On the road from Santena to Torino on Saturday, Mark Cavendish will celebrate his 37th birthday. The Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl sprinter is unlikely to challenge on an undulating day in Piedmont, with five classified climbs and over 3000 metres of climbing, meaning it will likely be a stage for punchier riders.

However, Cavendish has a lot to celebrate. The Manxman has now won 160 races over his 17-year career, including 16 stages of the Giro d'Italia, which he has added to at this very race, winning stage three in Balatonfüred. He hasn't finished yet.

In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, published on Thursday, Cavendish said that he wants to carry on for at least two more years.

"I want to extend my career for at least another two years," he said. "It's not just that I want to keep cycling, I feel I can be competitive for at least another two years. Maybe more, but two years should certainly be possible."

If this was the case, Cavendish would be 39 by the time he thought about retiring. Aged 37, Vincenzo Nibali has announced that he would be retiring this year. However, Cavendish wants to keep going. He is now just one win behind Mario Cipollini on the all-time wins ranking, the only pure sprinter ahead of him on the list.

At the end of 2020, it looked like he would be retiring from cycling before he was saved from that by a deal with Quick-Step. He took that opportunity with both hands, and ended up winning four stages at last year's Tour de France. He clearly still has the speed to keep going, but he might need to find a contract.

Dutch website Wielerflits reported that Tim Merlier of Alpecin-Fenix will be moving Belgian teams to Quick-Step next season, meaning there will no longer be a spot for Cavendish. It has also been reported that he is being offered to other teams, who surely will be keen to snap the fast man up.

Despite being level with Eddy Merckx's record of 34 Tour stage wins last season, and winning the green jersey, Cavendish is believed to be behind Fabio Jakobsen in the running for his team's Tour squad.

Earlier this month, he said that reports of a rivalry between him and his Dutch teammate over a Tour spot are "lazy". 

Cavendish told Gazzetta that he would be "prepared" for the July Grand Tour, but the decision was out of his hands.

“The truth is this: if I could only win one more, I’d be happy. If I could win ten more, I’d be happy. The number really, really isn’t a factor for me at all, that’s the truth,” he said.

“Of course, I’d love to do [the Tour de France], but I’m a professional and I’ve always been a professional and I do what’s required for my team. You know I’ll always be prepared for it, but it’s not my decision. It’s not something that I think or don’t think about. I just do my job.”

For now, Cavendish is looking to finish the Giro, potentially riding all the way to Verona. After that, he will simply try to keep going. There is no end to the "Manx Missile" story just yet.

Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl have released their new kit for the 2022 season, which comes from a partnership with Castelli.

The Italian brand have signed a deal with the Belgian super team to supply kit until the 2024 season, having moved over from Ineos Grenadiers. It sees them end their long-standing partnership with Vermac, which has run since 2003.

The new jersey has less blue than last season's effort, and is reminiscent of what the team wore in 2017. There is white across the shoulders and a band of pink around the chest. Lighter blue transitions into navy further down the jersey, and the shorts are the same darker hue.

The pink highlights are a reference to title sponsor Quick-Step's secondary colours. The team's former primary sponsor Deceuninck has moved on, leaving Quick-Step to return to top billing, with Alpha Vinyl, a Quick-Step brand, also joining the name.

"At QuickStep-AlphaVinyl Team we have always been looking to innovate and find new ways of thinking to help us improve, so we are delighted that we can build a partnership with Castelli",  Patrick Lefevere, the team boss said.

"Like us they have a long and rich history in cycling, and yet are still pushing to be the best, constantly evolving and looking for new ways to improve their clothing and to stay at the top of their game. 

"Cycling is often a battle of conditions and to be able to go in the world's biggest races with clothing that is technically the best available, will be of a massive advantage to our riders, we are delighted that they will be joining the Wolfpack family."

Riders joining Quick-Step for 2022 include Ethan Vernon, Mauro Schmid and Louis Vervaeke. The team won 65 races last year, and will be hoping to match these heights with riders like Julian Alpahilippe and Mark Cavendish in the new kit.

Andrea Peron, Castelli’s race performance director, said: "Castelli is known throughout the pro peloton for our protective clothing for cold and wet conditions, so it’s a natural fit with the Wolfpack."

Patrick Lefevere has said that the route for the 2022 Vuelta a España could suit Remco Evenepoel, but he doesn't want the young Belgian treated as a favourite for the race.

