Primoz Roglic

Tour de France 2021: Wout van Aert wins stage 20, Tadej Pogacar edges closer to victory with excellent performance

Wout van Aert won the time trial, but defending champion Pogacar's solid ride means he need only cross the Champs-Elysees finish line with the peloton in Sunday's 21st, and final, stage to retain the fabled yellow jersey as winner of the world's greatest bike race.

Tour de France 2021: Bauke Mollema wins hilly 14th stage; Tadej Pogacar keeps big lead

Pogacar has kept the yellow jersey since he took control of the race on Stage 8 in the Alps. Rigoberto Uran, Jonas Vingegaard and Richard Carapaz are all more than five minutes off his pace.

Tour de France 2021: Wout van Aert claims Ventoux stage; Tadej Pogacar keeps yellow jersey

At 26, Van Aert is a jack of all trades. He can sprint, climb and time trial, but did not fight for the general classification, working in support of Jumbo-Visma leader Primoz Roglic.

Tour de France 2021: Slovenia's Primoz Roglic pulls out of competition due to injuries

Last year's runner-up trailed home a colossal 35min adrift of the 2020 champion Tadej Pogacar on Saturday as the toll from a heavy fall on stage 3 eventually scuppered his best intentions of a triumph.

Tour de France 2021: Tadej Pogacar stamps authority by dominating time-trial, Mathieu van der Poel flies in yellow

Pogacar's phenomenal ride didn't quite give him the overall lead but it leaves him in the driving seat for the title, 1min 44sec ahead of Carapaz, with Roglic and Thomas four and 10sec further adrift respectively.

Tour de France 2021: Riders stage symbolic protest calling for increased safety after crashes mar opening days of event

Shortly after the start of the 150-kilometre flat run from Redon to Fougeres the entire peloton came to a stop for a brief period, before setting off again at a leisurely pace.

Tour de France 2021: Tim Merlier wins drama-filled stage three as crashes continue to disrupt premier event

Merlier's teammate Mathieu van der Poel kept hold of the overall lead on a brutal day of racing peppered with falls on the rain-slick, narrow winding roads in Brittany

Tour de France: Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe recovers from crash to win first stage

World champion Alaphilippe shot up the early section of the final 3km climb taking ten bonus seconds at the finish line and ended another 12 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger.

Tour de France 2021: Pogacar top contender, but Roglic has slight edge, says two-time winner Alberto Contador

The 108the edition of Tour de France (TDF) kicks off on 26 June with 21 gruelling stages designed to test the 23 teams and over 180 drivers in the fray. The race will begin at Brest, Brittany, and will include two individual time trials, a double-stage challenge at Mont Ventoux, before culminating on the Champs Elysees in Paris on 18 July.

Tour of Basque Country: American rider Brandon McNulty takes overall lead, Ion Izagirre wins fourth stage

After coming third on the mountain stage McNulty ended the day top of the heap, leading former yellow jersey holder Primoz Roglic by 23 seconds, with two days' racing remaining including a mountaintop finish on the final stage.