Tadej Pogacar became the first Slovenian to win the Tour de France after he retained the yellow jersey in the 21st stage on Sunday, a day after he pulled off a major coup to take the overall lead.
Chris Froome seized early control of the Tour de France, the 2013 champion snatching the yellow jersey after a crash-marred third stage won by Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez on Monday.
Lilian Calmejane rode fought off a bout of cramp to claim a dramatic solo win in the eighth stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, as the overall favourites stayed quiet on the eve of a punishing day in the Jura mountains.
Chris Froome showed again he will attack his rivals on every terrain as the Briton extended his overall lead in the Tour de France with a surprising move in Wednesday's 11th stage, which was won with panache by world champion Peter Sagan.
Michael Matthews completed his set of grand tour victories when he prevailed in the 10th stage of the Tour de France at the end of a royal breakaway on Tuesday.
The seventh stage of the Tour de France burst into life at the finish on Friday as Marcel Kittel claimed his third victory in this year's edition, pipping Edvald Boasson Hagen to the line in the final sprint.
Geraint Thomas was in prime position to win his maiden Tour de France after he retained the overall leader's yellow jersey in a lively 19th stage won by Slovenian Primoz Roglic as defending champion Chris Froome slipped down to fourth on Friday.
Former Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso withdrew from the Tour de France on Monday after revealing he has testicular cancer.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Wednesday defended the Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) system after some athletes' confidential medical data was leaked by a group of Russian hackers, shedding light on potential abuse.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Spain's Gorka Izagirre took second place and Yates finished third, 15 seconds behind.
The overall standings remained unchanged at the top with Thomas leading defending champion Froome by one minute 39 seconds and Dutchman Tom Dumoulin by 1:50.
German Marcel Kittel was once again a cut above as he claimed his fifth victory in this year's Tour de France, winning the 11th stage in emphatic style on Wednesday.
German Marcel Kittel claimed his fourth victory in this year's Tour de France when he powered to an impressive Stage 10 win in a bunch sprint on Tuesday as Briton Chris Froome retained the overall lead.
Reigning champion Chris Froome wasted no time flexing his muscles at the Tour de France as he powered to sixth place in a treacherous opening time trial won superbly by Team Sky colleague Geraint Thomas on Saturday.
A look at the main Tour de France contenders ahead of Saturday's first stage, a 14-km individual time trial in Duesseldorf:
The 22-year-old Bernal, the youngest rider to win the race in 110 years, gave Team Ineos --formerly Team Sky -- their seventh title in the last eight editions.
Belgium's Greg van Avermaet snatched gold in a thrilling and incident-packed men's Olympic road race, out-sprinting Denmark's Jakob Fuglsang alongside the Copacabana beach after a spectacular day of racing along Rio's coastline on Saturday.
World champion Peter Sagan claimed his third 2016 Tour de France stage victory when he pipped Alexander Kristoff on the line at the end of the 16th stage, a 209-km ride from Moirans-en-Montagne on Monday.
Alberto Contador's Tour de France chances suffered an early blow on Saturday when the Spaniard crashed with about 80 km left in the first stage.
Froome had been the favourite to retain his title but he paid the price for the efforts he made to win the Giro d'Italia in May as he just failed to become the first man in 20 years to achieve the Giro-Tour double.
The defending champion came seventh, one second behind stage winner Michael Matthews of Australia as Aru, who started the day with the yellow jersey on his shoulders, lost 25 seconds to the Briton in the final effort, a 600-metre climb at an average gradient of 9.6 per cent.
Chris Froome moved closer to a maiden Tour de France title with an awe-inspiring victory on top of the intimidating Mont Ventoux, pulling away from his rivals in brutal fashion seven kilometres from the finish on Sunday.
Tennis World No 5 Rafael Nadal and Olympic champion Mo Farah have spoken in defence after Russian cyber espionage group Fancy Bears leaked their medical data on Monday.
Swiss Fabian Cancellara rode off into a golden retirement with a second Olympic time trial title after a masterful ride that eclipsed Tour de France champion Chris Froome on Wednesday.
Hold your breath as Rediff.com brings to you some of the picturesque places that the cyclists race through at the Tour.
Andre Greipel confirmed he was the sprint king at this year's Tour de France when the German outpowered his rivals to win the 15th stage on Sunday.
Greg van Avermaet, one of cycling's nearly men, enjoyed a rare victory when he claimed the 13th stage of the Tour de France on Friday with a late burst of speed in an uphill finale.
German Andre Greipel was again far too strong for the opposition as he claimed his second win in this year's Tour de France.
In Rio, over 10,000 athletes will compete for the biggest prize in sport -- an Olympic gold medal.
Check out the main contenders for this year's Tour de France, which starts on Saturday in Utrecht, Netherlands.
Mark Cavendish claimed his 30th Tour de France victory and fourth in this year's race when he left sprint rival Marcel Kittel trailing at the end of the 14th stage on Saturday.
Dutchman Bauke Mollema, the strongest and smartest of the breakaway riders, who had three top 10 finishes on the Tour, won the 189.5-km stage from Laissac-Severac L'Eglise but the action was elsewhere.
Frenchman Romain Bardet timed his final effort perfectly to win the 12th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday, setting up a thrilling second half of the three-week race as defending champion Chris Froome showed a rare sign of weakness.
Portugal's Rui Costa kept his composure in a tense finale to upset the favourites and clinch the cycling world championships road race on Sunday.
Alexis Vuillermoz earned the French their first victory on this year's Tour de France, his final kick proving too hot to handle for the big guns in the eighth stage on Saturday.
Tour de France leader Tony Martin abandoned the race on Thursday after breaking his collarbone.
Often cited by defending champion Vincenzo Nibali as a rider to watch on the Tour de France, Thibaut Pinot made an early impact by beating all the pre-race favourites in the opening time trial on Saturday.
Documents relating to Farah, and published on the fancybear.net website, showed that the distance runner had no active Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) at the time of the Olympics. TUEs allow athletes to take banned substances for verified medical needs and there is no suggestion any of those named have broken any rules
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
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