The Vuelta route for 2022 was announced on Thursday, December 16 with various towering mountain top finishes, one individual time trial as well as a team time trial and a start in the Dutch city of Utrecht.

Evenepoel made his Grand Tour debut in 2021 at the Giro d'Italia where he in contention on the general classification for a long time, before fading and eventually abandoning on stage 18. 

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However, this was his first race back after his horrendous crash at Il Lombardia the year before, where he fell into a ravine and fractured his pelvis, among other injuries.

Speaking in a piece by Sporza, Deceuninck - Quick-Step boss, Lefevere said: "The course should indeed suit him. We have seen in the Giro - despite his lesser preparation - that he has the talent to ride Grand Tours. If he starts in Spain with normal preparation, I still see opportunities in a few stages.

"But I absolutely do not want to assign him a favourite role. It still remains to be seen how he will react to a three-week stage race. The three finishes above 2,000 meters are also relatively new for him."

The team time trial has historically suited the powerful Deceuninck - Quick-Step squad, but the individual test against the clock between Elche and Alicante on stage 11 may be too flat for Evenepoel.

"In the team time trial we could indeed achieve a good result. The individual time trial lacks a few altimeters to fully please Remco," added Lefevere. 

The 21-year-old has been racking up the wins since he turned professional in 2019 seeing him now have a total of 22 victories including overall titles at the Tour of Poland and the Volta ao Algarve.

Another race that Evenepoel has previously won is the Argentinian race of the Vuelta a San Juan, which he is set to be riding in January of 2022. This is where Lefevere will decide his calendar.

"We will make the decision in January. We will first look at the first part of the season. For example, Remco will probably start his year in Argentina. He has good memories there and gets the necessary time to prepare."

Evenepoel is even staying for an extra week at the team training camp in Spain as the rest of the squad head home, as part of his preparation. 

"He will stay here until the 23rd while the rest will pack all their bags today," continued Lefevere.

"I sat down with him yesterday and talked to him. He feels good, you can see that in training. His training schedule is finished nicely."

Fabio Jakobsen has voiced his aim to ride the 2022 Tour de France but understands that he isn't a certain name on the list with Mark Cavendish just one win off the record for most stage wins at the Grand Boucle.

Jakobsen returned to the peloton - after recovering from horrendous injuries caused by his crash at the Tour of Poland last year - at the Tour of Turkey in a support role for Cavendish, helping the 'Manx Missile' to his first win since 2018. Cavendish went on to win three more times at the race.

Since then, Cavendish won four stages at the Tour de France, equalling Eddy Merckx's record for most stage wins as well as two other victories with Jakobsen having a similarly superb season with seven wins, three of which were at the Vuelta a España.

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In an interview with De Telegraf, Jakobsen said that he is keen to ride some of the Classics in the spring before focussing on bigger goals.

"I have missed that, [spring] the last two years, and there I will have to prove my place for the Giro d'Italia or the Tour team," said Jakobsen. 

"I like that not everything is certain, that keeps me sharp. And we have Mark Cavendish. He has shown in the last Tour that he is back. We are both sprinters, but we also give each other a lot."

Cavendish was a key player in supporting Jakobsen when the Manxman re-joined the team. Jakobsen is keen to return the favour to Cavendish who recently crashed at the Ghent Six Day before suffering aggravated burglary at his home in Essex.

Cavendish is now on the training camp with Jakobsen: "Under the circumstances, things are going well. Last year Mark was there for me and still is. Now I can give him some support, as we are all there for each other in the team."

The training camp hasn't gone completely smoothly though as Rémi Cavagna and Mauri Vansevenant were hit by a car on a ride. Fortunately, Cavagna's surgery was a success and Vansevenant is riding on his turbo trainer back in Belgium.

There is still one issue hanging over Jakobsen though, as Deceuninck - Quick-Step proceed with legal action against Dylan Groenewegen following the crash in 2020.

"I hardly ever think about it," added Jakobsen. 

"That is in the hands of the right people who have studied for it. I still stand behind the road we have taken and I think this has to happen.

"This benefits cycling and everyone's conscience, and then there will be clarity. Hopefully, the outcome will not change my future. I am especially happy to be back on the bike and still good at it."

Rémi Cavagna and Mauri Vansevenant are recovering after being injured when they were hit by a car at the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl training camp in Spain on Wednesday, December 8.

