The Slovenian attacked in the final kilometre of the Alpine giant, with only Vingegaard close behind. He crested the summit with an 8-second lead, but on the descent he extended his advantage to 50 seconds over his main rival. Pogacar attacked first and the Dane couldn't keep up. Behind them, Ayuso, Rodríguez and Evenepoel remained in the lead group.

The Grand Boucle will start this Saturday in Florence and, for the first time in its history, will end outside the gates of Paris. The best version of Pogacar will face the uncertainty of defending champion Vingegaard, who is coming back from a serious crash in April. 21 stages, 3,498 kilometres, two crossings of the Alps and a final time trial in Nice. A plot worthy of Alfred Hitchcock.

The International Testing Agency (ITA), which leads cycling's clean sport efforts on behalf of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), will protect fair play at the Tour de France with a comprehensive anti-doping programme.

Next Saturday's Grand Boucle will see a duel between the Slovenian with two victories and the Dane with two. Pogacar will be in top form and aiming for a Giro-Tour double. Vingegaard, on the other hand, is recovering from a serious crash. For the first time, the Tour starts in Italy and doesn't end in Paris. Everything is new in the world's greatest race after 11 editions.

US team EF Education-EasyPost immediately sacked the Italian rider, stating in a press release that "Piccolo was arrested on 21 June upon entry into the country on suspicion of transporting growth hormone". The UCI said it was "satisfied with the results of the investigation carried out by the ITA".

The reigning champion of the French race has confirmed through a statement from his team, Visma-Lease, that he has overcome the effects of the serious crash he suffered in April. He will race to defend his title. "I feel good and very motivated," confirmed the Danish rider.

Two-time Olympic cycling champion Katie Archibald will miss the Paris 2024 Games after suffering a double leg break in a freak garden accident. The 30-year-old Scottish cyclist fractured a tibia and fibula and dislocated an ankle having tripped over a garden step. She also sustained substantial ligament damage during the incident on Tuesday and has since undergone surgery.

The cyclist is one of fourteen athletes approved by the IOC to compete under a neutral flag in Paris 2024. He has decided not to take part because of a "very busy schedule". More than half of the approved athletes are wrestlers, with the rest taking part in trampoline gymnastics and road cycling.

First it was San Sebastian, then Bilbao and now Barcelona. The Tour de France will start in Spain for the third time in 2026. It will be the 113th edition of the Grand Boucle. Catalonia will host two complete stages and the start of the third stage towards France.

The talented Ineos rider will compete in the road race at the Olympic Games, the Colombian cycling federation has confirmed. Bernal suffered a serious crash in 2022 that put a stop to his spectacular progress. He has now recovered and will race the Tour de France before the Olympics. He will share the team with Daniel Felipe Martínez.

Similar to football, yellow cards will soon be handed out as a warning in road cycling for rule violations. The world cycling association UCI wants to test this set of rules from 1 August until the end of the 2024 season. In the new 2025 season, yellow cards will be included in a stricter set of rules. If a rider receives several yellow cards, suspensions may occur.

The Slovenian held off Matteo Jorgenson's attack in the final stage on Sunday to win the French race by eight seconds, a crucial test before the Grand Boucle, the main target of the season. The race's other star, Remco Evenepoel, faded to seventh overall.

Half of the peloton, including race leader Remco Evenepoel and his main rival Primoz Roglic, crashed out of the fifth stage of the French race. The lack of ambulances to evacuate the injured forced the stage to be neutralised for the remaining kilometres. Fortunately there were no serious injuries.

Australian cyclist Robert Stannard has received a four-year ban following the discovery of irregularities in his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP).

To mark World Environment Day on 5 June, cycling's world governing body - the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) - released its sustainability report from the 2023 Cycling World Championships which took place in Scotland last August.