Category: Cycling

• Belgian beats Mexican rival in dash to the finish
• Primoz Roglic falls further behind after crash

Wout Van Aert battled to victory on stage nine of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday, holding off Isaac del Toro, who moved into the overall lead after the pair went for broke and stole a march on the rest of the field.

Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), riding his first Giro, used all his Strade Bianche experience to outsmart Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates), with Italy’s Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) coming in third.

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Rumours are swirling that the 2027 grand tour race could begin in Australia – and it’s not the first time the idea has been explored

Earlier this month, the Giro d’Italia – Italy’s premier cycling race and one of three Grand Tours on the global cycling calendar – began in Albania. So far, so normal – it is increasingly common for the Grand Tours to begin outside their homelands. The Tour de France first started outside France in 1954; in recent years, the Grand Départ has taken place in Italy, Spain, Denmark and Belgium. The Giro has previously rolled out from as far afield as Israel and Northern Ireland, while next year’s Vuelta a España will begin in Monaco.

But on Monday, the well-known Australian cycling commentator Mike Tomalaris raised eyebrows when he suggested the 2027 Giro might begin half a world away: in Australia. With a post on Instagram, Tomalaris indicated he was breaking the news.

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• Australian escapes for remarkable solo win
• Home hope Ulissi ousts Primoz Roglic from maglia rosa

Luke Plapp of Team Jayco Alula won stage eight of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday with a formidable solo effort on the 197km ride from Giulianova to Castelraimondo while Diego Ulissi became the first Italian in four years to take the pink jersey.

After nearly 20 riders formed a breakaway group with 100km to go, Plapp attacked the Montelago climb and the Australian rode to victory by a handsome margin and claim his first Grand Tour stage win.

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• Spanish rider wins stage seven after first summit finish
• Roglic has pink jersey after late charge to take fourth spot

Primoz Roglic pulled on the pink jersey after stage seven of the Giro d’Italia but Juan Ayuso underlined his credentials as his main challenger by snatching victory in Tagliacozzo, in central Italy.

Ayuso (UAE-Team Emirates) had the power to break clear from a select group of favourites in the final few hundred metres of the 12km climb to the finish. His Mexican teammate Isaac Del Toro came second.

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• Several riders come down on stage six in wet conditions
• Kaden Groves wins but no points or time gaps recorded

Kaden Groves won the sixth stage of the Giro d’Italia in a sprint finish on Thursday, but the stage was neutralised following a huge crash in wet conditions on the 227km ride from Potenza to Naples.

The longest stage of this year’s Giro had only a winner to celebrate as the crash, which occurred with about 70km to go, forced organisers to make the decision not to award points, time gaps or bonuses. Groves crossed the finish line a few seconds shy of five hours on the road, ahead of Milan Fretin. Paul Magnier, who had also crashed earlier in the stage, finished third.

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• Danish rider extends overall lead with third stage victory
• Britain’s Tom Pidcock grabs third spot on 151km ride

Mads Pedersen continued his domination of sprint finishes at the Giro d’Italia by narrowly winning stage five on Wednesday, his third stage victory of this year’s race which extended the Danish rider’s overall lead.

At the end of the 151km ride from Ceglie Messapica to Matera, Pedersen appeared to struggle with the pace on the climb to the finish, but recovered before starting his dash to the line early, just managing to hold off his challengers.

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Former world champion cyclist avoids jail after pleading guilty to committing aggravated act likely to cause harm after 2023 incident that killed Olympian Hoskins

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Olympic cyclist Rohan Dennis has received a suspended jail sentence over a road incident that led to the death of his wife, fellow Olympian Melissa Hoskins.

Dennis, 34, appeared in South Australia’s district court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to a charge of committing an aggravated act likely to cause harm.

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• Picnic PostNL rider claims maiden grand tour stage win
• Mads Pedersen finishes fourth and retains maglia rosa

Casper van Uden claimed his maiden grand tour victory in a sprint finish on stage four of the Giro d’Italia to top an all-Dutch podium in Lecce. The Picnic PostNL rider Van Uden powered ahead of his compatriot Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor) in a bunch dash for the line. Mads Pedersen finished fourth to retain the maglia rosa.

After the first three stages in Albania and a subsequent rest day, the Giro returned to Italy in Puglia, with a mostly-flat 189-kilometre run from Alberobello to Lecce.

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• Five-time Olympic champion was ‘a functioning addict’
• Wiggins, 45, has been sober for a year after therapy

Sir Bradley Wiggins has revealed he became addicted to cocaine following his retirement from cycling and is “lucky to be here”. The 2012 Tour de France winner and five-time Olympic champion said his children wanted to put him in rehab amid fears the issue could prove fatal.

Wiggins, a father of two, is now 12 months sober, attends regular therapy sessions and feels “a lot more at peace” with himself.

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• 21-year-old wins stage two by 1sec for Ineos Grenadiers
• Second is enough for Primoz Roglic to take overall lead

Josh Tarling of Ineos Grenadiers set a time-trial pace even the race favourite, Primoz Roglic, could not match to win stage two of the Giro d’Italia by one second in Albania.

Tarling had a nervous wait before his first Grand Tour stage victory was confirmed as the 21-year-old Welshman watched Roglic come so close, but the Slovene had to settle for second place with the consolation of taking over the leader’s pink jersey for Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe.

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• Danish rider holds off Van Aert in bunch sprint to line
• Mikel Landa abandons race after crash late in stage

Denmark’s former world champion Mads Pedersen edged out Wout van Aert in a bunch sprint to win the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia in Tirana, but Mikel Landa was forced to abandon the race after a crash five kilometres from the finish.

Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was positioned perfectly by his teammates for the climax in the Albanian capital and held off Belgium’s Van Aert to become the first rider this year – and the first Dane – to wear the overall leader’s pink jersey. Venezuela’s Orluis Aular (Movistar) was third across the line.

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Dominance of last year’s champion can become predictable and this event could be volatile with more opportunities for the peloton

The 2025 Giro d’Italia may lack the star power of the Tour de France, but it is likely to make up for it with dynamic and unpredictable racing when it gets under way in Tirana on Friday.

Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, the top three riders in last year’s Tour de France, are not racing, but the Giro will, as ever, throw up plentiful drama.

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Tour de France winner in 2018 is building for a final assault on the great race before a farewell in Cardiff

“Bike racing is all I have ever known,” says Geraint Thomas of the 19-year professional career that will end this summer with one final Tour de France and a farewell appearance in the Tour of Britain.

While many of his peers are relishing a Tadej Pogacar-free Giro d’Italia that starts on Friday, the 2018 Tour winner has opted against three weeks in Italy, favouring one last ride in July’s French hothouse.

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• Sprinter won five Tour de France stages in top career
• Messy exit from JaycoAlUla team took ‘significant toll’

Caleb Ewan, at his peak one of Australian cycling’s greatest talents, has stunned the sport by announcing his immediate retirement.

Ewan delivered his bombshell decision on social media, saying events of the last two years – especially around his messy exit from top Australian team Jayco AlUla – have “taken a significant toll on my relationship with the sport”.

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