, 2021, moved him past Tim Salmon on the Angels’ career doubles and singles lists. He went four for four with a double and three singles.
Trout’s double was his 340th, moving past Salmon for second on the franchise list behind Garret Anderson’s 489. Trout also is now fourth on the Angels’ all-time list with 1,014 singles, trailing Anderson (1,572), Darin Erstad (1,082) and Brian Downing (1,062).
Trout’s four-hit game was the 21st of his career and raised his average to .247.
Soler hit a leadoff homer, Nolan Schanuel walked and Adell’s 446-foot home run gave the Angels a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning.
Luis Arraez had an RBI groundout in the fifth and added a two-run double in the ninth for the Giants. Drew Cavanaugh went two for two and walked twice.
Carson Whisenhunt (2-1), who was recalled from triple-A Sacramento, gave up four runs and had seven strikeouts in five innings.
Up next for the Angels: RHP Walbert Ureña (6-7, 2.78 ERA) starts Tuesday in the opener of a three-game home series against Houston. The Astros have not named a starter.
It looked like Mayo would be on the end of another defeat when David Clifford – widely considered one of the greatest players of his generation, perhaps even of all time – netted to put Kerry in control in the early stages.
But Mayo dug deep and fought back, and trailed by a single point at half-time.
Things changed four minutes after the restart when Darragh Beirne finished off a flowing move to put Mayo into a lead they would not relinquish.
Kerry, as great champions do, never folded and there was a late scare as the pressure grew, but Mayo were not to be denied in a three-point victory.
The tears and emotion at the final whistle meant everything.
Manager Andy Moran, a former Mayo player and in his first year in charge, went to his wife and family in the stands.
The new generation, such as Beirne and the superb Aussie Rules-bound Kobe McDonald, soaked in every moment on the Croke Park pitch.
There was over 80,000 people in attendance, and for those in green and red, plus the many neutrals in attendance, there was barely a dry eye in the house.
While the so-called ‘curse’ is one thing, Mayo also wore a special white jersey in a final for the first time since 1951 due to a clash between the green home kit of Kerry. Perhaps it was fate.
“To every man, women, boy and girl in Mayo, wherever you are, dream big things,” said captain Jack Coyne, who delivered one of the all-time great speeches before lifting the Sam Maguire.
“Anything is possible and we’ve shown it today. I’m over the moon.”
Britain’s Francesca Jones made it back-to-back wins on the Challenger Tour by successfully defending her title at the Palermo Ladies Open.
The top seed beat Fiona Ferro 6-0 4-6 7-6 (8-6) in two hours and 43 minutes.
Jones, who had dropped one set all tournament, took the opener in just 21 minutes.
The 25-year-old then fought back from 3-0 down to lead 4-3 in the second, but Ferro reeled off three straight games to level the match.
A tight deciding set went all the way to a tie break, where the French seventh seed spurned match point at 6-5, allowing Jones to close out victory.
It was her fourth career win on the Challenger Tour and second in eight days, following a victory at the ATV Rome Open.
“We both deserved to win. It was a close match until the end, and we did everything we could,” said Jones, who beat Anouk Koevermans of the Netherlands to win the title in 2025.
Bradford-born Jones will rise from 113 to 110 in the WTA rankings on Monday following this success.
American rookie Jackson Koivun held his nerve to beat Scottie Scheffler by three strokes and claim his first PGA Tour win at the 3M Open on Sunday.
Playing in just his third tournament since turning professional, Koivun surged into a three-shot lead on Saturday during a round of 10-under 61.
The 21-year-old then stretched his lead to five in the final round at TPC Twin Cities in Minnesota, before world number one Scheffler applied pressure.
The four-time major winner began the back nine with three straight birdies, then claimed two more in the final three holes to finish with an eight-under 63 and trail compatriot Koivun by two strokes.
Former world amateur number one Koivun could have wobbled at that point, with holes left to play, but instead he made his fifth birdie of the day at 16 before wrapping up a five-under 66 to finish on 25 under par overall.
“I had some nerves coming down 18,” said Koivun. “All throughout the crowd I kept hearing ‘Scottie’s coming, Scottie’s coming’.
“I just tried to tune that out and keep playing the golf I knew I could and was able to find some good putts coming down the stretch.”
American trio Denny McCarthy, Brian Harman and Chandler Phillips finished five strokes behind Koivun, in a tie for third with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.
The Times’ preseason top 25 high school football rankings for 2026:
1. ST. JOHN BOSCO: Braves have few weaknesses but must prove they can win in the rain after last season’s first-round playoff debacle to Orange Lutheran.
2. CORONA CENTENNIAL: The offense is going to be balanced and explosive with quarterback Jaden Jefferson the trigger man and Quentin Hale his partner in battle.
