Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic moved into second place, within two minutes of race leader Valerio Conti, by winning stage nine of the Giro d’Italia. Roglic was 11 seconds ahead of second-placed Victor Campenaerts, with Bauke Mollema a minute off the pace in third. Conti extended his lead to one minute 50 seconds, with Roglic surging from

Australian Caleb Ewan produced a superb late burst to win stage eight of the Giro d’Italia. The 24-year-old thwarted home favourite Elia Viviani at the finish to claim his second stage victory at the Giro, two years after his first. There was no change to the top 10 in the general classification as Italian Valerio

Italian Valerio Conti retained the lead at the Giro d’Italia as Spain’s Pello Bilbao claimed the seventh stage. Astana’s Bilbao attacked from a small group of breakaway riders 1.5km from the finish on the punchy final climb. He held off France’s Tony Gallopin and Italian Davide Formolo. Conti, who took the lead on an eventful

Former Team Sky rider Greg Henderson says he has grown a “new quad muscle” following an injury. In January, the retired cyclist went to hospital in Adelaide, Australia, after an accident which resulted in an 18cm tear in his upper left leg. New Zealander Henderson, 42, posted a photo on Instagram this week showing a

Italian Valerio Conti took the lead at the Giro d’Italia after finishing second to compatriot Fausto Masnada in the sixth stage. Thursday’s events produced an entirely new top-10 with riders from the 13-man breakaway taking over and overnight leader Primoz Roglic dropping to 11th. The Slovenian is five minutes and 24 seconds adrift, with Briton

Former champion Tom Dumoulin has withdrawn from the Giro d’Italia shortly after the start of stage five after failing to recover from a crash. The Dutch rider, 28, injured his knee in a heavy fall on Tuesday’s fourth stage and was four minutes 30 seconds behind the leaders. Dumoulin had been cleared to race by

Slovenian rider Kristijan Koren has been suspended for potential doping violations, the International Cycling Union has confirmed. Compatriot Borut Bozic, Italy’s Alessandro Petacchi and Croatia’s Kristijan Durasek have also been provisionally suspended as part of the ‘Operation Aderlass’ doping inquiry. Use of prohibited methods between 2012 and 2017 is being investigated. Bozic is now sports

Britain’s Simon Yates limited his losses to Giro d’Italia leader Primoz Roglic after crashes split the race in a dramatic finale to stage four. Roglic made it into a small front group following a series of crashes with 6km to go before Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz attacked late on to win in Frascati. Yates was brought

A new 10-stage race in Scandinavia described as “the Tour de France for women” is set to begin in 2021. The Battle of North will be held across Denmark, Norway and Sweden over 11 days in August. It will replace the existing four-stage Ladies Tour of Norway and the team time trial and road race

Juan Sebastian Molano has been withdrawn from the Giro d’Italia by UAE Team Emirates after he returned “unusual physiological results” in internal testing. The Colombian, 24, did not start stage four of the race on Tuesday. UAE Team Emirates said Molano is suspended while he takes further tests conducted by the team in cooperation with

Italian national champion Elia Viviani was stripped of his stage three win at the Giro d’Italia for swerving in front of another rider in the final metres. Race organisers declassified the 30-year-old after reviewing footage, with Colombian Fernando Gaviria declared the stage victor and France’s Arnaud Demare moving up to second from third. Team Ineos’

Spain’s Samuel Sanchez has been given a backdated two-year ban for a doping offence after testing positive for a growth hormone in August 2017. The 2008 Olympic road race champion returned an adverse analytical finding of GHRP-2 in an out-of-competition test just before the 2017 Vuelta a Espana. Cycling’s governing body, the UCI, said on

German Pascal Ackermann won a high-speed bunch sprint on his Giro d’Italia debut to claim the second stage in Fucecchio. Bora-Hansgrohe rider Ackermann edged out Italy’s Elia Viviani to win in four hours 44 minutes and 43 seconds. The bunch finish meant no change to the overall lead, with Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic still in the

Britain’s Simon Yates made an impressive start to the 2019 Giro d’Italia by finishing second in the opening time trial. Mitchelton-Scott’s Yates completed the 8km course in 13 minutes 13 seconds, just 19 seconds behind Primoz Roglic. Yates won his first Grand Tour at last year’s Vuelta a Espana and is one of the main

Briton Simon Yates has a “deep passion” to try to win the Giro d’Italia after going “so close” last year. Having led for 13 stages, Yates looked set to win his first Grand Tour – but compatriot Chris Froome took the title after a stunning attack on stage 19. Mitchelton-Scott’s Yates went on to win

German sprinter Marcel Kittel is taking a break from cycling, saying he is “exhausted” and needs to “think about my goals”. The 30-year-old’s contract with Team Katusha Alpecin has been terminated by mutual agreement. “At this moment, I am not able to train and race at the highest level,” said Kittel, who has 19 grand

Media playback is not supported on this device Chris Froome says a chance to make cycling history is why he is targeting this summer’s Tour de France rather than defending his Giro d’Italia title. Froome lost out to Geraint Thomas a year ago but is one win from equalling the record of five Tour titles.

Britain’s Tao Geoghegan Hart and Russia’s Pavel Sivakov will lead Team Ineos at the Giro d’Italia after Egan Bernal was ruled out with injury. Colombian Bernal, 22, was due to lead the team but broke his collarbone in a training ride on Saturday. It is the British team’s first Grand Tour since Ineos took over