Category: Cycling

• Pogacar reclaims rainbow jersey he won last year

• Remco Evenepoel second, Ireland’s Ben Healy third

Tadej Pogacar lit up Kigali’s climbs with a trademark long-range attack to claim a second consecutive men’s road race world title on Sunday.

There was an air of inevitability surrounding the event in Rwanda as the Slovenian cemented his legacy among cycling’s all-time greats. Pogacar triumphed as the world championships were staged in Africa for the first time, with hundreds of thousands cheering from the roadside.

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• Unfancied Vallieres breaks clear on final climb

• Fisher-Black and García complete podium

Canada’s Magdeleine Vallieres took a surprise gold in the women’s road race at the Road World Championships after a decisive attack on the final climb on Saturday in Kigali. The 24-year-old was in a lead group with New Zealand’s Niamh Fisher-Black and Spain’s Mavi García near the end of the 164km slog on a hilly circuit in the Rwandan capital when she burst clear.

Powering up the ascent towards the finish line, Vallieres stayed clear of Fisher-Black, who came home second with García third. Vallieres won by 23sec to become Canada’s first road champion. Fisher-Black was second with Garcia, trying to become the oldest road world champion at 41, third, 26sec back. Switzerland’s Elise Chabbey was fourth at 41sec. The favourites trailed home in the chasing group after being caught out and leaving their response too late.

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• Swiss Reusser beats Kigali field by 51.89sec to take gold

• Belgium’s Evenepoel passes Pogacar on way to victory

Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser overcame illness this year to win the women’s individual time trial at the cycling Road World Championships in Kigali on Sunday, while Remco Evenepoel of Belgium won a third successive men’s individual time trial title.

Reusser finished 51.89sec quicker than the rest of the field for a dominant victory, taking the rainbow jersey in a time of 43min 09.34sec around the 31.2km course in Rwanda’s capital on the opening day of the week-long championships, being hosted in Africa for the first time.

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First road world championships in Africa should be cause for celebration – instead the sport is mired in controversy

Africa’s first hosting of the road world championships should be a moment of celebration for cycling and the continent but Rwanda instead finds itself the backdrop to a sport mired in infighting and controversy.

The Vuelta a España ended on Sunday after three weeks of racing characterised by mass pro-Palestinian demonstrations against the presence of the Israel-Premier Tech team.

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• Protests forced cancellation of final stage in Madrid

• Dismay at Israel-Premier Tech’s refusal to withdraw

World Tour cycling teams may refuse to race against Israel-Premier Tech following the multiple protests ­during the Vuelta a España that exploded into street violence in central Madrid on Sunday.

Sources within rival teams have expressed their dismay to the Guardian at the refusal of the team to ­withdraw from the Vuelta and the lack of protection from the International Cycling Union (UCI) for its own commercial and sporting interests.

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• Organisers cancel stage and declare Vingegaard winner

• Protesters threw barricades into the street on Gran Vía

The final stage of the Vuelta a España was abandoned in chaotic and violent scenes, after groups of pro-Palestine protesters swamped the finish line area and presentation podium in central Madrid on Sunday.

As huge crowds engulfed the finish area, the race leader Jonas Vingegaard, his Visma Lease-a-bike team and the rest of the peloton were forced to turn back from the city centre, with more than 55km still to race on stage 21. In an official statement, the Vuelta organisers said: “For security reasons, stage 21 of La Vuelta has been ended early. There will be no podium ceremony.”

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• Pidcock: ‘It’s the biggest performance of my career’

• Leader takes 1:16 advantage into Sunday’s final stage

Tom Pidcock stands to finish on the podium of the Vuelta a España on Sunday after surviving the final mountain test as Jonas Vingegaard rode away to take a stage 20 win that all but seals his overall victory.

Pidcock, defending an advantage of 39sec over Jai Hindley, wrestled his bike up gradients in excess of 20% to the summit of the Bola del Mundo – the last 3km of which were ridden on broken concrete in a brutal test of stamina at the end of three weeks.

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• Belgian rider wins his third stage of 2025 race

• Jonas Vingegaard adds four seconds to overall lead

Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen sprinted clear at the end of stage 19 to seal his third win at this year’s Vuelta a España on Friday while Jonas Vingegaard added four seconds to his overall advantage over Joño Almeida.

After 160km of relatively flat riding in west central Spain, Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Philipsen burst to the front near the finish and never looked like being caught. Denmark’s Mads Pedersen was the first to make his move but could not hold off Philipsen and he crossed the line in second place with Venezuela’s Orluis Aular third.

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• Italian wins 12.2km time trial with time of 13 minutes

• Almeida closes gap on overall leader Vingegaard

Filippo Ganna tore through the final third of Thursday’s shortened individual time trial to win stage 18 of the Vuelta a España in Valladolid, and third-placed João Almeida gained 10 seconds on the overall leader, Jonas Vingegaard.

Ganna, the Italian time-trial specialist, repeated his success of two years ago in the same city but had an agonisingly long wait after the Ineos Grenadiers rider was fifth out of the gate, setting a time of 13 minutes.

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• Colombian outsprints Landa; Vingegaard retains lead

• Stage shortened by 8km after protesters blocked road

Pro-Palestinian protesters continue to disrupt the Vuelta a España, with stage 16 ending on Tuesday 8km before the scheduled finish at ­Castro de ­Herville because of protests close to the line. The Colombian rider Egan Bernal won the stage, with Jonas Vingegaard retaining the overall race lead.

“We have a big protest at three kilometres before the line. We will decide the stage winner and take times at eight kilometres before the line,” the race directors announced on Radio Vuelta.

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• Colombian outsprints Landa; Vingegaard retains lead

• Stage shortened by 8km after protesters blocked road

Pro-Palestinian protesters continue to disrupt the Vuelta a España, with stage 16 ending on Tuesday 8km before the scheduled finish at ­Castro de ­Herville because of protests close to the line. The Colombian rider Egan Bernal won the stage, with Jonas Vingegaard retaining the overall race lead.

“We have a big protest at three kilometres before the line. We will decide the stage winner and take times at eight kilometres before the line,” the race directors announced on Radio Vuelta.

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• Welshman ends 19-season racing career in Cardiff

• Romain Grégoire secures Tour of Britain victory

Under sombre skies, Geraint Thomas raced into Cardiff to a hometown hero’s welcome after a 19-season racing career came to an end at the final stage of the 2025 Tour of Britain.

A groundbreaking career founded in south Wales ended in south Wales, with the 39-year-old Olympic gold medallist and Tour de France winner buoyed by a sea of emotion from fans, well-wishers and old friends.

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• Belgian wins in photo finish to keep sprint leader’s jersey

• Vingegaard retains 48-second lead over Almeida

The Belgian cyclist Mads Pedersen sprinted to victory in stage 15 of the Vuelta a España on Sunday as Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard retained the overall lead in the 167.8km ride from Vegadeo.

Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), the points classification leader, attacked in the last two kilometres, beating Orluis Aular (Movistar) and Marco Frigo (Israel Premier Tech) in a photo finish at Monforte de Lemos.

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