3. SIERRA CANYON: Trailblazers have the offensive linemen and running back to run the ball and the defensive linemen to attack quarterbacks.
4. SANTA MARGARITA: Eagles won’t be ready to start the season dominating with too many young players but beware by season’s end.
5. ORANGE LUTHERAN: There’s already signs the Ray Fenton coaching formula is working with lots of talent on both sides of the ball.
6. MISSION VIEJO: Diablos have their best offensive line in years, giving coach Chad Johnson lots of options.
7. MATER DEI: Depth is gone but there’s enough talent to be very good on their best day.
8. SAN CLEMENTE: Just trust Jaxson Rex to do anything and everything for improved Tritons.
9. CHAPARRAL: There’s a crazy amount of offensive firepower ready to be unleashed.
10. RANCHO CUCAMONGA: They play tough, hard-nosed football.
11. EDISON: Quarterback Sam Thomson’s fourth year as starter sets the stage for big Chargers season.
12. CREAN LUTHERAN: If the Saints’ many transfers get eligible, quarterback Caden Jones should flourish.
13. GARDENA SERRA: With five starters back on the offensive line and the arrival of RB AJ McBean, Cavaliers are ready to play smashmouth football.
14. CHAMINADE: There’s speed and size surrounding sophomore quarterback Jeremy Mellalieu.
15. SERVITE: New coach Rick Garretson has a history of building top teams with speed, which Friars have plenty.
16. JSERRA: Lions will be competitive in nonleague games but Trinity League remains formidable challenge.
17. DAMIEN: USC commit Gavin Williams is the definition of the word elite on defense and offense.
18. PALOS VERDES: Ryan Rakowski is back for fourth year as starting quarterback and is a proven winner.
19. OXNARD PACIFICA: Quarterback Taylor Lee is back with lots of skill-position players.
20. LOYOLA: If Cubs can get production at the quarterback position, they can surprise teams.
21. BISHOP AMAT: Still one of the toughest teams to beat on their home field.
22. WESTLAKE: The scoreboard operator will deserve extra pay trying to keep up with Warriors’ scoring barrages.
23. CARSON: Best in the City Section looking to beat some Southern Section teams with improved line play.
24. CORONA DEL MAR: Should have excellent passing attack if the line can provide protection.
25. TUSTIN: Lots of individual talent but can they get breakthrough win against a top opponent?
NEW YORK — Dodgers reliever Will Klein had just induced the Mets’ Marcus Semien to whiff on a high fastball. So, he went there again, a little further inside. But Semien got a hold of it for a three-run home run that put the game thoroughly out of reach.
The Dodgers ended an impressive road trip on a sour note with the 8-3 loss to the New York Mets.
They went 6-3 on their East Coast swing and won series against the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Mets.
“It’s great,” manager Dave Roberts said Saturday night. “It seems like we’ve been on the road a long time, but the travel has been nice as far as staying in this time zone. We’re finding ways to win. So that’s the main thing. That’s the object of the game.”
The Dodgers’ All-Stars, as well as Roberts and his coaching staff, left for Philadelphia two weeks ago. The rest of the team met them in New York for three games against the Yankees. Then they traveled to Philadelphia for a three-game set, took a detour to Washington to visit the White House before returning to New York.
“It’s been a long road trip — especially for the guys who went to Philly for the All-Star Game,” right fielder Kyle Tucker said. “Being able to come out of the break and play some really good teams and put together really competitive at-bats and great innings from our pitching staff is huge. Some of the guys are kind of grinding in terms of how long they’ve been away from L.A. It’s kind of part of it. You’ve got to come out and play regardless and they’ve done a great job of that.”
Even so, the Dodgers (67-39) played cleaner baseball on this extended road trip — a couple baserunning mistakes aside — than they did in the homestand before the break.
Maybe the Dodgers just needed time off to reset.
Against the Mets (44-62) on Sunday, the first couple innings didn’t look promising. After Shohei Ohtani led with a double and Max Muncy drew a two-out walk, both were left stranded.
A.J. Ewing’s lead-off double against Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan, however, almost immediately led to a run. Francisco Lindor then sent a low changeup into shallow right field for an RBI single.
The Dodgers’ three-up, three-down second inning ended when Teoscar Hernández tried to stretch a single into a double and ran into an out. Then, Sheehan hit Tyrone Taylor with a pitch to start the bottom half of the inning.
Sheehan retired the next three batters as the Dodgers started to take control. They pulled into the lead with a two-run third inning, powered by doubles from Eliézer Alfonzo — his second double in as many appearances — and Freddie Freeman.
The Dodgers manufactured another run the next inning with a pair of singles, an error by Mets first baseman Jared Young, and a run-scoring double play.
As the Dodgers bullpen took over in the sixth, however, the game slipped away. Jack Dreyer walked two batters and recorded just one out in the sixth inning before Roberts replaced him with Evan Phillips.
