Very good summer training jersey held back slightly by the pockets

Mathieu van der Poel's complicated relationship with the Tour de France got a whole lot better on Sunday as the former world champion surged to a resounding breakaway win - one he likely had targeted long before the race. As Alpecin - Premier Tech endured a frustrating first week in the sprints, man...

One of the pelotons most iconic and enduring partnerships will end in 2027 in the end of an era. The Soudal Quick-Step team will change its name next season and race as Soudal Safety Jogger, after Quick-Step decided to end its spell as title sponsor. The Belgian brands exit closes a relationship...

The Brit finished third behind Mathieu van der Poel on Stage 9, but a piece of asphalt jamm

Tadej Pogacar is two weeks away from winning yet another yellow jersey at the Tour de France as he commands the general classification. In doing so, he would join a legendary club of riders who have won La Grand Boucle five times. Four of cycling's biggest names have won the Tour on five occasions -...

Several fans were reportedly injured at the finish of yesterdays Tour de France stage, from Malemort to Ussel, after a car crashed into the barriers protecting the final kilometre of the course.According to Road.cc, the car was carrying journalists working for L'quipe, a French newspaper.L'quipe itself later reported that eight people, who had been standing behind the barriers waiting to watch the race finish, were injured in the incident and that two of them were taken to hospital.The French newspaper also says the local authorities have opened an investigation into the incident.Earlier this morning, Renaud Breban posted a dramatic photo on X.com showing the extent of the damage to the front of the car. A section of the barricades also appears to be tangled up in the front left wheel. #TDF2026 / Une voiture accrdite de L'quipe a percut des barrires moins de 500 m de l'arrive de la 9e tape du Tour de France Ussel. Huit personnes ont t blesses, dont deux hospitalises. Une enqute a t ouverte pour dterminer les circonstances de l'accident. https://t.co/zywkWzwT7M pic.twitter.com/SPKDa1RUok Renaud Breban (@RenaudB31) July 13, 2026 Amazingly, the incident didnt disrupt the eventual race finish, which was won by Alpecin-Premier Techs Mathieu van der Poel.Barriers were re-erected around the car, enabling the stage to proceed as normal.The incident nevertheless serves as a reminder of the dangers of having the Tour Caravan and its many vehicles on the course.Its not the first time such an accident has occurred, either. In 2013, an Orica GreenEdge team bus got wedged under the finish line gantry in what The Guardian described as a "disastrous" first stage of that years Tour.Although the cause of this particular incident remains unknown, the first week of this year's Tour de France has been marred by extreme heat, with race-leader and defending champion, Tadej Pogaar, calling for cycling's professional calendar to be overhauled in light of this. Despite the incident, the breakaway was able to contest the stage win as normal. Tour de France More on the 2026 Tour de France "Its becoming hotter and hotter every year": how the Tour de France is battling extreme heat Tadej Pogaar calls for radical overhaul of cycling calendar after Tour de France stage shortened due to heatwave UCI changes Tour de France rules in light of extreme heat The Tour de France has lost some of its magic and that could spell trouble for cyclings future Forget VO2 max a Tour de France cyclist's defining quality is their frightening capacity to suffer Who is Isaac del Toro? 4 things you need to know about the Mexican who could be a future Tour de France winner A Tour de France breakaway only has a 2% chance of winning, so why join one? Every team bike at the 2026 Tour de France

Matteo Jorgenson and Visma | Lease a Bike are looking forward to the Tour de France pace slowing down on Monday as the first rest day gives the peloton respite from a relentlessly hot first week. Temperatures have soared in France over the past week and the heat of battle in racing has been even mor...

