Nike is edging closer to reclaiming a leading role in professional cycling. After more than a decade away from the peloton, the U.S. multinational has stepped up its presence through deals with teams, riders, and specialist manufacturers, signalling a phased return to the sport. Although the compa...

The first edition of the South Molton Grand Prix saw two surprise winners.In the open category, Jed Smithson (Hagens Berman-Jayco) soloed to his fi rst National Road Series win on his first appearance on the start line, while Lucy Harris (Draft Racing) won the womens race in only her second appearance at the series this year.The Hagens Berman-Jayco rider attacked his breakaway companions on the steep climbs of the final lap and crossed the line 26 seconds ahead of the rest.The way it played out was a surprise for him as much as for anyone else. He said: I am normally a sprinter, but of course, you know, youve got to try and race diff erently as well. And winning solo, you know that youre guaranteed the win.He added: Ive never actually done a National A race before, so I really did not know what to expect. But I knew that UK racing is always particularly hard. Its always on the pedals.The podium was filled by Ollie Wood (Rapha CC), who won the small group sprint behind Smithson, and road series leader Thomas Armstrong (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli). Earlier, in the womens race, it was also a less frequent competitor on the UK scene that triumphed. (Image credit: Alan Danby/SWpix.com)Lucy Harriss biggest win to date was on the CiCLE Classic in 2025, and she has raced only one National Series event this year.But the Draft Racing rider attacked on the series of finishing climbs to solo away. I reached the point where I wanted to attack and just fully committed to that attack, which almost went badly wrong because my chain slipped and I had to sit up and then go again," she said. "It was much later than I would normally leave it in a race because Im really not much of a sprinter. But it seemed to be just about enough to hold off a very strong Lily Martin (Loughborough Lightning).The podium was completed by Jennifer Powell (Performance Development Team). Harris, who attributes her success to a relaxed atmosphere in the team where she can pick her own races, will now turn her attention to a 24-hour mountain bike relay she is set to ride this weekend.Smithson, meanwhile, hopes to ride the Tour de lAvenir in late August and will aim to make it into the Great Britain squad for the Under-23 World Championships in September.

Very good endurance-focused shorts with a great pad, useful pockets and lightly compressive fit

In the latest update in the Tour de France night doping test story, Red Bull - BORA Hansgrohe team manager Ralph Denk has confirmed that the team was also visited for night time tests on Monday night into Tuesday morning. The news comes after Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard were the subject of ni...