In a 1-1 count, Phillips threw a sinker on the inside edge of the strike zone, and Taylor lifted it into the left-field stands for a go-ahead three-run homer. Phillips, who last week talked about rewiring his rehab mindset, has already surrendered four home runs in just seven outings.
A run-scoring passed ball from Dalton Rushing and Semien’s three-run blast in the seventh ultimately sealed the win for the Mets.
PARIS — Tadej Pogacar confirmed his status as one of cycling’s all-time greats after winning a record-equaling fifth Tour de France title in emphatic style.
Daring mountain attacks from deep, multiple stage wins and an ice-cool temperament all helped the 27-year-old Slovenian seal his victory on Sunday. He joined Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault as the only riders to win five Tours.
“I’m speechless. It’s an incredible day, there was an incredible atmosphere,” Pogacar said. “I’ve ridden seven Tours already and I’ve always finished on the podium. You might think this is a fairy tale, it’s incredible for me too.”
After competing strongly in Sunday’s 21st and exciting final stage in Paris, Pogacar finished 6 minutes, 26 seconds ahead of Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel in the overall standings.
Two-time Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard was Pogacar’s main rival heading into the race but the Dane crashed out on the 15th stage.
“Shame that Jonas and others crashed out of this Tour,” Pogacar said. “I hope we can all fight again next year.”
Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates XRG teammate Isaac Del Toro, a 22-year-old Mexican making his Tour debut, was third at 9:42 back from Pogacar, who smiled and held up his hand to signify his wins. His teammates then joined him as they stood proudly on the Champs-Élysées.
“I don’t know how I do it,” Pogacar said. “I now have to find a new goal to chase. Which goal? Let’s just not jump ahead of ourselves, and enjoy this moment.”
Pogacar won the Giro d’Italia in 2024 but has not won the Spanish Vuelta, which starts on Aug. 22.
“Will I be at La Vuelta in a few weeks?” he said. “Let’s see.”
Peerless Pogacar
Pogacar won five stages at this year’s race to take his impressive tally to 26 overall.
He tried to win on Sunday, too, but victory ultimately went to Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, who just held off the chasing pack on the home straight for his second stage win at this year’s race and fourth overall.
Sunday’s 55-mile stage looped around Paris and was mostly processional, although less so than in previous years, which were usually entirely flat stages for sprinters and not for the rest of the peloton.
The stage was shortened and its starting point in Thoiry, west of the capital, was changed to Paris so as to reduce pressure on emergency services combating wildfires in the southwest. Some security forces initially mobilized for Paris were redeployed to help response efforts.
For the second straight year the stage featured the hugely popular uphill climb through the Montmartre district, a sharp 0.62-mile dash which riders tackled three times before finishing on the Champs-Élysées.
It proved even too much for Pogacar, who could not match Van der Poel’s raw power in the closing stages.
Shortly before 6 p.m. local time, Pogacar shook hands at the start line with Evenepoel and Ecuadorian veteran Richard Carapaz, wearing the polka-dot jersey for the best climber.
“I battled hard to win this jersey, it was a great fight,” the 33-year-old Carapaz said. “It’s the best feeling to win it.”
Exciting finale
Van der Poel and Dane Mads Pedersen, the green jersey winner as best sprinter, were among the expected contenders for the stage win.
Crowds roared as the riders began the first climb up Rue Lepic in Montmartre, with the famed Sacré-Coeur basilica looming over them.
Pogacar moved ahead after the second ascension of Montmartre, with Van der Poel, Evenepoel and Pedersen alongside him.
Van der Poel attacked on the third and final climb with Pogacar responding well, and the one-day classics rivals surged ahead.
But they were caught with 700 meters left and, after Pogacar faded, the 31-year-old Van der Poel still had work to do.
He got his bike just over the line ahead of Belgian Jasper Philipsen, his Alpecin-Premier Tech teammate, and Pedersen. Pogacar eased up and finished 30th.
“I thought the sprinters would catch us up so I launched [my attack] from very far away,” Van der Poel said. “I gave everything I had left in my legs and it was just enough.”
Cycling pedigree
Van der Poel is widely considered one of the best cyclists in the world. He has multiple victories in one-day classics and Cyclo-cross world championship titles, and is also a former world road race champion.
His father Adri van der Poel won two stages on the Tour in the late 1980s.
His maternal grandfather was French cyclist Raymond Poulidor, who raced in the 1960s and ’70s, finishing second on the Tour three times and third five times. Nicknamed “Poupou” and “The Eternal Runner-up,” he was adored by French fans.
Women’s Tour
The nine-stage women’s Tour starts in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Aug. 1 and finishes in Nice on Aug 9.
Frenchwoman Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt won on debut last year.
Worcestershire appeared to be cruising towards victory when Hampshire, chasing 308, needed 48 runs to win with 21 balls remaining and one wicket in hand.
