Category: Cycling

• Dane goes for broke 5km from top for stage seven win

• Decathlon’s Felix Gall is only other rider to get close

Jonas Vingegaard, the pre-race favourite, proved his Giro d’Italia credentials by going alone to conquer the Blockhaus summit finish and win stage seven on Friday as the Dane made his first telling move of this year’s race.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider, on his Giro debut, went for broke with just over 5km to the top, with the Austrian Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) the only rider to get close as he came in 13 seconds behind the winner.

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• Italian rider beats Jasper Stuyven in city centre finish

• Portugal’s Afonso Eulálio retains overall lead

Davide Ballerini won stage six of the Giro d’Italia as a crash on the cobbles took out several sprint specialists near the finish in Naples on Thursday.

Italian Ballerini (XDS Astana Team) comfortably beat Belgium’s Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step) on the city centre finish after a flat 142km ride from Paestum.

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• Spanish rider prevails in Potenza on chaotic fifth stage

• Eulálio denied but takes the maglia rosa from Ciccone

Portugal’s Afonso Eulálio seized the overall lead in the Giro d’Italia despite having victory snatched away by Spain’s Igor Arrieta in the final metres of a rain-drenched stage five on Wednesday.

The Bahrain Victorious rider joined Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at the front near the summit of the Montagna Grande di Viggiano climb and when Arrieta took a wrong turn he looked certain to take the win. But Arrieta, banging his handlebars in anger, had other ideas and reeled in Eulálio along the finishing straight to win his first Grand Tour stage.

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• Groves was involved in a crash as race opened in Bulgaria last week

• GC contenders Jai Hindley and Ben O’Connor remain in race

Kaden Groves, Australia’s best sprint hope for a stage win at the Giro d’Italia, has been forced to quit on the fourth stage as a result of injuries suffered on day one. He follows another Australian star, Jay Vine, who suffered concussion and a broken elbow when crashing on stage two.

Groves was among several riders injured in a mass crash 600 metres from the line as the race opened in Bulgaria on Friday. The 10-time Grand Tour stage winner was bloodied and limping afterwards, but initially seemed “OK” said his team, Alpecin Premier-Tech.

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• Home rider take lead after first shakeup in 2026 race

• Narváez surges through to deny Aular on the line

Ecuador’s Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates XRG) powered to the line, claiming victory on stage four of the Giro d’Italia, outpacing Orluis Aular, with the home rider Giulio Ciccone taking over the leader’s pink jersey after crossing the line in third.

The first shakeup in this year’s race coincided with its arrival home in Italy following the opening three stages in Bulgaria, and after Aular hit the front ahead of Ciccone, Narváez came from behind and left the Venezuelan behind.

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• Endurance specialist won Olympic gold in Rio and Tokyo

• ‘I don’t know where I’ll get these feelings again’

Katie Archibald, the Scottish track cyclist who won gold medals at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics, has announced her retirement with immediate effect.

The decision means the 32-year-old, who also won multiple world, European and Commonwealth titles, will not compete in July’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

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• UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider forced to abandon Giro d’Italia

• Vine to fly home after extent of 30-year-old’s injuries confirmed

Ill-starred Australian cycling star Jay Vine has suffered a broken elbow and concussion in his Giro d’Italia-ending crash – but his decimated UAE Team Emirates-XRG team have been left relieved his injuries weren’t even more serious.

The 30-year-old Vine, who suffered a third serious crash in just 13 days of racing in 2026 and has now endured a reported 23 spills in his brilliant but accident-filled five-year career, will not need surgery, the team revealed on Sunday.

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• French rider claims second victory of this year’s race

• Breakaway denied by peloton inside final kilometre

Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) won his second stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia, with the Frenchman catching Italy’s Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) on the line to take stage three in Sofia.

Milan hit the front on the final bend with 150 metres to race, but was unable to hold off Magnier, with the Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets) finishing third. Magnier briefly raised his hand in celebration after the line, but had to wait for the official photo-finish result before finding out he had indeed won two out of three in Bulgaria.

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• Silva is first Uruguayan to win a Grand Tour stage

• Nearly 20 riders involved in crash 198km into route

Guillermo Thomas Silva won stage two of the Giro d’Italia to become the first Uruguayan to win a Grand Tour stage after a dramatic sprint after a crash involving nearly 20 riders disrupted the hilly, rain-soaked 221 km ride from Burgas to Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria.

The race was temporarily neutralised after the crash around the 198km mark which left several riders injured, and forced the Australian Jay Vine and Norwegian Adne Holter to abandon. The Spaniard Florian Stork finished second and Giulio Ciccone of Italy was third, as the XDS Astana rider Thomas Silva took the pink jersey from the stage one winner, France’s Paul Magnier.

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Double Tour de France winner makes his debut when race begins on Friday and is the outstanding favourite for victory in Rome

Jonas Vingegaard’s bid to complete a rare Grand Tour grand slam by winning the 2026 Giro d’Italia begins in Bulgaria on Friday when the double Tour de France winner makes his debut in the Italian race.

Vingegaard, the winner of the 2022 and 2023 Tours de France, has been eclipsed by the achievements of Tadej Pogacar – winner this season of nine races in 11 days of racing – but is the outstanding favourite for victory in Rome on 31 May.

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• Home hope will be on the start line in Barcelona

• Could be first male French winner since Hinault in 1985

The cycling prodigy Paul Seixas will make his Tour de France debut this year, raising hopes of France’s first male homegrown winner since 1985.

The 19-year-old Decathlon-CMA CGM rider has prompted intense debate in France after a dazzling start to 2026 with his team weighing the benefits of early exposure to the Tour against the risk of overburdening a rider still in his first season as a professional.

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• World champion pulls clear of Paul Seixas on final climb

• ‘It means a lot to win again one of the biggest races’

The world champion, Tadej Pogacar, pulled ahead of the 19-year-old French debutant Paul Seixas in the final climb to secure his third straight Liège-Bastogne-Liège title on Sunday, his fourth overall victory in the race.

Pogacar finished the 259.5km race in five hours, 50 minutes and 28 seconds to win the 13th Monument title of his career and his third of the year after the Tour of Flanders and Milan-San Remo.

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• Circuit of approximately 18km to finish on the Mall

• GB’s Cat Ferguson among favourites for yellow jersey

London will provide the backdrop for a landmark moment in cycling history as it hosts the first team time trial in the women’s Tour de France next year.

The best riders in the women’s peloton will race against the clock as teams, on a central London circuit of approximately 18km, pass the Houses of Parliament, London Eye and Tower Bridge, culminating in a finish on the Mall.

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