Tour de France

Three riders had homes searched in advance of Copenhagen hotel operation.

The team insist they are focused on competition but their pre-race press conferences on Thursday consisted of a string of raid-related questions that went unanswered. It relates to the potential “acquisition, transportation, possession and importing of a prohibited substance or method for use by an athlete without justification by members of Team Bahrain Victorious" according to last year's police statement. Bahrain Victorious' Damiano Caruso told Cyclingnews on Thursday that he was one of the riders, but the others have not been identified.

Denmark will become the 10th country to host the opening stages before the event returns to familiar terrain in France, with fabled stages such as the climb to ...

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Our in-depth look at every team, the main riders to watch and the cast of characters competing in the Tour de France 2022.

With, for example, 125 points available for 12th overall in the Tour, that could mean in the final week of the race teams may start to become more interested in consolidating their position in the UCI’s team rankings, to guarantee they take home a certain number of points, than in taking risks which might compromise their future. George Bennett, Rafal Majka, Marc Soler and Brandon McNulty will be a force in the mountains while Marc Bjerg, Marc Hirschi and Vegard Stake Laengen can shepherd the young prodigy on the flat. Mads Pedersen will figure in the sprints, Jasper Stuyven, Toms Skuijns and Giulio Ciccone are strong riders for a break, while the young American Quinn Simmons is capable of pretty much anything on any terrain. As of 21 June, there were six teams involved in cycling’s first relegation battle: Israel-Premiertech, Lotto Soudal, BikeExchange, EF Education, Movistar and Cofidis; Lotto Soudal and Israel-Premiertech were in the “relegation zone” in 19th and 20th place. World champion Julian Alaphilippe didn’t make the cut as he is short of fitness following a serious crash, while French champion Florian Sénéchal was called in late for “Tractor” Tim Declercq. Apart from Jakobsen, Italian Mattia Cattaneo will want to build on his 12th place overall of last year. Can the Jumbo juggernaut flatten Pogacar? Perhaps, but only if all the key men stay in one piece and everyone plays the team game to perfection. Past flirtations with multiple leaders have never worked so Spain’s finest are focussed on one man, Enric Mas, who looks to improve on his fifth and sixth places in 2020 and 2021. If he flops, Philippe Gilbert remains talented in spite of his advanced age, while Andreas Kron can finish in the top 15. Cort nailed three stages in the Vuelta last year while past Giro stage winners Guerriero and Bettiol could also get their chance. That doesn’t bode well for the Tour, where they will figure in breaks and vie for the mountains prize when the big boys aren’t too bothered. The German team shone in 2020 with three stage wins but fell apart in 2021. Several potential stage winners here – Damiano Caruso, Jack Haig, Matej Mohoric, Dylan Teuns and Fred Wright – but the big question is whether Caruso can replicate his form at last year’s Giro, where he came second and won a stage.

Is it too early to begin the Tadej Pogačar-Eddy Merckx comparisons? At this point, probably not. At just 23 years old, Pogačar already has two Tour de ...

202.5 km (125.8 miles) 193 km (119.9 miles) -- -- 148.5 km (92.3 miles) 193 km (119.9 miles) 186.5 km (115.9 miles) 202.5 km (125.8 miles) 193 km (119.9 miles) 148.5 km (92.3 miles) 193 km (119.9 miles) 186.5 km (115.9 miles)

“I received the visit of the police on Monday morning at 11 like other people in the team,” Moulin told CyclingTips. “I was about to start my appointments with ...

“I spoke with some of the guys, yes, because they investigated all of the people from last year at the time,” Moulin says. Every year is the same.” “I spoke a bit this morning with the doc, he’s completely down, a lack of energy because it was 14 hours for him, worse than me. By the end they explained to me it was the thing from the Tour last year. He’s disappointed because he’s saying he’s not doing this job to have that kind of problems. The search lasted five hours and was conducted by around 15-20 police officers, he believes.

Ahead of the Tour de France, we break down the key elements of cycling's biggest race, and find out who Melbourne premiership skipper Max Gawn picks to ...