Some big hitting from Andrew Neal took Hampshire to the brink of an astonishing success but, requiring five more off the final three balls, he edged spinner Fateh Singh behind to fall for 48 off 22 balls.
The late drama at New Road was in sharp contrast to events earlier in the day at Radlett, where Middlesex made short work of Glamorgan’s batting line-up.
Naavya Sharma (4-29), Toby Roland-Jones (3-35) and Noah Cornwell (3-1) were the only three bowlers used as Glamorgan, who were 44-1, lost their final nine wickets for 22 runs.
Josh de Caires hit 10 fours in his 45 not out as the hosts completed victory within three hours of the match starting.
At Hove, an early rain shower meant a slightly reduced match of 48 overs per side.
Opener Will Luxton made 117 in Yorkshire’s 325-7 and Coad’s four wickets with the new ball left Sussex on 21-5 as they chased a revised target of 325.
Coad ended with 5-12 from seven overs as Sussex were bowled out for 140 to lose by 184 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis (DLS) method.
Essex beat Derbyshire by nine runs at Chelmsford in the other match in Group B, with both captains leading their sides’ respective batting causes.
Westley, making his 500th career appearance in all formats, scored 102 off 97 balls in the hosts’ 257-7.
Harry Came (97) shared an opening stand of 113 with Martin Andersson but the match looked in the balance when Derbyshire needed 100 more with five wickets in hand.
Charlie Bennett (3-32) broke a seventh-wicket partnership worth 45 between Ross Whiteley and Nick Potts, which proved crucial.
Nadine de Klerk hits an unbeaten 41 to guide London Spirit to a thrilling five-wicket victory over Trent Rockets with three balls to spare. The win at Trent Bridge secures Spirit’s first win of their 2026 women’s Hundred campaign and marks the highest successful run chase in the team’s history.
Jos Buttler stars with 90 off 50 balls as Manchester Super Giants ease past Birmingham Phoenix at Old Trafford – with the home side winning by 87 runs to make it two wins from two in the men’s Hundred.
New UCLA football coach Bob Chesney has won over cynics with his unflinching optimism and attention to detail.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
The new football coach has infused the completely rebuilt program into a place so energetic, his players run around sharing their inspiration to complete strangers.
“Yeah, we’re gonna win here,” Chesney says.
This shared spirit starts every morning in this building, in the team meeting room, where Chesney orders his players to stand and sing the school fight song as if they are standing on the field after a victory.
The words to the song are displayed on a giant screen, which increasingly isn’t used because most of his players have now learned the song by heart. Those who fail to sing get tagged with a red laser pointer, so pretty much everyone croons.
“I’m not gonna let people put limits on us,” Chesney says. “I’m not gonna let them tell us what we can and can’t do.”
“People say why here?” Chesney says. “I say, why not here?”
He shows up for my early afternoon visit last week dressed uniquely for a $33.75 million coach of a Big Ten school on the outskirts of Hollywood.
He is dressed like a player. Black shirt, black shorts, thin sheen of sweat adorning his expressive forehead.
“Been lifting weights,” he says.
Are weight machines set aside for the coaches?
“Lifting with the players,” he says. “These guys are telling me what to do.”
UCLA coach Bob Chesney stands on the field in between players and shouts instructions during a spring practice.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Full disclosure: I arranged my visit full of skepticism about this guy that has UCLA fans swooning.
C’mon. Seriously? He’s ready for this? How can he be ready for this?
The son of a small-town high school football coach in Pennsylvania coal country, Chesney had risen from obscurity to … more obscurity. He had previously coached at four different small schools you couldn’t find on a map. Salve Regina? Assumption? What?
This will be Chesney’s first shot under the bright lights. And he is taking that shot with a program whose best shots couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.
The Bruins have not been to the Rose Bowl game in 28 years, and he is going to fix that? They have not won a Rose Bowl game in 41 years, and he was going to change that culture?
The celebrated Chip Kelly couldn’t do it. The emotional Jim Mora Jr. couldn’t do it. The cheerleading Rick Neuheisel couldn’t do it. The cerebral Karl Dorrell couldn’t do it. The affable Bob Toledo thought he had done it until his team inexplicably quit on him just 60 minutes from a berth in the national championship game.
I had covered all of these coaches, hearing their annual promises, seeing their annual collapses, realizing USC had a stranglehold on the college football money and attention in this town, and I had come up with an inescapable conclusion.
What Chesney is trying to do with UCLA football can’t be done.
Then I met him.
The best word to describe initial impressions of the 48-year-old former college safety would be, wow.
He talks fast. He oozes belief. He sells UCLA. He sells himself. He doesn’t shrink from his giant task. He doesn’t rationalize or equivocate his team’s sordid history.
He’s like one of those charming smart kids who never takes no for an answer.