Summers in the south of France have always been hot, but theyre getting hotter and two heatwaves already this summer have exacerbated conditions.Even in the Deux-Svres department north of Bordeaux rivers have dried up, despite widespread flooding during the winter. Across France, 16% of rivers are reported to have run dry.Theres a high risk of wildfires throughout France, with the Pyrenees particularly affected. That led the Tour de France to tell fans not to travel to watch stage 3, when the race first passed from Spain into France, so that firefighters and police could concentrate on controlling the fires and on rescue operations. It also stopped the pre-race caravan. There has been a series of wildfires across southern France during the current heatwave. Jean-Christophe Milhet / AFP via Getty Images) Oddly, there were no restrictions on the Spanish side of the border, despite Spanish firefighters assisting their French counterparts. The restriction on spectators was lifted for subsequent stages too, although the Tour advised them to seek shade as soon and possible after the race had passed, wear a hat and drink regularly.Exceptionally, Reuters reports, the French Ministry of the Interior gave permission for local officials to cancel stages passing through their jurisdictions, although this hasnt occurred to date.Too hot to ride? Riders are using ice vests to cool down before hot stages. Dario Belingheri / Getty Images Its not only spectators who are impacted by the extreme weather, the Tours organisers, the teams and the UCI cyclings governing body have also had to make changes.Stage 9 on Sunday was shortened by 30km to 155.5km by the race organisers, due to a forecast afternoon peak temperature that could exceed 41 C.Wearing an ice vest to cool down ahead of stage 3, Matteo Trentin of Tudor Pro Cycling commented to WielerFlits: Its for sure not healthy. I dont know if its safe but its for sure not healthy at all. Its always been hot, but lately heatwaves have been different. It doesnt come cool in the night any more.Stages typically start in the early afternoon and are planned to end around 5.30pm peak viewing time but Trentin suggested earlier stage starts in future years, when the air temperature should be cooler.Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe team doctor Samuel Fisser, speaking on the teams YouTube channel said: Its becoming hotter and hotter every year. We focus a lot on cooling and sleep quality, because if they [the riders] sleep well theyre definitely less likely to become sick.Team Cofidis sports director, Bingen Fernndez, told BikeRadar that the real issue is climate change: Were doing things to cool down the body, but we should do things to cool down the planet. Firefighters misted fans at the finish of stage 5 in Pau, where temperatures reached 40oC. Jean-Christophe Chartre / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images Even race leader Tadej Pogaar admitted to having had a headache from the 40oC heat at the start of stage 4 in Carcassonne.Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe were tracking the heat every few kilometres of the course ahead of stage 4, with temperatures forecast to be in the high 30s for the majority of the route and just one 32oC as respite. It had an ice bath prepared for the riders after the stage, with each rider taking it in turns to sit in it as they arrived back at the team bus. Netcompany-Ineos riders cooled down while warming up ahead of the stage 1 team time trial. Tour de France / X.com The heat has been affecting the race right from the start this year. Ahead of the first-stage team time trial in Barcelona, riders from Netcompany-Ineos pedalled to warm up with their forearms resting in plastic tubs of water to help keep them cooler.Riders from other teams, including Visma-Lease a Bike, employed ice socks stuffed down the necks of their skinsuits, but were forced to remove them on the start ramp, because the UCI commissaires judged that they altered the riders morphology, which is not permitted under its extensive race rulebook.The UCI seems to have relaxed the rules for the road stages, though. Youll regularly see team cars handing out ice packs for riders to stuff down their jersey collars to help keep them cooler. Riders will routinely use cooling vests before the start and post-race to help cool them down too.More fluids during the race Keeping cool has become harder during the Tour. A.S.O./Charly Lpez Race director Christian Prudhomme told LEquipe: We ourselves are going to deploy an additional cooling motorcycle. Weve requested extra ice.Thats a measure recommended by the UCIs extreme heat protocol, while other changes to cope with the heat have also been allowed by the UCI. Its relaxed its restrictions on feed zones to allow teams to hand out feed bags containing multiple bottles in areas where theyre normally only allowed to provide single bottles to riders. Tom Pidcock's Pinarello-Q36.5 team went through 160 bottles of water on stage 2. A.S.O./Charly Lpez Tom Pidcock is another rider who has complained of the excessive heat in the early stages of this year's Tour. Speaking to IDL Pro Cycling, Kurt Bogaerts, Pidcocks coach, claimed the Pinarello-Q36.5 teams eight riders had gone through 160 water bottles on stage 2. Most had probably been poured over heads, but thats still an average of 10 litres per rider. Ahead of stage 9, Picnic-PostNL coach Matt Winston claimed the team was going through 28 bottles per rider per stage.Its a far cry from earlier Tours, when until 1968 riders were not allowed to take on extra fluids above two extra bottles during the race. Even into the 1970s, the riders mantra was driest is fastest and riders would restrict their fluid intake during a stage.UCI high temperature protocol invoked Team cars have been handing out additional bottles and ice packs in the heat. Tim de Waele/Getty Images The UCI now has rules governing what is defined as 'hot' during a race and what race organisers should do to mitigate the effects of extreme heat."There is a heat protocol in place for several years now, which takes into account not only the temperature but also humidity, wind and speed, bearing in mind that the riders are top-level athletes, well accustomed to high temperatures," Prudhomme told reporters.The high-temperature protocol was passed as an addendum to the UCI's extreme-weather protocol as recently as 2024 prior to this, the extreme weather this covered had included rain, snow, poor visibility and air pollution, among other hazards, but not high temperatures.The protocol sets heat risk zones based on the wet bulb temperature, which takes account of humidity not just heat, with five temperature zones.In the highest-risk red zone, when wet bulb temperatures exceed 28oC, race organisers can change start times, neutralise part of a race such as a long climb or even cancel the stage.Under the protocol, teams can use additional cooling measures for the riders during races such as ice vests and ice socks, and the race organisers are advised to provide additional neutral service motorbikes carrying liquids and ice packs.Cooling weather for later stages? Week three of the Tour could see heavy rain replace high temperatures in the Alps. Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images Looking at the forecast, the high temperatures look to be abating somewhat, reducing to the low 30s in the Tours second week and maybe below 30oC towards the end of the week.Theres the possibility of rain or thunderstorms in the Alps as the race heads to the final week showdown, although this brings its own risk of extreme conditions. More on the 2026 Tour de France UCI changes Tour de France rules in light of extreme heat The Tour de France has lost some of its magic and that could spell trouble for cyclings future Forget VO2 max a Tour de France cyclist's defining quality is their frightening capacity to suffer Who is Isaac del Toro? 4 things you need to know about the Mexican who could be a future Tour de France winner A Tour de France breakaway only has a 2% chance of winning, so why join one? Every team bike at the 2026 Tour de France