Cavagna has undergone surgery, which was successful at the IMSKE Hospital in Valencia with the French road race champion now having to stay in hospital for a while to be monitored.

On the other hand, Vansevenant was flown back to Belgium from the camp in Calpe. However, he is already back riding his bike on the turbo trainer with his thumb bandaged.

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"Unlike Rémi, the damage is all in all not too bad for me and I don't have to undergo any surgery," Vansevenant told Het Laatste Nieuws.

"We had just taken some group photos in our new 2022 outfits and were continuing on a slightly downhill two-lane track.

"Suddenly a small car was ignoring the right-of-way rules and coming onto the main road from a side path. We had to close everything but three riders, including Rémi and I, could no longer avoid a crash."

The 22-year-old described the crash as "disappointing" but hopes he will be back soon.

"Luckily my legs were not hit and I can more or less maintain my condition. The second team internship, at the beginning of January, will certainly not be in jeopardy."

Both riders had a solid season with Vansevenant riding his first full season with the team in 2021 after joining in July the year before. He completed his first Grand Tour at the Vuelta a España. 

He also rode the Olympic road race, Tour de Suisse and just missed out on a top 10 at the Tour of the Basque Country as well as his first career win at GP Industria & Artigianato.

Cavagna has a few top 10s come his way in some big races such as the European Championship time trial, three stages at the Giro d'Italia and a second place at Paris-Nice as well as wins at the Tour de Romandie, French road race and the Tour of Poland.

Eddy Merckx has, once again, voiced his criticisms of Remco Evenepoel, this time saying "I admire his character, but he turned pro too early."

Evenepoel turned professional back in 2019 at the age of 18 with Deceuninck - Quick-Step and has already racked up an impressive 21 victories during his three years at WorldTour level

But that hasn't stopped one of the all-time greats from putting the 21-year-old down from time to time, most notably during the Road World Championships where Merckx said Evenepoel "mainly rides for himself" after the youngster had committed to being all-in for Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).

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"I admire his character- he is a rider of great class and very strong," Merckx said. "The problem is that he turned pro too early and skipped the other categories. As a result, he misses something in his preparation. I hope he can make up for that in the coming years and show that he is a super champion.”

Merckx then heaped praise on Van Aert: "He won Ghent-Wevelgem, Amstel and the stage over Mont Ventoux in the Tour de France. He is super strong for a non-climber, a real champion.”

Evenepoel has had yet another successful season, especially so considering he didn't start his season until early May at the Giro d'Italia as he was recovering from a horror crash at the Italian Monument Classic of Il Lombardia in 2020 where he suffered multiple injuries including a pelvis fracture and a contusion to his right lung.

He had a good start at the Giro but his lack of fitness and experience showed as eventual winner Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) started to stamp his authority with Evenepoel eventually abandoning.

But the Belgian returned to take eight victories during the season with overall wins at both the Tour of Belgium and Tour of Denmark along with one-day races. He also scored a place on the podium at both the European Championships road race and time trial as well as the World Championships time trial.

Evenepoel is set to start his 2022 season at the Vuelta a San Juan, starting January 30, which he won back in 2020, before potentially riding Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour de Suisse and the Vuelta a España with no mention of the Tour de France as of yet. 

Deceuninck - Quick-Step has released the first episode of a three-part series entitled 'The Wolfpack Insider: Tour de France', a behind the scenes docuseries following the Belgian team and its riders during their success at the 2021 Grand Tour. 

The YouTube video captures Julian Alaphilippe's opening stage victory and the ensuing celebrations, Mark Cavendish's stage four win and his overwhelming emotion, plus many more unseen moments from the Tour between team members. 

Deceuninck - Quick-Step described the video thus: "A magnificent victory of the World Champion on the opening day which saw Julian Alaphilippe swap rainbow for yellow, Mark Cavendish’s first win at the race in five years after one of the most thrilling finishes of the year and a very happy and emotional team – this movie has it all and is just what you need in this cold winter months as you count the days left until the start of the new season."

While the footage displays Alaphilippe's incredible victory on the first stage of the Tour, it is perhaps his interaction with Dries Devenyns that is the most interesting aspect of the video. The Frenchman thanks his teammate in a hotel room where the team is staying after his win, claiming that without him he wouldn't have been able to attack by himself.

Also included in the opening episode of 'The Wolfpack Insider: Tour de France' is Cavendish's first of his four stage wins in 2021, which was his first triumph in three years. 