“I feel it,” he says.”I feel it.”
No wonder his recruiting has been phenomenal, ranked seventh nationwide for the class of 2027, a trend that began this summer with 42 transfers, many of whom will start. No wonder he has been recognized by fans while hanging out in West Hollywood or Griffith Observatory or Dodger Stadium, where he’s already sat wide-eyed in a meeting with Dodger manager and UCLA grad Dave Roberts and Sandy Koufax.
He feels it, and the Bruin Nation feels it with him.
“Everybody’s included,” he says. “You wanna be included? C’mon, you’re included.”
As the self-proclaimed driver of the Bruin bandwagon in recent years — only to be derailed by midseason every time — I’ll pass on the inclusion. I’ve got to see it before buying it. But right now, Chesney has worked me up into such a lather that, yeah, I’m believing.
First, Chesney points to his resume, a litany of small schools who accumulated big victories, a dossier that includes only one losing season and none in the last seven years.
His head coaching career started at Division III Salve Regina (Rhode Island), where he turned eight consecutive losing seasons into three straight winning seasons.
“‘You can’t win there, nobody can win there’ is what they said,” Chesney says. “We won there.”
James Madison coach Bob Chesney and running back Wayne Knight celebrate after winning the Sun Belt championship on Dec. 5 in Harrisonburg, Va.
(Robert Simmons / Associated Press)
Then there was Division II Assumption in Massachusetts, where he took a team that had two winning records in 17 years and led them to five consecutive winning records and three straight playoff appearances.
“They said, ‘You can’t do it, nobody can do it,’’’ Chesney says. “We did it.”
Then there was Holy Cross, also in Massachusetts, where he took the team to a record five straight Patriot League championships while advancing as deep as the FCS quarterfinals.
“They told us, ‘The academics are too tough, the tuition is too high, you can’t win there,’’’ Chesney recounts. “We won there.”
Finally there was James Madison in Virginia, where he took a team whose stars had all followed Curt Cignetti to Indiana and still triumphed, leading them to a Cinderella appearance in the College Football Playoff.
“A lot of people doubted it, a lot of people didn’t believe it could work,” Chesney says. “We’ve proved a lot of people wrong throughout the years.”
After his resume, Chesney points to his surroundings. He is more awed by UCLA’s gravitas than any other football coach I can remember. It’s clear he can sell the school because he has such respect for the school.
“Here you’re a handshake away from changing your life … the school has an 8% acceptance rate, you’re walking around this campus with valedictorians and future CEOs and doctors and lawyers,” he says. “You’re surrounded by greatness, you have a chance to breathe this rare air that very few people get a chance to breathe.”
But for Chesney to fill this air with a football championship requires a price. It is a price that, so far, many potential donors have been reluctant to pay. But in today’s college football world, it is the cost of doing business.
Face it, Cignetti couldn’t have changed Indiana’s fortunes so rapidly if it wasn’t for Mark Cuban money. Chesney believes he can do the same thing here … with a little push.
Longtime UCLA donor Angelo Mazzone chipped in $10 million recently, and more such gifts are needed for UCLA to be able to pay the players that bring them a championship.
”There’s a major financial commitment that comes with getting those four- and five-star kids, but we can really turn the tables with that kind of help,” Chesney says. “Every single thing that is needed is here, we just have to make sure we get the support from the people on the outside that we need to actualize our dream.”
UCLA coach Bob Chesney shares his vision for the program during his introductory news conference on Dec. 9.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
He’s doing all the right things while chasing that dream.
Even as his bosses are pushing to move the team out of the Rose Bowl to SoFi Stadium, he loves the Rose Bowl, and took his team there for its spring game on a weekend that began with him standing outside the brightly lit marquee with his father and his son in the dark.
“It was one of those moments, I was like, man, the history of this place … to me to play in the Rose Bowl, what an honor and a privilege,” he says.
The game actually drew a decent spring crowd of 10,000-12,000, partially because Chesney had worked so hard at banging the drum. He and his players even brought pizzas to various campus groups in hopes of enlisting support.
“You want to be around this program, you can be around this program,” he says.
Then there’s his opinion of USC. He doesn’t have one. He never mentions them. For a UCLA coach, this is a good thing.
“I guess we’re perceived to be in their shadow, and for whatever reasons we weren’t an option the last couple of years, but look at our recruiting, I know we’re becoming an option for L.A. again,” Chesney says. “I think you can change a lot of people’s opinions on who they want to be rooting for.”
As in all levels of football, it all comes down to the quarterback, and Chesney had his first win by convincing budding star Nico Iamaleava. The kid was roundly criticized in this space for holding out and then walking out on his Tennessee team last year, but he has since grown up, and could be the sort of game-changer that Chesney requires.
“Watching Nico with his athletic ability, his arm, creating plays after the play with his legs, I have very high hopes,” says Chesney.
