Red Bull - BORA Hansgrohe and Remco Evenepoel leave the 2026 Tour de France satisfied after they picked up a second place general classification and two stage wins as the curtain closed on the 2026 Tour. Sports director Patxi Vila believes that we are witnessing the best version of Evenepoel as he s...

Tadej Pogacar has joined an even more exclusive club. The Slovenian claimed the 2026 Tour de France on Sunday for the fifth time in his career, matching the greatest legends of the Grande Boucle. After crossing the line in Paris, where he even fought for the stage win with Mathieu van der Poel befor...

Theres not enough leadership or vision from Government to say yes, we do need another tunnel, but future Ministers will blame delays on this project on everybody but the Ministers.Comment & Analysis: Irish Rail has just announced initial public consultation on FourNorth, a project designed to four-track the Northern Line between Connolly Station and Malahide. A rail project thats going in the wrong direction.To be clear: Four tracks, or more importantly, two sets of two tracks, are needed to separate Dart and Intercity services to allow for future growth of the rail system along this important corridor between Dublin, the new outer suburbs around Clongriffin where theres high-density housing, and commuter towns, and Belfast.Its just that a tunnel is a far better idea. While it might not have made the headlines until this week, Irish Rail has been working on Four North since at least 2024, and I want to be clear: Others have suggested a tunnel privately or elsewhere before I am doing so here. Its a suggestion Ive heard repeated by different people who dont always see eye to eye. A large part of the problem is the unwillingness, especially of politicians and the media, to accept the basic fact we need to invest billions in rail projects to catch up with underinvestment since the foundation of the State. In this vein, The Irish Times sends out a poor junior reporter to do vox pops, and the newspaper runs with a headline dismissing the need for the project. This is followed by an endless debate fueled by people (often newspaper columnists) spreading misinformation about public transport. Cheaper, but like BusConnects x100Building FourNorth at ground level, or just below or above it as the line is, would be cheaper than tunnelling. Building extra tracks beside the existing railway is technically possible, but a really bad idea. In some places, theres space that can be used without too much impact. Sadly, that space is not continuous. It should not be any surprise to anybody who knows the Northern Line that this project will require the demolition of a number of houses and 5-6km+ of urban trees and greenery along the tracks within the city alone. People who support the project can make all the arguments in the world about the common good, and Ill agree with them. The problem is that the opposition to this will be like BusConnects on steroids. And BusConnects showed that too many of our politicians are willing not only to represent people, but to make hay of issues.There will be quite a lot of disruption from this project stations will need to be relocated, road bridges will need to be extended, footbridges replaced if possible, and the Dart and Belfast services put off the rails for extended periods of many months.Businesses, parts of school yards, sports pitches, green areas, parts of farms, even playgrounds could be affected. Nothing that cannot be overcome, but BusConnects and other projects show that, along with legitimate concerns, a lot of political hay will be made.Many gardens will be affected, and unlike BusConnects, these will be back gardens which these days are more like extensions of houses. And because of the elevated or trench-like nature of different parts of the line, even the need for temporary possession of some extra lengths of land will eat into gardens quite a lot.Opposition on a project like this can delay it by years or even a decade or more. Adding risk and cost. But this kind of politically fueled indecision and delay is the kind senior politicians often shy away from talking about.MetroLink will involve demolishing a city centre apartment block and other properties, but its not the same thing. The need for a mostly underground metro to be able to build stations in congested areas is more understandable for the general public than four-tracking an existing railway line.The sad fact is that suburban house owners hold more political clout than city centre apartment renters or owners.A key difference is also that the plan for four-tracking in the All-Island Strategic Rail Review plans to have the intercity line divert away from the Northern Line after Clongriffin to link with the airport and bypass the current line this M1-aligned rail corridor is even mentioned in the Four North consultation page. A tunnel would not be a downgrade; itd be an upgrade.IMAGE: Extract from the All-Island Strategic Rail Review.For intercity or other express services to the airport and towards Belfast, a more direct tunnel as in the image below makes more sense. And Im not saying thats the only option that should be looked at this is the perfect time to look at the full Belfast-Dublin-Cork connection. A vision for a connected island. Clearly it still is a big ask to add another mega project, but for the Four North project, were talking about a project which isnt going to see the light of day at least until most of the current Dart+ projects are finished. If were to follow what experts have said, we should have a tunnel project lined up well in advance of MetroLink being finished. This could be it.We need the ability to say that Ireland will need decades to catch up on our public transport infrastructure and to be clear, this would be of regional and national benefit, not just another project for Dublin.The tunnel might cost more, but looking at it as an option now is a far better idea than trying to plough ahead with surface four-tracking only to find out its politically untenable or that the delays are so significant that tunnelling would look better and better as the years drag on.IMAGE: The existing Northern Line in green and the concept of a more direct tunnel in blue.

The 2026 Tour de France classifications will shift across three weeks of racing, from the Grand Dpart in Barcelona on 4 July to the final stage in Paris on 26 July. Across time trials, sprint stages, breakaway opportunities, and the high mountains, each day can alter the shape of the race for the y...

Mathieu van der Poel won a brilliant 21st stage of the Tour de France on Sunday after escaping with yellow jersey Tadej Pogaar on the final ascent of the Montmartre climb during the Paris final.In an extraordinarily tense final, Van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Pogaar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) took 12 seconds onto the Champs Elyses, leading a large group of chasers, including sprinters and their lead outs. With their lead down to just five seconds inside the last kilometre, Pogaar was unable to maintain his effort, but Van der Poel forged on, winning the stage by a bike length form his team mate Jasper Philipsen. Green jersey Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was third.With the GC times decided before the first of three longer laps up the Montmartre climb, which remained in the route after its debut last year, Tadej Pogaar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) confirmed his fifth overall win at the Tour de France. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was second overall and Pogaar's team mate, Isaac Del surviving a poorly timed mechanical to take third and the best young rider classification.Pogaar was never lower than fourth on GC, taking the yellow jersey on stage three, ceding it, then never relinquishing it after reclaiming the race lead on stage six. Not only that but he won five stages en route to a record equalling fifth overall win, again unarguably confirming him among the sport's greatest ever.More to follow...

Mathieu van der Poel has completed a sensational Tour de France triumph to sprint away from Tadej Pogacar and hold off the sprinters in a photo finish on the Champs-Elysees in a thrilling finale to the 2026 Tour de France. Tadej Pogacar has officially won the 2026 Tour de France, securing the yello...

Good afternoon and welcome to the Tour de France liveblog. The 21st and final stage of the 113th edition of the Grand Boucle is underway this Sunday and, as always, it is a day for cyclings great celebration in Paris. Following the huge success of last years route, which produced a fabulous atmosp...

Remco Evenepoel believes this Tour de France has re-affirmed his belief that he can achieve his biggest career goal and his yellow jersey dream will roll on. The Belgian rider arrives at the Champs-Elysees second place in the general classification after a strong Tour showing. Evenepoel has two stag...

The 2026 Tour de France takes place from 4 to 26 July. Over 21 stages, the peloton tackles high mountains, sprint finishes, cobblestones, as well as individual and team time trials, with the worlds best riders on the start line. We explain how the prize money is distributed. The total prize purse f...

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