2022 and 2023 winner fractures collarbone and scapula Twelve riders crash on fourth stage of Basque tour The Tour de France champion, Jonas Vingegaard, was taken to hospital with a broken collarbone after a serious crash on stage four of the Itzulia Basque Country. Vingegaard also suffered several broken ribs from the high-speed accident that also included Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic among a group of 12 affected riders. “It was a nasty crash, but fortunately he is stable and conscious. He remains in hospital as a precaution. Thank you for all your messages,” Vingegaard’s team Visma-Lea ..read more

In 2011 the cyclist’s yellow jersey triumph demarcated the sport for the country for ever, kicking off a golden age with a remarkable time trial Vote for your favourite Australian sporting moment In Australian cycling, there are two eras: BC and AC. For almost 100 years, since the first Australians competed in a Tour de France in 1914, none won the grandest of Grand Tours. But as more of them entered the race from the 1980s onwards, other records began to fall ..read more

New format could be in place by 2026 with PIF backing Tour de France organisation remains resistant to proposal Cycling could be on the verge of a LIV Golf moment after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) was linked to a wholesale restructure of the European racing calendar. As the 2024 Tour de France was launched in Paris this week, speculation increased that a multimillion-euro Champions League-style format would be in place by 2026, with PIF cited by sources as a possible investor. The Saudi investment in several sports has been controversial and created rifts in golf after the es ..read more

‘It’s so hard’ says Mark Cavendish of challenge to sprinters Women’s race begins in Netherlands, ends at Alpe d’Huez The margins of success in the men’s Tour de France grow slimmer every year and the defending champion, Jonas Vingegaard, knows he will have to be at his very best to take a third win in 2024, given that Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel – all Grand Tour winners in their own right – will also be targeting final victory on the French Riviera on 21 July. The 2024 men’s Tour starts earlier than usual, on 29 June, to allow a week between the end of the race in Nice ..read more

Slovenian moves after eight years at dominant Dutch team Tour de France is the primary title that still evades rider Cycling giants Jumbo-Visma are losing one of their trio of Grand Tour winners this season after Primoz Roglic announced his transfer to join Bora-Hansgrohe on Friday. Roglic’s move, despite a Jumbo-Visma contract through 2025, will let him focus on the 2024 Tour de France as a team leader and was confirmed at a Bora-Hansgrohe news conference before the Tour of Lombardy race ..read more

Mark Cavendish will continue to compete for Astana-Qazaqstan in 2024 despite announcing his retirement in May. The 38-year-old is targeting a record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage win. The 38-year-old had announced during the Giro d’Italia in May that he intended to end his glittering career this winter. He went into this summer’s Tour seeking the stage win that would move him clear of Eddy Merckx after he equalled the Belgian on 34 stage wins in 2021 but he fell a few metres short of victory and suffered injury a few days later. Cavendish has now released a short video in which he said he ..read more

38-year-old had planned to end his career this winter He needs one more Tour de France stage win to set record Mark Cavendish will postpone his retirement plans in order to race on in 2024 and target a record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage win. Cavendish confirmed the long-rumoured news in a short video on Wednesday morning, saying, “Just one more year, hey ..read more

Road racing cyclist nicknamed the ‘Eagle of Toledo’ who was the first Spaniard to win the Tour de France Federico Bahamontes, who has died aged 95, was the first Spaniard to win the Tour de France. Eccentric, driven and solitary, the “Eagle of Toledo” was widely regarded as the tour’s finest mountain climber of the postwar era, taking the King of the Mountains prize six times between 1954 and 1964, a record that was not equalled until the 1980s. He was also the first to win the Mountains prize in all three grand tours – France, Spain and Italy. Bahamontes is celebrated for an episode on the Co ..read more

Steve Fleming says we should emulate France to keep our roads in good condition. Plus letters from the Andy Ashenhurst and Barbara English Re your article on potholes in Britain (Broken roads and broken necks: life in pothole Britain, 3 August), having watched substantial portions of the men’s and women’s Tours de France, I was struck by the excellent condition of most of the roads raced on. I gather that it is a matter of local and national pride to have the roads in the best condition, given the international media coverage of the events. So it would be a fairly straightforward matter to add ..read more

‘The Eagle of Toledo’ won the Tour de France in 1959 Toledo mayor announces two days of official mourning Federico Bahamontes, the first Spaniard to win the Tour de France, has died at the age of 95, Spanish officials said on Tuesday. Bahamontes, who earned the nickname “The Eagle of Toledo” after numerous victories in mountain stages, won the Tour de France in 1959 and was also the first cyclist to complete a “career triple” by winning the “King of the Mountains” classification in all three Grand Tours ..read more