There are potentially outstanding transfers at half of the positions, and, with some solid returning players — this is a team that beat seventh-ranked Penn State, remember — the Bruins have a decent foundation.
UCLA coach Bob Chesney pats running back Anthony Woods on the helmet during the team’s spring game at the Rose Bowl on May 2.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Throw in a favorable 2026 schedule that doesn’t include Ohio State or Penn State or Washington or Iowa, and one thinks they might even have a chance at making some miracles.
“You’re going to see a different brand of football, one that is united, that is passionate, that is physical, that is tough, that has a lot of fun playing together,” he said.
You’re also going to hear a sound that died in the brief DeShaun Foster era, a sound that has never lasted more than a couple of weeks in the last 30 years.
That rumble is the Bruin football bandwagon. It’s revving up again. The inimitable force that is Bob Chesney wants to include you on the start of its journey.
Verstappen was unhappy with his car for much of the race, but Red Bull pulled a masterstroke when they fitted soft tyres to his car at his second pit stop.
The aim was to challenge Hamilton in the later laps after the seven-time champion made an early second stop with 40 laps still to go.
It was heading towards a tense climax when Piastri’s retirement brought out the VSC.
That prompted a late round of pit stops, Ferrari bringing in both their drivers and putting them behind Verstappen.
Hamilton came out of the pits and passed Antonelli into the first corner, after the Italian stayed out under the VSC, but had to give the place back after the restart because the Mercedes driver had just passed the key line on the track in front.
Antonelli and Hamilton started chasing back towards Verstappen, but they were delayed while lapping Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto.
That looked as if it might be decisive, but in the end Verstappen was comfortably able to keep Antonelli at bay, crossing the line 3.6 seconds ahead.
Another key point in Verstappen’s race had been his re-passing of Hamilton after the Ferrari had got briefly ahead following the first pit stops.
That gave him clear air and enabled the Dutchman to consolidate his race position in third place behind the McLarens, laying the foundations for Red Bull’s late strategy call.
Hamilton will leave Hungary ruing another penalty – the one for speeding in the pit lane was his second in two days after behind penalised for blocking Piastri in qualifying, and follows two other penalties at the previous two races in Belgium and Britain.
Behind him, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar was sixth, ahead of Russell, who dropped to 21st place on the first lap after his anti-stall kicked in at the start, and fought back strongly.
At Aston Martin, Lance Stroll finished in 13th, ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso, their positions dictated to a degree by luck under the VSC and their divergent strategies.
But the key point was that Alonso, in particular, was able to fight with other cars for the first time, and he ran a long first stint on the soft tyres, before switching to the mediums, which was a bold strategy.
The long-awaited upgrade to their car, which was new apart from the front suspension, engine and gearbox, has reduced their lap times by about two seconds.
A Honda engine upgrade is due for the Dutch Grand Prix, the next race in four weeks’ time after the summer break, which the team hope will elevate them further and potentially bring the possibility of the occasional points finish into the picture.
Defending champion Norris wins his first race of the year as Verstappen finishes second and leader Antonelli is third.
Published On 26 Jul 202626 Jul 2026
Lando Norris has ended an eight-month wait for a Formula One victory with strong pace and a dose of good fortune to win the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday.
McLaren’s defending champion finished ahead of Max Verstappen in Red Bull and teenage sensation Kimi Antonelli at the Hungaroring circuit in Budapest on Sunday.
Norris was on pole but lost the lead to his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri when he ran wide at the second corner, before reclaiming the lead after Piastri was delayed by a collision with Carlos Sainz Jr during a lap.
This allowed Norris to come out of the pits ahead of his teammate and cruise to a win.
“The car was unbelievable today, well done guys, incredible. We were flying,” Norris said. “Nice to finally be able to do it all for you. Feels like it’s been a while.”
Piastri then stopped with a broken gearbox, paving the way for Verstappen to take second, with Antonelli third.
Antonelli increased his standings lead, with title rival Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth after a penalty for speeding in the pits and George Russell seventh after a near-stall at the start.
Norris hadn’t won a full Grand Prix race since Sao Paulo in November, though he did win a sprint in Miami in May.
Hungary was the last race before the mid-season break. The next race is the Dutch Grand Prix on August 23.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, McLaren’s Lando Norris, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton in action during the race [Bernadett Szabo/Reuters]
England, who won gold in 2018, failed to make the podium at Birmingham 2022.
Only two of the 12 players in the squad – Eleanor Cardwell and Imogen Allison – have experience in the Commonwealth Games after injuries to gold medallists Helen Housby and Natalie Metcalf, who withdrew with a calf injury on Monday.
Jess Thirlby stepped down as head coach in March for family reasons, leaving assistant Anna Stembridge – head coach from 2011 to 2015 – in interim charge.