This is decided on the cumulative times of the teams’ three best-placed riders per stage. Points awarded at each depend on the severity of the ascent. Prizemoney is also awarded throughout, to the daily leader and those who place on intermediate primes. The points classification caters to pure sprinters and riders suited to hilly, undulating stages. At Tour’s end, the overall winner of the classification is known as the “king of the mountains”. They will sometimes sacrifice a stage win, with their yellow jersey ambitions in mind, playing the long game and choosing to instead mark rivals, or conserve energy and manage accumulative fatigue. In addition to that is six flat stages where the entire peloton will arrive at the finish line together and the sprinters, like Australian Caleb Ewan, Sam Bennett, Dylan Groenewegen and Fabio Jakobsen, will be positioned at the front, hitting speeds of up to 70 km/h to contest for the win. Weight is a huge performance gain at the Tour, and competitors, with their bowed limbs can walk a fine line between being lithe enough to compete, and underweight. There is a no-needle policy in cycling too, so the best pain relief you’re going to get is something like paracetamol. Each stage is the equivalent in level, expectation and pressure of an AFL premiership, NRL grand final or Super Bowl, though subject to global adulation and ridicule. There is no let up at the Tour, no opportunity to go home and reset for the next match if you’re having a bad mental health day, no substitutions if you’re injured or ill. The unique logistics of the race means hotels are more often than not basic, sometimes less than basic, and twin-share accommodation is the norm.

Every July, the CyclingTips Podcast goes daily and comes straight to your ears from the ground in France (or Denmark, as it were.).

Ben O'Connor and Jack Haig hunt for GC glory, while Caleb Ewan and Michael Matthews aim to star in sprints.

Then at the Vuelta a España he came third on one stage as he attempted to chase down solo victor Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates) alongside Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma). Perhaps on his debut at the Tour de France he’ll be able to make it a complete Grand Tour podium set. But it's hard to write off the two-time Vuelta stage winner as an outside chance of a good result, if he finds himself in the right break. Earlier this year, the team talked of his potential to be a surprise package and while his results this season have been largely unremarkable he has shown some promising glimmers of form. But that doesn’t mean Michael Matthews – who moved back to BikeExchange-Jayco at the start of 2021 after missing Tour de France selection at Team Sunweb – is out of the picture. Ewan has only finished two of the Grand Tours he’s lined up for, but this Tour de France could make it a third, giving Australians a home nation sprinter with serious prospects to cheer for right through to the prestigious last stage on the Champs-Elysées. Racing for a team that’s completely focused on stage victories, however, could make this Tour de France an opportunity to improve on that. When Ben O'Connor took a stage victory in Tignes on stage 9 of the Tour de France in 2021 and shifted to second on the GC, then held near the top of the overall to finish fourth in Paris he blew any chance of flying under the radar ever again. Now, with the confidence of that result behind him, Haig heads into the Tour de France for take two of his previously truncated GC assault. His team aren't putting a number on the GC ambitions, but clearly have high hopes, and rightly so as O'Connor is riding into the Tour on the back of a podium performance at the Critérium du Dauphiné, behind Jumbo-Visma's two key contenders in July, Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard. However, as much as he impressed with his adept and calm approach when thrust into the spotlight last year, it can't be overlooked that it's a different level of pressure and expectation to withstand this year. Through last year's chaotic crash-ridden stage 1 of the Tour de France and the splits of a punchy stage 2 Jack Haig looked to have played his GC hand with aplomb, sitting in sixth overall and among the top four overall contenders. As O'Connor said in his pre-Tour media conference "last year was a breakthrough, but now it’s clear which direction as a rider I’m aiming for”. That means he is entering this edition with targeted training, another year of experience and unquestioning team support – definitely all factors in O'Connors favour.

The 2022 Tour de France kicks off on Friday, July 1st with a pan-flat, 13.2 km time trial in Copenhagen that will offer the time trial specialists a chance ...

They’re a bit all over the place, with a lump of key riders right after 5:00 pm local time. Wind is supposed to pick up after 5 pm, and light rain is possible. Riders will pass iconic landmarks such as the Tivoli Gardens and the Little Mermaid, and at the end, somebody gets to wear the Tour’s first yellow jersey.