This includes some really vital fact checking.

Spanish Government replies to the UCI's statement, pointing out that the UN has just declared Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide. Brutal final words: "Peace without justice is peace in the graveyard." Lappartient is out of his depth. He is not protecting cycling with his actions and words.

Just catching up on the UCI's statement on the Vuelta. What the fuck. Read the room, David. Show some courage.

Cycling faces a very unique and unpredictable future. The success of the protests at the Vuelta have proven that it's possible to suspend sporting events, in particular cycling races that are much harder to police compared to closed stadiums. 1/

Vingegaard is back winning Grand Tours

Fin Pickering told me in May: "If I'm not selected for the Vuelta a España, I'll be pretty pissed." He almost wasn't - he was only called up 48 hours before. But what a race he has ridden, regularly present on the big mountain days. Big future ahead, as he predicted. www.rouleur.cc/blogs/the-ro...

Had a long chat with Doug Ryder earlier this week. Don't underestimate Tom Pidcock's influence on Q36.5. He's raised levels, and made joining a second division team cool. Q36.5 are one of the more desired teams in the peloton - and Pidcock is largely to thank.

Advantage Vingegaard on stage 19

Doctors told Egan Bernal he might not survive. He proved them wrong. Doctors told him he'd almost certainly be paraplegic. He proved them wrong. Doctors told him he wouldn't ride a bike again. He proved them wrong. No one believed he could win a Grand Tour stage again. He proved them all wrong.

This Vuelta a España cannot continue with Israel-Premier Tech. This calls on serious governance from the UCI. David Lappartient has always insisted he can't take political decisions that don't align with the IOC's view, but this is beyond political: it's affecting the running of the sport.

"I have to say it has to make the victory even sweeter, the way the team worked the whole day, five guys in the first group. The boys were working so hard to make it possible."

New from me and @cmbreports.bsky.social 🤔 Rumours of pressure from race organisers and sponsors to drop Israel from team name 🙅‍♂️ Riders refusing to sign for the squad 💸 Sponsor uncertainty ✍️ Details on Gee contract situation live on escape dot com now escapecollective.com/the-war-is-c...

The war is coming home for Israel-Premier Tech. Riders are refusing to sign for the squad, morale is suffering, and rumours swirl over a name change and sponsors. @cmbreports.bsky.social has the story: escapecollective.com/the-war-is-c...

@jonnylong.bsky.social and I have been investigating Israel-Premier Tech for several weeks. 📳death threats sent to riders ✖️ prominent riders refusing to negotiate with team 🚨fear among riders 🇮🇱team under pressure to lose 'Israel' name 🇫🇷TdF not happy ➕ Much more escapecollective.com/the-war-is-c...

Maybe Pidcock really has matured and developed into a consistent three-week racer capable of going head-to-head with the best in the business. Demotion, at least in Pidcock’s case, is a form of promotion when it comes to performance. No one drops Jonas Vingegaard - except Pogačar and now Pidcock.

Ayuso’s brutal honesty was the result of the structure that athletes operate in, where they are caged up, stripped of their personalities and reduced to recycled soundbites. Pretending that everyone is part of a happy family when the reality is somewhat quite different only exacerbates the problem.

Sprinting domination

What will Ayuso do in the coming fortnight? Will he support Almeida, or possibly challenge teammate Vine for the KOM competition as a consequence of trying to win multiple stages? Ayuso is out of the GC fight barring a spectacular comeback, but the Vuelta is pivoting around him.

“I feel grateful to be able to do what I love – because I found that cycling, like life, can easily be taken away from you.” Torstein Træen, cancer survivor, is leading the Vuelta a España.

Though the eternal transition continues, and the talk of finding a new identity while simultaneously trying to recover their old one fails to relent, a new Ineos is actually emerging. One they had promised would. They're creative, bold, and variety is their strength. They are bonafide stage hunters.

Finish nine places higher than Vingegaard on stage four and Gaudu will be in red. Never before has he led a Grand Tour. What a prize is on offer for him. “This is the best beginning of the Vuelta,” he smiled. It could get a lot better. The question now is: what can he do in the rest of the Vuelta?

He can be taken out at 60 km/h, slide across the floor and crash into other bikes, but remount, chase back to the peloton at full speed, get back on, let the pretenders jockey it out on the steepest part of the climbs, and then crush their dreams just at the right moment. Vingegaard is here to win.

Love this 'Meet the Maker' piece with Alex Dowsett and his dad Phil Interview by @cmbreports.bsky.social Photos: Richard Butcher www.cyclingweekly.com/cycling-week...

Great chatting with Rory Townsend to tell his story of a decade of hard graft culminating with the most remarkable of WorldTour victories.

“I’ve come here to win the Vuelta, that’s pretty clear, so of course that’s going to be my goal"

There's a massive back story to this, and a hugely important one, too. This exact press release was predicted to me in May. At some point soon I'll give full details. It ties in many different strands.

