Category: Cycling

• World champion surges clear on race's brutal final climb
• Kévin Vauquelin second, with Tom Pidcock coming third

Tadej Pogacar bounced back in style after his Paris-Roubaix and Amstel Gold Race heartbreaks as he claimed a second Flèche Wallonne title with an early attack in the finale on Wednesday.

The world champion attacked when 400 metres from the finish on the brutally steep Mur de Huy and never looked back, prevailing over France’s Kévin Vauquelin and third-placed Tom Pidcock of Britain.

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British cyclist whose record of 11 Tour de France finishes from 12 starts stood until 2024

Barry Hoban, who has died aged 85, was one of the first generation of British cyclists to make a mark in European professional cycling, a prolific sprint winner whose UK record of eight stage wins in the Tour de France stood for 34 years until the greatest sprinter of them all, Mark Cavendish, reached his peak. His record of 11 Tour finishes from 12 starts stood until 2024 when it was eclipsed by Geraint Thomas.

Hoban’s life was intimately entwined with that of the British star Tom Simpson, who died on the Tour in 1967; like Simpson he was based in Ghent, in Belgium, he married Simpson’s widow Helen, and the complex resonances of Simpson’s tragic demise remained with the couple decades later.

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• Danish rider pips favourite Tadej Pogacar at the line
• Bredewold tops all-Dutch podium in women’s race

Mattias Skjelmose claimed a shock victory at the Amstel Gold Race as he won a sprint finish against favourite Tadej Pogacar and Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel on Sunday.

It was supposed to be a fight between world champion Pogacar and Evenepoel but Denmark’s Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) had not read the script as he beat Pogacar by the width of a tyre. Evenepoel, who recently returned from serious injuries sustained in a crash, was third.

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• Yorkshire-born cyclist won eight stages of Tour de France
• Famously beat Eddy Merckx at Gent-Wevelgem in 1974

The pioneering British road sprinter and Classics rider Barry Hoban has died at the age of 85. Hoban was for many years the UK record holder for stage wins in the Tour de France with a tally of eight during his 17-year professional racing career, a total bettered only by the greatest sprinter of them all, Mark Cavendish, in 2009.

Hoban’s first stage victory in the Tour, in 1967, was not one he cared to remember – or that he felt was really a win – as it came the day after the sudden death of his friend and rival Tom Simpson on Mont Ventoux; he was “permitted” to escape and cross the line first by the grieving peloton.

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• Race will start in Dalby Forest and finish in Glasgow
• Lotte Kopecky expected to defend title

The 2025 women’s Tour of Britain will go ahead in northern England and the Scottish Borders in early June, despite speculation that this year’s event was in difficulty.

Buoyed by news that the men’s and women’s Tour de France will start in Britain in 2027, this summer’s four-day women’s race will start in Yorkshire on 5 June and end in Glasgow four days later.

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• Dutchman struck on way to third consecutive victory
• Alpecin-Deceuninck and UCI join with condemnation

The spectator who threw a bottle at Mathieu van der Poel during Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix has surrendered to Flemish police. French justice officials launched an investigation after the Dutchman had a plastic bottle hurled at his face during his triumphant ride to a third consecutive Paris-Roubaix victory.

Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad reported on Monday that the spectator who launched the projectile had since surrendered to Flemish police. And public prosecutor Filiep Jodts told the BBC: “We can confirm that the man presented himself to the police. An official report was drawn up, in which his statement was recorded. The Public Prosecution Service will decide in the coming days what action should be taken.”

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The Olympian’s mother tells champion cyclist that his temper is his ‘downfall’ during victim statements in Adelaide court

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Former world champion and Olympic cyclist, Rohan Dennis, has shown no remorse and “perceives himself as a victim” despite him accidentally killing his wife, her family has told a court in South Australia.

Melissa Hoskins, 32, also an acclaimed world and Olympic cyclist, died when she was struck by a car driven by her husband in December 2023.