Deceuninck - Quick-Step stated on Twitter: "Mark Cavendish's journey at this year's Tour de France was one for the history books, abounding in emotional moments and astonishing performances."

The Manxman's pure emotion is captured, as he sits on the ground crying immediately after the race, head in hands. He is then seen picking up the green jersey, which he eventually won outright at the end of the Tour for the second time in his career, before thanking Michael Mørkøv for enabling him to finish first. 

Patrick Lefevere is also filmed at a team meal after Cavendish's win congratulating him, stating his belief in him had been repaid with that first win. The speech is followed by rapturous applause and a standing ovation from the team's staff and riders, before breaking into song. 

The team will release the next two episodes over the next two weeks. 

Deceuninck - Quick-Step have announced that Mark Cavendish has signed a one-year contract extension with the team, keeping him on their roster until the end of 2022.

Since re-joining the team at the start of 2021, the Manxman won for the first time in three years, including picking up the Tour de France Green Jersey with four stage wins, on route to equalling Eddy Merckx record for the most stage wins at the Grand Tour. 

Team boss Patrick Lefevere claimed last week that Cavendish agreed terms with the Belgian team for a contract extension, after drawn out negotiations due to salary demands and Cavendish's desire to explore the potential for a role within the team when he stops racing.

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The 36-year-old signed with Deceuninck - Quick-Step at the beginning of 2021 on a basic salary, paid for by an outside sponsor, after his three winless years. However, with Cavendish producing a successful season, his demands changed somewhat.

Speaking of his new agreement, Cavendish said: “I am incredibly proud and happy to have agreed a new deal with Deceuninck – Quick-Step.

"One year ago, when I came to the team, I did not hide my admiration for what this team does and how happy I was to be back here. I knew from my first time here that this squad has a unique family feeling, and it is a culture that remains to this day.

"The last 12 months have been phenomenal and the support that I have had from the team and the staff has made me very emotional at times. I am really looking forward to making some more special memories together over the next 12 months.”

Patrick Lefevere echoed this sentiment, stating: “The whole world saw what he did this year. What they didn’t see though is the way that he speaks and leads within the team and encourages everyone.

"We have a very close group here and Mark always embodies that spirit, and while he may be the one that crosses the line with his hands in the air, he is the first to recognise the work that the team does as well, which means a lot to everyone. We are more than happy that we can continue the story with Mark for one more year.”

Cavendish will now join up with the Belgian squad's training camp in Calpe this week, as preparations get underway ahead of the 2022 season. 

Deceuninck's CEO has explained why it will make the switch from sponsoring Quick-Step to Alpecin-Fenix at the beginning of 2022, with Patrick Lefevere's reluctance to start a women's team a large factor.

Quick-Step's general manager has already claimed that he doesn't have a problem with Deceuninck joining the ProTeam for four years from next season, also suggesting that the company didn't want to commit to the team's five-year project.

However, Deceuninck CEO Francis Van Eeckhout has shared his side of the story, stating that a number of factors are involved in switching teams. One of those reasons involves Alpecin-Fenix commitment to women's cycling, with the team forming professional women's road team Plantur-Pura in 2020. 

Van Eeckhout told Het Nieuwsblad: "It is a combination of factors. We are charmed by the plan of the Roodhooft brothers. And as a modern company we want to participate in women's cycling. 

“Women's cycling is increasing in importance and we cannot ignore that. We discussed that, but Patrick is Patrick."

Alongside sponsoring both the men's and women's teams, Deceuninck will also partner Alpecin-Fenix in their cyclocross, mountainbike and gravel disciplines. This is an incentive for the Belgian company, who will now get year-round exposure with riders such as Mathieu van der Poel competing in cyclocross races. 

In fact, it seems the Dutchman has played an important role in Deceuninck's switch from Quick-Step to Alpecin-Fenix, citing his reach across three major markets for the windows and doors company another factor in its decision. 

Van Eeckhout said: "He is popular in the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Three important countries for us. Not many riders have that combination. I got to know him as a modest, sober young man.

"Cycling is not a world sport, but it does ensure that you can support a rider for twelve months. Now we are left hungry from September to February. While it is important that the name of the company also changes during that period, it is imprinted in people's heads. Cyclocross can take care of that."

Quick-Step general manager Patrick Lefevere has reacted calmly to the news that Deceuninck will sponsor ProTour team Alpecin-Fenix for four years from 2022. 

