Just caught up on this… Hansen’s the kid in the park who takes his ball home because his team’s not winning. His suggestion to plug the on races to prevent protesters having a platform not only gives them what they want (no IPT racing) but stops everyone else racing too

Start your morning with this on sport and Israel. Reading it, it’s plain that Lappartient is on much the same trajectory as Infantino

Has everyone in Kigali gone on holiday? There’d be more fans at a stage of the Route d’Occitanie. Perhaps they’ve all been working and the weekend’s road races will be mobbed 🤞

A Israeli academic asked his followers on X which sanction would really convince ordinary Israelis that they are isolated internationally. "Expulsion from football tournaments" was the most popular answer, followed by "ending visa-free travel to Europe"

Wonder if he matched Kagame’s 99.18% of the vote?

While politicians procrastinate, sport and sports’ fans are taking a lead with cycling in the vanguard

Looks like the Rwandans like a time trial about as much as most of the rest of us

“There are those who feel that a man more at home pondering handlebar width and aerodynamic sock length, and who garnered only four votes at the recent IOC presidency elections, may now be a little out of his depth.” www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/s...

I can watch MOTD from on the sofa rather than behind it tonight

The UCI states that it and sport should be apolitical but has handed out gongs and championships to dictators and repressive regimes. I can't think of a single thing Lappartient has done to boost elite racing. His UCI presidency has essentially been a way to further his career rather than the sport

~ via Nick Lloyd ~ "Regarding #LaVuelta2025, this will be my only comment: In 1936, Jewish organizations urged a boycott of the Berlin Olympics. Only one country responded to that boycott, organizing a popular Olympics against the Nazi state's whitewashing instead. That country was Spain."

While unprecedented security measures are planned for the Vuelta’s final stage in Madrid the Spanish government is calling for Israeli sports teams including IPT to be barred from international sport in the same way Russian ones are for the “genocide” in Gaza

Thursday’s TT has been shortened “with the aim of ensuring greater protection for the stage”. Whether you agree with IPT’s continued participation or not, it’s clear this Vuelta is more farce than Grand Tour

Sounds like removing the word Israel from the team kit worked a treat

IPT’s latest statement includes the line: “the behaviour of protestors in Bilbao today was not only dangerous, but counterproductive to their cause”. Really? It’s made global headlines and i suspect will trigger more protests in Spain, one of most countries most supportive of the Palestinians

IPT’s latest statement includes the line: “the behaviour of protestors in Bilbao today was not only dangerous, but counterproductive to their cause”. Really? It’s made global headlines and i suspect will trigger more protests in Spain, one of most countries most supportive of the Palestinians

Sports *are* political, especially when we have a peloton full of corporations and state-sponsored teams doing sportswashing. Maybe read what Sylvain Adams has said about his goals for Israel-Premier Tech

Proper football

Widar v Seixas coming up on the climb to Tignes. A preview of future GTs?

Genuinely baffled about riders who decide that now is the perfect time to sign for a team bearing the name of a government that has been committing genocide for a while. It was already weird, but now that public opinion is finally starting to turn it's even more perplexing.

The Salvador Dalí museum that's the backdrop to the Vuelta TTT start is extraordinary. Don't miss it if you're in Catalunya

18 bikes stolen from a Visma team truck last night

Israel, which does not allow foreign journalists into Gaza…has killed 237 journalists since the war started, according to Gaza’s government media office. The Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 186 journalists have been killed in the Gaza conflict. apple.news/At7CSM72NQWe...

I always enjoy reading the TripAdvisor London Forum because I'm fascinated to see what foreign tourists expect, what they ask about and what surprises them. I thought this post from someone from Texas was a really lovely and cheering comment about riding the tube late at night

Today, 6 years ago. We will never forget you, Bjorg Lambrecht. #cycling #cyclingbluesky

51 again!!

“…there is an openness, joy and freedom of expression to the Tour de France Femmes that puts the monastic and secretive world of its occasionally lumbering male counterpart to shame…” www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/a...

French president Emmanuel Macron has just called PFP in the middle of her post-race TV interviews to congratulate her on her victory. It's been some week for French cycling. Four stage wins in a row and now the yellow jersey. It's been a long wait - 35 years since Catherine Marsal

Some week for Visma-LaB too: stage win and yellow for Vos last Saturday, stage win for WVA and 2nd for Jonas Vingegaard at TDF on Sunday, Vos back in yellow on Monday, PFP stage win and yellow on Saturday, PFP stage win and TDFF victory on Sunday

It's going to be some podium: 2025 champion + 2023 champion + 2024 champion

PFP's got such a deceptively easy style. Doesn't look like she's pushing hard, but the gap keeps increasing

So this evening we’re going to see the first French win in the Tour de France since… well… when? Hinault in 85 is what we’re being told, but what about Longo in 89 (TDF Féminin) or Marsal (Tour of the EEC) in 90?

Does anybody give a monkey’s what Longo thinks?

Amazing scenes in Chambéry. Massive crowds. France 1-2 for the second day in a row. Maëva Squiban 🚀

eurosport cuts away to an ad on the Granier and we come back to find Squiban alone on her own at the front and the yellow jersey dropped 🤦‍♂️

The Washington Post just published the names of more than 18,500 children in Gaza killed by Israel. www.washingtonpost.com/world/intera...

Lorena Wiebes "unboxed" herself brilliantly in that final straight for win 15 this season. She's got so much more finishing speed than anyone else that sprints are now a formality. She's not lost one this season, even when leading the bunch in behind a break. Everyone else is racing for 2nd #TDFF25

Four people were arrested in Montmartre on Sunday for throwing nails/tacks into the road on Rue Lepic. The nails were cleared away before the riders climbed the cobbled street

I’d be intrigued to see what would happen if the two finishing circuits in Paris were swapped so that the riders tackled the Butte in Montmartre before the laps on the Champs. Could be an interesting duel between the puncheurs and the sprinters’ teams. What do you think?

This is very good on England’s Euros triumph and the Englishness of the team

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.

No Vuelta for Pogi according to Spanish daily AS. UAE are said to be going with Almeida and Ayuso as leaders. Should be a nice contest between them and Jonas

The Tour ends with a reminder that it’s hard to beat a cobbled Classic in the rain. Great to see Wout van Aert stomping back to his best and also to see that Pogi does struggle occasionally. I’d be happy to see that circuit again but the sprinters should have a couple more stages to compensate

Did England win? French TV’s coverage cut out at the end of extra time

Where to start with that cracking finale to the first stage…? Vos wins, PFP almost wins, Kasia close, Demi and AVDB not far back too, Kopecky nowhere and Reusser abandons. I’ve shaken off my TDF fatigue. I’m well up for another 8 days of this #TDFF

This is the one thing you should definitely read today. Kudos to @cmbreports.bsky.social and Alessandro De Marchi observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

Tomorrow’s stage to La Plagne has been shortened because disease among cattle on the Col des Saisies. That climb has been removed and the stage shortened to 95km. The start time has been pushed back to 2.30