After a rest day on Monday, the Tour de France starts again today (21 July) with the stage 16 time trial from vian-les-Bains to Thonon-les-Bains.The 26.1km course is the only individual time trial of this years Tour de France and it combines a climb, a descent and a flat finish along Lake Geneva.Race director Christian Prudhomme described the course as an explosive cocktail that would provide those who lost time in the Vosges the opportunity to regain some of it before the race heads for the Alps. Read more: My 10 favourite Tour de France time trial bikes, from the 1980s to the present dayAs the reigning world and Olympic champion, Remco Evenepoel is also the favourite for the stage win. After Jonas Vingegaard abandoned the race on Sundays stage 15, Evenepoel will also want to cement his second place in the general classification, where hes 58 seconds ahead of Isaac Del Toro in third.Only 25 seconds separates Florian Lipowitz in fifth from Paul Seixas in fourth, so there could be further jostling among the top five.Whatever happens, Tadej Pogacar will likely remain untroubled in yellow with his lead of five minutes over Evenepoel. The defending champion may have ambitions to extend his total stage wins further to 26, unless he wants to play it safe on the stages winding descent. The stage starts and ends on Lake Geneva. The stage provides an "explosive cocktail", according to race director Christian Prudhomme.The time trial is a big opportunity for Netcompany-Ineos, who have had an underwhelming Tour so far. Filippo Ganna is the most likely to trouble Evenepoel for the stage win, and this will be Brit Josh Tarlings biggest opportunity for victory.As usual, the riders will start in reverse order of the general classification. That means Bahrain Victorious Kamil Gradek will be the first to roll down the start ramp at 1pm CET (12pm BST).Tarling will start at 1.25.30pm CET (12.25.30pm BST) and Ganna will start at 1.58.30pm CET (12.58.30pm BST).It will be several hours before the top riders in the general classification begin their rides. TotalEnergies Jordan Jegat is 10th overall and will start at 4.57pm CET (3.57pm BST). Evenepoel will start at 5.13pm CET (4.13pm BST) and Pogaar, the last rider of the day, will begin at 5.15pm CET (4.15pm BST).Tour de France stage 16 start times and start order Order Time (CET) Rider Team 1 13:00:00 Kamil Gradek TBV 2 13:01:30 Lewis Askey NSN 3 13:03:00 Cees Bol DCT 4 13:04:30 Matis Louvel NSN 5 13:06:00 Olav Kooij DCT 6 13:07:30 Phil Bauhaus TBV 7 13:09:00 Julius Van den Berg TPP 8 13:10:30 Piet Allegaert COF 9 13:12:00 Baptiste Veistroffer LOI 10 13:13:30 Milan Fretin COF 11 13:15:00 Davide Ballerini XAT 12 13:16:30 Jake Stewart NSN 13 13:18:00 John Degenkolb TPP 14 13:19:30 Jenthe Biermans COF 15 13:21:00 Pascal Eenkhoorn SOQ 16 13:22:30 Marco Haller TUD 17 13:24:00 Pascal Ackermann JAY 18 13:25:30 Joshua Tarling NCI 19 13:27:00 Jasper Philipsen APT 20 13:28:30 Silvan Dillier APT 21 13:30:00 Max Kanter XAT 22 13:31:30 Niklas Mrkl TPP 23 13:33:00 Huub Artz LOI 24 13:34:30 Pavel Bittner TPP 25 13:36:00 Sren Wrenskjold UXM 26 13:37:30 Edoardo Affini TVL 27 13:39:00 Biniam Girmay NSN 28 13:40:30 Tim Marsman APT 29 13:42:00 Krists Neilands NSN 30 13:43:30 Daan Hoole DCT 31 13:45:00 Dylan van Baarle SOQ 32 13:46:30 Joel Nicolau CJR 33 13:48:00 Robbe Dhondt TPP 34 13:49:30 Julian Alaphilippe TUD 35 13:51:00 Liam Slock LOI 36 13:52:30 Dorian Godon NCI 37 13:54:00 Aaron Gate XAT 38 13:55:30 Hugo Page COF 39 13:57:00 Micha Kwiatkowski NCI 40 13:58:30 Filippo Ganna NCI 41 14:00:00 Stefano Oldani CJR 42 14:01:30 Mike Teunissen XAT 43 14:03:00 Jakub Otruba CJR 44 14:04:30 Alex Kirsch COF 45 14:06:00 Fred Wright PQT 46 14:07:30 Anthony Turgis TEN 47 14:09:00 Florian Vermeersch UEX 48 14:10:30 Jonas Rickaert