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• Dutchman earns third straight win despite bottle attack
• Denmark’s Pedersen also suffers puncture

Mathieu van der Poel overcame a bottle thrown at his face, a puncture and a fierce challenge by the world champion, Tadej Pogacar, to claim his third straight victory in the Queen of the Classics.

The debutant Pogacar, who was looking to become the first Tour de France winner to also prevail in the “Hell of the North” since Bernard Hinault in 1981, overcooked a turn and lost his balance on a cobbled section, leaving his rival clear one week after taming the Dutchman on the Tour of Flanders.

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• Slovenian takes title in style after 19km solo attack
• Lotte Kopecky makes history and adds to previous wins

Tadej Pogacar denied Mathieu van der Poel a record fourth Tour of Flanders title when the Slovenian won the second Monument of the season in Belgium for the second time in his career on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Pogacar, who skipped the 2024 edition to focus on a Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double, had won the Tour of Flanders in 2023. Second in the 268.9-km race, which started in Markt in Bruges and concluded in Minderbroedersstraat in Oudenaarde, was the Dane, Mads Pedersen with Belgium-born Van der Poel coming third to complete the podium. Home heros Wout Van Aert and Jasper Stuyven rounded up the top five.

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Five years after a crash that left him with a life-changing brain injury the former Olympic hopeful has a national title to his name – and his sights set on the Paralympics

Five years ago, Kai Sakakibara’s life nearly came to an end doing what he loved – bike racing. At a BMX world cup event in Bathurst, the Olympic hopeful was heading downhill into a turn when his front wheel seemed to buckle. The momentum saw Sakakibara slam headfirst into the dirt, causing carnage as a rider behind him tried to avoid the inevitable collision. In a split second, Sakakibara suffered a devastating brain injury.

It was unclear whether Sakakibara, who was 23 at the time, would survive. He eventually emerged from a coma, and it was uncertain if the cyclist would walk again. But last week Sakakibara was finally back doing what he loves.

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• Roglic wins final stage in Barcelona for second title
• Local favourite Ayuso has to settle for runners-up slot

Primoz Roglic made a late charge to take the lead from the local favourite Juan Ayuso and win the Volta a Catalunya for a second time on Sunday.

A four-time Vuelta a España champion, Roglic of Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe prevailed in the final 20 kilometres to win the decisive 88km seventh stage in Barcelona and clinch the overall title, denying Ayuso victory in the city of his birth.

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• Van der Poel holds of Pogacar and Ganna in classic battle
• Wiebes wins first women’s race since 2005

Mathieu van der Poel outsprinted Filippo Ganna and Tadej Pogacar to win his second Milan-Sanremo Classic on Saturday, claiming the first Monument race of the season, while the European champion Lorena Wiebes won the first staging of a women’s event since 2005.

Dutchman Van der Poel, winner in 2023, came out on top in a sprint finish after the leading trio were involved in a game of cat-and-mouse close to the line, with Ganna finishing second and Pogacar having to settle for third.

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• Jumbo-Visma star seals glory on Promenade des Anglais
• US countryman Magnus Sheffield claims final-stage win

The American cyclist Matteo Jorgenson won the week-long Paris-Nice race for the second straight year on Sunday.

On a good day for US cycling Jorgenson, who rides for the Jumbo-Visma team, finished runner-up in the eighth and final stage claimed by his countryman Magnus Sheffield of the Ineos-Grenadiers team.

Jorgenson became the 10th rider with consecutive titles in the Race to the Sun, joining the likes of cycling greats Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Raymond Poulidor. Sean Kelly holds the record for most consecutive wins – seven from 1982 to 1988.

Sheffield went solo in the Col des Quatre Chemins climb with 12.5 kilometers left and crossed the finish line on the Promenade des Anglais with a 29-second lead over Jorgenson.

Florian Lipowitz, of Germany, was second overall, one minute and 15 seconds behind Jorgenson. The Dutch rider Thymen Arensman completed the podium, 1:58 off the pace. Sheffield was fourth in the general classification.

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