At times, last night's press conferences with Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Demi Vollering were genuinely captivating. Difficult topics were breached, and each time they responded with careful, reasoned answers.

Two very different approaches to racing weight by Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Demi Vollering velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-ra...

Huge courage shown by two riders, one who missed the time cut, another who barely scraped inside it ... velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-ra...

You can cut the tension with a knife, as they say. Few thoughts on this: Delcourt is one of the best voices in the women's peloton, so sad to see him resorting to this kind of behaviour. But... this war of words is good for the race – shows how much it means. Will either side back down?

Surprising news but also tallies up with some observations from the past two weeks, when fellow DS Enrico Gasparotto became the team's spokesperson, a role that Aldag - a naturally great communicator - had at the beginning of the race. Aldag's role definitely felt diminished.

‘For a man who used to love holding court, expounding his theories of marginal gains, three weeks is a long time to keep schtum…’

I'm delighted to announce that my new book, Tadej Pogačar: Unstoppable, will come out on November 6th. Published by @bloomsburysport.bsky.social, it is the first in-depth biography of modern cycling's greatest. Available for pre-order now.

Really revealing press conference from Tadej Pogačar. Spoke openly about burnout and how he isn't immune to it. And then, unprompted, suggested he wouldn't even be riding in 2029 if the Tour de France starts in Slovenia. Never before has he been so mentally weary.

Is Tadej Pogačar the GOAT? An updated version of my magazine feature for @cyclingweekly.com at the end of last year. www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/is-ta...

The 2025 Tour de France started with Primož Roglič repeatedly insisting that “I don’t really care.” It ends with the Tour de France asking: what has Primož Roglič been playing at? Have Red Bull been able to control him this Tour? “I have to say yes." Hmm 🤔 www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/weve-...

Tadej Pogačar has 2.4m Insta followers. Vito Braet of Intermarché has 1,709 followers. He's the most unknown rider of the Tour. You're missing out on revealing and insightful posts such as “First week @letourdefrance ✅. You know what to do: @vito_braet www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/maybe...

Alessandro De Marchi has told me he is "happy and relieved" to no longer be riding for Israel-Premier Tech. "I wouldn’t be able to manage the feelings I have, to be able to be involved in something like that.” Story for @observeruk.bsky.social. observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

This story has just been moved on significantly by @jeremywhittle.bsky.social: Ineos soigneur David Rozman has left the Tour de France after the International Testing Agency launched an investigation into apparent links between him and the convicted doping doctor Mark Schmidt.

15 teams at the Tour de France are looking for new title sponsors. Is it because the sport isn’t as attractive as it used to be, or because budgets have skyrocketed? Is the big money growth sustainable? I investigated with the help of several team managers. www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/its-n...

I spent stage 16 of the Tour de France to Mont Ventoux in the publicity caravan. And it was every bit as absurd, bizarre and perplexing as I wanted it to be. What a day! www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/we-ha...

MPCC chief disputes claims body is weaker than ever. "Ask the teams: why aren't you registered w/ MPCC? Why did you use tramadol? Why did you use carbon monoxide rebreathing? What are they doing to reduce suspicion? 100% of the actors should be active against doping." www.rouleur.cc/blogs/the-ro...

Christian Prudhomme, the Tour de France race director, has told me that the 2024 finish "in Nice will not be unique", strongly suggesting that future finishes of the race will take place outside of Paris. www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/tour-...

That must be the worst moment of Remco Evenepoel's career. That will hurt him deeply.

This is what the Tour de France is. It's being in the break 15 times in your first three Tours. It's being in polka for 10 days and green for 3 days. It's breaking your collarbone a week before the race and then winning a stage two weeks later. www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/jonas...

Keeping the Tour de France riders cool is far more complicated than just giving them cool drinks. I spent stage nine with @greenedgecycling.bsky.social and found out about the role women's tights, Leroy Merlin buckets and tennis wristbands play. www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/tight...

Jonas Vingegaard's wife claimed Tour de France cyclists are close to burnout. Is that true? 🔢Riders race 79 days a year; it used to be 90+ ⭐Superstars race even less ☀️Sunny coastal camps are less frequent 🚵Altitude camps are up Conclusion? Find out! www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/thing...

Ineos Grenadiers haven't got off to a great start in the Tour de France – can they afford another flop? I investigate and analyse for @cyclingweekly.com www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/tour-...

It’s been the intriguing subplot of the Tour de France so far: is Primož Roglič even bothered about doing well? "I don't really care" has replaced "taking it day by day, you know, and I need good legs, eh." What's really going on? www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/does-...

This is great and can be very easily applied to the Tour de France press conferences too. "In many ways the press conference is calibrated to generate... an anti-intimacy, a kind of transactional, mass-produced, lowest-common-denominator slop that fails to get the best out of anyone."