The team changes suggested the home side would be favourites, but not the scale of the one-sided encounter that followed.
Middlesex recalled Roland-Jones for Jack Nelson, while Glamorgan gave debuts to two seamers – 18 year old academy product Tom Edwards and Aussie Connor O’Riordan, who has been on an extended second team trial.
Both teams have five players at the Hundred, but Glamorgan also chose to rest the overworked Timm van der Gugten as well as veterans Colin Ingram and Chris Cooke, with Zain ul Hassan on paternity leave, teenage prodigy Tom Norton missing at least most of the competition with a back issue, Jamie McIlroy suffering a minor niggle, and Billy Root not selected.
Sharma was quickly into his stride having Callum Nicholls adjudged lbw, but with Byrom getting the ball away for six fours, Glamorgan got to 44 before they fell apart, losing wickets in six consecutive overs.
Sharma had Henry Hurle (10) caught by keeper Joe Cracknell, Jack Hope-Bell caught to mid-off and Will Smale given lbw.
Meanwhile Roland-Jones induced Byrom (29) and Dan Douthwaite to edge to slip, Sam Robson snaffling two smart grabs, while Alex Horton feathered a catch behind.
Roland-Jones bowled his 10 over allocation straight through, while Sharma was replaced after seven by Cornwell, who wrapped up the last three while Cracknell finished with four catches.
The difficult bounce did not excuse the extent of Glamorgan’s struggles against an accurate seam attack.
With 20 coming off a nervous first over from O’Riordan, Josh de Caires got Middlesex off to a flyer.
Captain Andy Gorvin took himself off after just two overs just to give Edwards a bowl, but the 50 came up in just six overs as De Caires and Nathan Fernandes were able to attack with freedom.
Fernandes (14) drove Edwards to mid-on to give the youngster a first senior wicket, and a second quickly followed when Sam Robson was caught behind.
But De Caires (45 not out off 30) hit the winning run off the first ball of the 10th over to complete the rout.
Middlesex next travel to Worcester on Friday 31 July.
Glamorgan are set to come up against former England captain Ben Stokes at Durham on Wednesday, with further away fixtures against Derbyshire and Hampshire to follow as they try to rebuild confidence.
You know him. Baseball icon. Hall of Famer. The only big leaguer with 2,000 hits as a player and 2,000 wins as a manager, he steered the New York Yankees to four World Series championships — and the Dodgers to consecutive National League West crowns and NLCS appearances in 2008 and 2009.
So you’re well-versed on Torre’s baseball bonafides, but you might not be aware of the most meaningful part of his legacy: He’s spent the past 24 years helping people who actually would need to be introduced to him.
Kids who are too young to know Torre the player, manager, color commentator — but who can, unfortunately, relate with what he went through when he was their age. Kids who, like him, are growing up afraid and anxious because of domestic violence at home, and who need what Torre didn’t have — somewhere safe to go to for help.
Since 2002, Torre and his wife, Ali, have been behind the expanding the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation. Across the nation, they’ve set up safe spaces in schools, specialized classrooms that feel more like living rooms and that are manned by professional counselors trained in domestic violence intervention.
San Francisco Giants assistant manager Ron Washington hugs Joe Torre before a game at Dodger Stadium on May 14.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
They’re at schools in New York, Cincinnati, Tahiti and in L.A., at Bellflower Middle/High School and John Adams Middle School, John H. Glenn High and McKinley Elementary School, Palisades Charter High, Santa Monica High, Waite Middle School and Washington Preparatory High.
And they’re open to all, whether you’re a kid experiencing violence or you want to be able to help peers who are.
This past year, the foundation says it reached more than 28,000 students. And since it began, more than 425,000 young people, families, schools, and communities.
These Safe at Home spaces are all named “Margaret’s Place,” in honor of Joe’s mom, who was for years the victim of his father’s violent ire.
“It’s a tough subject to talk about,” Joe Torre said. “But you can’t run away from it.”
He did, though. He’s 85 now, but until he was 54, Torre didn’t reveal that baseball had been his refuge when he was growing up. He didn’t tell anyone that when he was a kid, if he saw his dad’s car in front of his house, Joe would go to a friend’s house and wait until he left for his job as a New York police detective. Joe didn’t share memories like he would later, of seeing his big sister, armed with a knife, standing between their mother and their father, who was going for his pistol.
St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Joe Torre poses swinging a bat prior to a game in 1971.
(Dave Pickoff / Associated Press)
He didn’t recognize what those traumatic experiences he’d tried to bury did to him, not until he started to talk about them.
“I thought I was born with this shyness and this nervousness,” Torre said before a Dodgers game in May, when the club introduced him and Ali and players and coaches wore T-shirts during batting practice that read: “Everyone deserves to be safe at home.”