Jasper Philipsen is racing at the Tour de France in what appear to be unreleased Shimano S-Phyre cycling shoes.The shoes look very similar to the current S-Phyre RC903 shoes, potentially with details borrowed from the PWR model thats specifically for sprinters such as Philipsen, time triallists and track cyclists.Shimano released the S-Phyre RC903 shoes in 2022 after months of teasing from Philipsens Alpecin-Premier Tech teammate Mathieu van der Poel and Lorena Wiebes, among others. So its safe to assume Shimano would get any forthcoming shoes out into the wild ahead of a release, even if we have to wait a while for an official launch.It appears Shimano has tweaked the lacing setup on Philipsens new road cycling shoes. The current RC903 has a large section of material that comes across from the instep to the outer and fastens with the upper Boa dial. However, the new shoe features a wraparound that extends only partly across the foot, like on the PWR model.Unlike the PWR, which combines a Boa dial with a Velcro strap across the toebox, Philipsens shoe still has two Boa dials. Its hard to tell from the pictures we have, but we suspect the lower Boa dial has been moved slightly further down the shoe. Jasper Philipsen (right) wearing unreleased Shimano S-Phyre shoes. Dario Belingheri / Getty Images Its possible the forthcoming model could combine Shimanos learnings around the fit at the top of the shoe or the weight-saving of a smaller overlap, with the precision and neatness of two Boa dials, which feels more in keeping with S-Phyres position as the Dura-Ace of Shimanos shoe range.The lacing on the new shoes, which could be called S-Phyre RC904, has also changed. The laces on Shimanos RC903 shoes match the overall colour. But Philipsens white shoes have contrasting black laces.Otherwise, its hard to tell what else has changed on Philipsens shoes. But if Shimanos previous S-Phyre releases are anything to go by, the new shoes will only have incremental changes rather than any drastic changes. More on the 2026 Tour de France "Its becoming hotter and hotter every year": how the Tour de France is battling extreme heat Tadej Pogaar calls for radical overhaul of cycling calendar after Tour de France stage shortened due to heatwave UCI changes Tour de France rules in light of extreme heat The Tour de France has lost some of its magic and that could spell trouble for cyclings future Forget VO2 max a Tour de France cyclist's defining quality is their frightening capacity to suffer Who is Isaac del Toro? 4 things you need to know about the Mexican who could be a future Tour de France winner A Tour de France breakaway only has a 2% chance of winning, so why join one? Every team bike at the 2026 Tour de France

The Slovenian's comments are not the first suggestions of calendar reform from a sport struggling to grapple with the effects of climate change