APT 49 14:12:00 Edward Planckaert APT 50 14:13:30 Georg Steinhauser EFE 51 14:15:00 Thibault Guernalec TEN 52 14:16:30 Xabier Azparren PQT 53 14:18:00 Luke Durbridge JAY 54 14:19:30 Benjamin Thomas COF 55 14:21:00 Simone Velasco XAT 56 14:22:30 Robert Stannard TBV 57 14:24:00 Michel Hemann MOV 58 14:25:30 Tim van Dijke RBH 59 14:27:00 Frank van den Broek TPP 60 14:28:30 Max Walker EFE 61 14:30:00 Per Strand Hagenes TVL 62 14:31:30 Warren Barguil TPP 63 14:33:00 Michael Storer TUD 64 14:34:30 Nico Denz RBH 65 14:36:00 Sebastian Berwick CJR 66 14:37:30 Felix Engelhardt JAY 67 14:39:00 Emiel Verstrynge APT 68 14:40:30 Magnus Cort Nielsen UXM 69 14:42:00 Damien Howson PQT 70 14:43:30 Marco Frigo NSN 71 14:45:00 Nicolya Vinokurov XAT 72 14:46:30 Brent Van Moer PQT 73 14:48:00 Toms Skuji LTK 74 14:49:30 Georg Zimmermann LOI 75 14:51:00 Jan Tratnik RBH 76 14:52:30 Jonas Abrahamsen UXM 77 14:54:00 Mads Pedersen LTK 78 14:55:30 Mathis Le Berre TEN 79 14:57:00 Jefferson Cepeda MOV 80 14:58:30 Kasper Asgreen EFE 81 15:00:00 Matej Mohori TBV 82 15:01:30 Luke Plapp JAY 83 15:03:00 Matteo Vercher TEN 84 15:04:30 George Bennett NSN 85 15:06:00 Bruno Armirail TVL 86 15:07:30 Vlad Van Mechelen TBV 87 15:09:00 Clment Russo GFC 88 15:10:30 Nils Politt UEX 89 15:12:00 Rick Pluimers TUD 90 15:13:30 Jasper Stuyven SOQ 91 15:15:00 Nelson Oliveira MOV 92 15:16:30 Lorenzo Germani GFC 93 15:18:00 Mathieu van der Poel APT 94 15:19:30 Victor Campenaerts TVL 95 15:21:00 Louis Vervaeke SOQ 96 15:22:30 Alex Aranburu COF 97 15:24:00 Anders Johannessen UXM 98 15:25:30 Ewen Costiou GFC 99 15:27:00 Quentin Pacher GFC 100 15:28:30 Ben Healy EFE 101 15:30:00 Damiano Caruso TBV 102 15:31:30 Alexandre Delettre TEN 103 15:33:00 Michael Matthews JAY 104 15:34:30 Javier Romo MOV 105 15:36:00 Lars Craps LOI 106 15:37:30 Anders Skaarseth UXM 107 15:39:00 Michael Valgren EFE 108 15:40:30 Romain Grgoire GFC 109 15:42:00 Joris Delbove TEN 110 15:43:30 Nicolas Breuillard TEN 111 15:45:00 Xandro Meurisse PQT 112 15:46:30 Aurlien Paret-Peintre DCT 113 15:48:00 Clment Braz Afonso GFC 114 15:49:30 Abel Balderstone CJR 115 15:51:00 Tim Wellens UEX 116 15:52:30 Marc Hirschi TUD 117 15:54:00 Mathias Vacek LTK 118 15:55:30 Mauro Schmid JAY 119 15:57:00 Mattia Cattaneo RBH 120 15:58:30 Sergio Higuita XAT 121 16:00:00 Ion Izagirre COF 122 16:01:30 Alex Baudin EFE 123 16:03:00 Jose Felix Parra CJR 124 16:04:30 Valentin Paret-Peintre SOQ 125 16:06:00 Tobias Foss NCI 126 16:07:30 Ben O'Connor JAY 127 16:09:00 Ral Garca MOV 128 16:10:30 Harold Tejada XAT 129 16:12:00 Matthew Riccitello DCT 130 16:13:30 Quinten Hermans PQT 131 16:15:00 Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet GFC 132 16:16:30 Antonio Tiberi TBV 133 16:18:00 Maxim Van Gils RBH 134 16:19:30 Felix Groschartner UEX 135 16:21:00 Matteo Jorgenson TVL 136 16:22:30 Kvin Vauquelin NCI 137 16:24:00 Derek Gee LTK 138 16:25:30 Thymen Arensman NCI 139 16:27:00 Pablo Castrillo MOV 140 16:28:30 Lennert Van Eetvelt LOI 141 16:30:00 Einer Rubio MOV 142 16:31:30 Quinn Simmons LTK 143 16:33:00 Carlos Verona LTK 144 16:34:30 Jai Hindley RBH 145 16:36:00 Tiesj Benoot DCT 146 16:37:30 Nicolas Prodhomme DCT 147 16:39:00 Sean Quinn EFE 148 16:40:30 Brandon McNulty UEX 149 16:42:00 Tobias Johannessen UXM 150 16:43:30 Sepp Kuss TVL 151 16:45:00 Egan Bernal NCI 152 16:47:00 Davide Piganzoli TVL 153 16:49:00 Adam Yates UEX 154 16:51:00 Ilan Van Wilder SOQ 155 16:53:00 Richard Carapaz EFE 156 16:55:00 Yannis Voisard TUD 157 16:57:00 Jordan Jegat TEN 158 16:59:00 Tom Pidcock PQT 159 17:01:00 Lenny Martinez TBV 160 17:03:00 Mattias Skjelmose LTK 161 17:05:00 Juan Ayuso LTK 162 17:07:00 Florian Lipowitz RBH 163 17:09:00 Paul Seixas DCT 164 17:11:00 Isaac del Toro UEX 165 17:13:00 Remco Evenepoel RBH 166 17:15:00 Tadej Pogacar UEX Edit Table