“During my playing career,” Torre continued, “if we lost a game and I didn’t get any hits, I’d beat myself up. I was fortunate, I had a good career, but there was always something missing. I really probably could have enjoyed it a lot more than I did.”
That didn’t change until 1995, when he started talking about the domestic violence he experienced. He was surprised, he said, to find himself sharing his story, opening up for the first time at a “Life Success” seminar in Cincinnati, Ali’s hometown.
“Ali, she says, ‘You want to go to this Life Success symposium with me?’” Joe said. “And she’s eight months pregnant with our daughter and I’m not about to say no to anything she asks me to go. So we go in and they separate you, and they put you in groups of six strangers — and I’d just been named manager of the Yankees, so I’m very self-conscious.
“But after a day or so, you’re in it, you know? And then we went home and I called my sisters and asked them questions. Because they always tried to protect me, so I had to drag it out of them … ‘Did dad hit mom?’
“The biggest thing for me was knowing that my dad bringing fear down on the home was what caused my feelings that I was embarrassed to have. Once I went through that, I was able to go deeper.”
Yankees manager Joe Torre bumps fists with catcher Jorge Posada after a win in April 2004.
(Brian Kersey / Associated Press)
Speaking about what was previously unspeakable helped him cope with his trauma. He said it made him a more empathetic manager and a more confident man. It also made him want to speak out publicly and to encourage others to do the same, to break the cycle of silence.
So they’re getting the word out at — where else? — ballparks. There was the stop at Dodger Stadium in May, and before that, in 2025, seven major league teams had activations at games, as did 63 minor league clubs who hosted a “Safe At Home Awareness Game.”
Because often we do need an introduction, to connect kids with people who can keep them safe, who can assure them they’re not the only ones in their position.
“He’s talked about this many times: If he had access to a program like Margaret’s Place, he wouldn’t have felt like he had to carry this burden alone,” said Rose Robles, the foundation’s senior director of programs. “That was one thing he’s really stressed, he felt he was the only one that was going through this.
“And he would have had some options, some choices for how to respond to what he was experiencing and how to understand it. One thing that we say is that violence thrives in silence, and that is basically what he was experiencing.”
Forty-four percent of the kids Margaret’s Place counselors helped in 2024-25 were dealing with some form of violence at home. Twenty-seven percent have experienced some form of relationship or dating violence. They also help kids who’ve been exposed to community violence or other traumatic events, or who are grieving a traumatic loss.
Dodgers manager Joe Torre pauses for a moment while answering questions in August 2010.
(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
At Bellflower Middle and High School, Principal Jessica Cummings said a Teen Dating Violence Awareness Week and parent workshops focused on fostering healthy relationships increased awareness on her campus.
“We are grateful,” she wrote in an email, “for this partnership and the positive impact it has had.”
Of the students surveyed after receiving services, Safe at Home indicated that 99% reported feeling safer and 93% said they used the tools they learned in counseling.
Torre has absorbed decades of anecdotal feedback too — the knowing nods he sees in the crowd when he’s talked to groups of kids about this, the cameraman who slipped him $20 to put toward the foundation, the interviewer who shared his account of having grown up in a violent household.
“Anyone can become a victim,” Ali Torre said, “Our goal is to intervene and prevent. There are little boys we can have conversations with: ‘You don’t have to repeat the cycle.’ To little girls, ‘There’s an option for you…’
“And Joe has opened a lot of doors for us.”
When you think of Joe Torre, it’s as a former Dodgers skipper. A nine-time All-Star and the 1971 National League Most Valuable Player.
You should also think of him as a champion of children who now know that they aren’t alone, and that they have people who will go to bat for them.
The Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grands Prix were initially scheduled for April but were called off in March as a result of the war launched by the US/Israel against Iran.
F1 is keen to host at least 21 races, because any less than that would activate contractual clauses that could see the sport have to pay rights fees back to broadcasters and may also mean the same for teams with sponsorship budgets.
The arrangement between Bahrain and Malaysia was heavily influenced by Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
The Bahrain race has been Prince Salman’s pet project since it made its debut in 2024. Bahrain’s sovereign investment fund is also the owner of the McLaren F1 team.
F1 president and chief executive officer Stefano Domenicali said: “We are delighted to confirm that Malaysia will host the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2026. Once again, the sport has demonstrated its ability to adapt, find solutions, and deliver, creating an exciting moment for everyone who follows Formula 1.
“I would like to express our sincere thanks to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, as well as their respective governments for making this extraordinary outcome possible through their vision, commitment, and decisive action.”
Sepang, which last hosted a race in 2017 and made its debut on the F1 calendar in 1999, is a popular track with fans and Domenicali added: “Malaysia is an incredible country, and Sepang holds a special place in Formula 1 history. It will provide a spectacular setting for racing and an unforgettable experience for fans at the circuit and watching around the world.”