Warming up for Tour de France stages has gone from being a marginal gain to a default protocol for time trials and hard-start road stages. In the extremely high temperatures at this year's race, achieving the goals of a warm-up without overheating and compromising performance is a physiological and logistical challenge. We asked EF EducationEasyPost's performance coach and technical innovation strategist Jacob Tipper and Wahoo's cycling category director Tyler Harris how the WorldTour outfit overcomes this using sports science, the latest technology and old-fashioned tricks.(Image credit: Getty Images)The science behind warming upIn a blistering heat wave, 'warming up' sounds counterproductive, so why do Tour de France riders do this?Sports scientist Tipper says, "A warm-up has to tick a few boxes. The one a lot of people forget is mental preparation. Psychologically, you still need to get yourself ready for exercise."You also want to increase core body temperature to an extent and increase vasodilation, the widening of blood vessels. As you breathe harder and exhale more carbon dioxide, that triggers more blood flow."And then you want warmer muscles, which good studies show are better for muscle contraction than colder muscles, and neuromuscular activation. That's the ability of the muscles to contract properly. Riders will sometimes work with bands to activate their glutes, and some guys do a few rev-outs on the turbo."Finally, you want to activate your VO2 [oxygen uptake] kinetics, which is essentially how well you are switched on aerobically and how efficiently you can use energy. Like when you restart a ride with 'cafe legs', your threshold will be lower than usual if your aerobic engine isn't switched on."(Image credit: Getty Images)What riders are trying to avoid in warm ups"All these things have a fine line," adds Tipper. "You don't want to tire yourself out, empty glycogen stores, or cause a lot of muscle damage. "You don't want to burn the mental matches you need to save for when push comes to shove in the race."From a core temperature perspective, you don't want to get too warm [since this lowers VO2 max] because in the Tour de France it's been very hot and we don't have a really hard start."This contrasts the approach of some track cyclists, who might need to go all-out from the gun, and wear ice vests and heated trousers to make their leg muscles much warmer than their core. Ahead of a longer effort, Tipper says: "You may decide to compromise and start with lower core body temperature, so you don't feel as good off the line but stay cooler for longer.""You are always trying to balance these things with the type and importance of the event. At the team time trial in Barcelona we had crazy hot temperatures, so keeping the core as cool as possible, relatively speaking, was important, but in the first few turns you had to ride at 500 watts, so you still had to be warm. That's the compromise between these two objectives."(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)How riders stay cool while warming upAs you've probably seen at stage starts and at the start of the team time trial in Barcelona at the Grand Depart, riders are wearing ice vests and chilled towels, eating slushies, and getting blasted by fans. NetcompanyIneos even dunked their forearms in cold water while waiting to start in Barcelona. Like other teams sponsored by Wahoo, EF EducationEasyPost warms up on Kickr V6 smart trainers in front of Kickr Headwind smart fans. Elite's Aria smart fan does the same job for teams supported by the Italian brand."The Kickr Headwind automatically adjusts airflow based on real-time sensor data," says Wahoo's Harris. "Users can pair up to five supported sensors including heart rate, power, and core body temperature, and Headwind dynamically increases or decreases cooling based on the athlete's effort. "For example, it can respond to a combination of power output and rising body temperature rather than simply running at a fixed speed. The result is a more personalised cooling experience that helps riders stay comfortable during and after their hardest efforts."However, Tipper says: "We are not looking at the Core sensor in the warm-up and trying to stay below a certain core body temperature because it does not react quickly and accurately enough. "If someone goes badly in a race, we might look into whether core body temperature goes too high in the warm-up, as research afterward. That is where we are at the moment in terms of our learnings and developing our understanding.""Using the Core sensor, you could create a warm-up that doesn't overcook you. If before the Zwift races when your core body temperature gets to 39C in the warm-up, you prematurely blow up, there are almost definitely things you can take from that, but that's not what we are doing with it right now."During warm-ups, riders will follow the nutritional plan laid out by the team, whether that involves caffeine, carbs or bicarb, for example, while avoiding getting depleted. "The warm-up shouldn't do any nutritional harm and should keep you topped up on whatever you're losing fluid, electrolytes, carbs, etc," says Tipper. (Image credit: Getty Images)Cooling down on and off the bikeRacers will also cool down post-stage depending on the demands of the day. "Not everyone has the fun opportunity to finish with a full-gas sprint on top of the Tourmalet," says Tipper. "Guys who have chilled in a group further back or in the grupetto have basically done a cool down on the road."I hate the phrase 'flushing the legs out' but the idea is to keep blood flowing post-stage."It seems at this year's race that teams have upgraded their post-race cooling, with some switching from ice-filled paddling pools to dedicated trucks, the idea being that prolonged exposure to frigid temperatures reduces inflammation and thereby speeding recovery. But the scientific jury is out as to whether ice baths (and inflammation-reducing antioxidants in the form of cherry juice, for example) are beneficial even at demanding stage races like the Tour."Decreasing inflammation could have a negative long-term effect and it's debated how harmful it can be during a race," says Tipper. "Inflammation is a main driver of repair and proper growth, so if you did these things after every session you'd be worse off."At the Tour it's a fine line between feeling that you could be improving and getting so beat up that it's better to have a bit less inflammation, so you can perform that bit better the next day rather than feeling crap."After the succession of gruelling mountain days in the final week, an ice bath could benefit a lot of riders in the short-term at least, if they use them properly."Jumping in a cold paddling pool for a minute isn't doing a fat lot physiologically," says Tipper. "It's a nice relief, but unless you're spending enough time in there, it's offering no more than a cold shower."

Despite taking a mountain-top finish victory over Tadej Pogacar and Isaac del Toro on Sunday, one analyst still has doubts around Remco Evenepoel's consistency in the Tour de France high mountains. The Red Bull - BORA Hansgrohe rider picked up his first-ever Tour road race stage and definitively bea...

Tom Pidcocks in that group, my colleague Tom said to me atop Le Markstein as, for the first time, we watched the race cross the finish line on Saturdays stage 14 of the Tour de France, straining as everyone else did to watch the action unfold. My answer was probably not as succinct as no, he cant be, but it was something similar. In between the rain storms in the Vosges, we managed to get a glimpse of the actual action the first time Id actually seen the bike race Im writing about in person in the nine days Id been out here. It might surprise readers how little journalists at the Tour actually see of the Tour, or how hard it is for us to keep up with whats going on in each stage as it goes on, as we encounter a series of logistical hurdles, from driving, to checkpoints, to buying lunch as the press room has no food again.I had completely missed Pidcocks presence in the first chase group, in front of the peloton, as they powered past us on Le Markstein, and it did seem unlikely, hence my sense of disbelief. The day after the Pinarello Q36.5 rider had escaped up the road to Belfort, flying up to fourth on general classification, he was there again. Surely, the original effort had taken it out of him, but on checking the race situation, there he was, outstandingly. Not to win, necessarily, but to try and build a buffer on the GC riders behind him, before the final climb. Looking back at the video I took of them cresting the climb, on Pidcocks wheel was Quinn Simmons of Lidl-Trek, the American champion standing out in his stars and stripes jersey. He hadnt been out in front the day before, but the pair had both been away in another of the races key breakaway days, on stage nine to Ussel.The next day, there they were again, on the road to Plateau du Solaison. Both Pidcock and Simmons made it into the days escape, and were there until the final climb, Simmons essentially the final man to be caught by the group of favourites. Neither Pidcock nor Simmons have won a stage yet at this Tour de France, but few could accuse them of not trying; between them, they have three stage podiums, and a handful of most combative prizes between them. Aside from the riders at the top of the general classification and the stage winners, they have been my standout riders of this years race, always visible, always trying.As Pidcock put it post-stage 15: Has anyone ever been in the breakaway three days in a row in the top 10? I dont think so. Tadej [Pogaar] can break loads of records, but so can I. The Briton is in the odd position of being in the top 10, in ninth, but being eight minutes ahead of his nearest rival, Jordan Jegat of TotalEnergies. Therefore, he can put energy into trying to get up the road, to animate the race. Top 10 overall at the Tour would be huge for Pidcock, and his ProTeam, but a stage win would probably mean more. He almost has a free role in this final week. Simmons is almost doing his own thing; he helped his Lidl-Trek teammate Mads Pedersen to a stage win on stage five, and has put work into the green jersey challenge, and Juan Ayusos bid for the top five, but has also seemingly got into the break whenever he wants to. There might be some Anglophone bias at work here credit should be given to Lotto Intermarchs Baptiste Veistroffer for his efforts out front too but while the yellow jersey battle has been over for almost two weeks now, Im glad Simmons and Pidcock have kept active, kept heading up the road, kept trying to do something different. The Tour de France is better for them. With five more chances, can either get the stage win they crave? Either way, they will be in the breakaway once again, standing out. This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.

Tadej Pogacar has held the yellow jersey for most of the 2026 Tour de France, but despite the attention and prestige that comes with his domination of the race and cycling in recent seasons, one humble action has blown away his UAE Team Emirates - XRG teammates. The world champion is famously gracio...

The 2026 Tour de France night doping test saga has continued to unfold as it's reported that a wave of night tests took place on Monday night, on the eve of stage 16. With reports first emerging that Red Bull - BORA Hansgrohe were visited and underwent tests, it's now been reported that three other...