After three years with Quick-Step, Deceuninck announced in the summer that it will not renew its sponsorship with the team. While the Belgian company's decision to start sponsoring Alpecin-Fenix has come as a surprise to many in the peloton, Lefevere included, he doesn't seem to fazed with the switch. 

He told Sporza: "I don't know why I have to blame someone. Is this news? These are news-poor times, aren't they?

"On the one hand, yes [it's surprising]."

However, the general manager claimed that the team wanted a long-term partner, something which Deceuninck couldn't commit to. Clarifying this, he argues that both parties benefitted greatly from each other, but their contract had ended so he's relaxed about the situation.

He continued: "We did not want - from our side - to extend the cooperation. We were working on a project for five years.

"Deceuninck came at a favorable time at the time, just when we were struggling. They were a helping hand, but they got a lot in return. But they didn't want to sign for five years now.

"That's not a big difference, is it. Does this give you a sour aftertaste? No, a contract has a certain duration, if I'm not mistaken.

"When that term is over and if two parties decide not to continue together, then everyone is free to do what they want. I have absolutely no problem with it and I wouldn't know why I should blame anyone."

The Belgian Quick-Step team continued to enjoy considerable success when Deceuninck became a title sponsor in 2019, most notably through Julian Alaphilippe's two Road World Championships wins in 2020 and 2021. 

Next year Quick-Step will welcome flooring specialists Alpha Vinyl as a title sponsor, with the team set to be called Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl. 

Julian Alaphilippe has said that he is keen to go for the overall at the Tour de France before he retires saying "I don’t want to end my time with the regret of not ever trying."

The two-time world champion, Alaphilippe has had yet another exceptional season with the Deceuninck - Quick-Step rider securing a second world title as well as wearing the yellow jersey at the Tour for a third year in a row.

But now Alaphilippe is looking to pick and choose his goals for the upcoming seasons, including the Tour overall title.

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Alaphilippe told La Gazzetta dello Sport: "In 2022 I’ll focus on the Classics and the Tour but I want to discover the Giro as soon as possible." 

When being asked about trying to win the Tour, which he so nearly did in 2019, "Never say never," was the answer.

"Why not think about it before the end of my career?" he continued. "There are a lot of questions to be asked and I’d need to speak to the team. But I don’t want to end my time with the regret of not ever trying."

In 2019 Alaphilippe led the race for 14 days, only losing the jersey twice, once to Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) - who took the jersey from the breakaway on stage six to the top of the Super Planche des Belles Filles before ceding it back to Alaphilippe two days later - and finally to Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) after the Colombian attacked solo on the Col de l'Iseran on stage 19. On that day the general classification times were taken at the top of the Iseran due to mudslides and extreme weather, which forced the race to be stopped before the final climb to Tignes.

"I’ve never raced a Grand Tour thinking of winning it," Alaphilippe said, "so there wasn’t the same pressure. But I can understand why it’s been difficult for [Thibaut] Pinot and [Romain] Bardet," Alaphilippe said. 

"When I was a kid I rode with my friends just for fun, even dreaming about riding the Tour de France seemed impossible. I never imagined I’d even turn professional, not even when I was a junior."

Alaphilippe is continuing with his team into 2022 as the squad changes from Deceuninck - Quick-Step to Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl.

After soloing to victory with such flamboyant style at the 2021 World Championship road race in Leuven, Belgium, it was naturally only a matter of time until Julian's Alaphilippe's win was commemorated in a custom paint job on his Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7.

The bike gets its debut today at the Milano–Torino semi-Classic – preparation for the final Monument of the season, the ‘race of the falling leaves’, Il Lombardia.

But now let’s take a look at what Specialized’s senior graphic concept designer, Tom Briggs has whipped up for Alaphilippe.

The rugged, disruptive design marks a stark departure from the clean and pristine colourway Alaphilippe was presented with last year.

Explaining the thought process behind the paint, Briggs said: “The [bike was] inspired by the swirling storm of competition. That moment when all of the rider’s effort is being put into the pedals. Their vision starts to blur and their eyes cross."

“If you look at the World Champ top tube logo it’s offset as though their vision was starting to see double."

That notion of a "storm of competition" extends into other elements of the paintwork.

On first glance, you might assume that the almost random waves and channels that texture the tubes are the result of a raw carbon finish displaying its imperfections through a very thin coat of paint.

Instead, these irregular ripples have been created by hand, wrapping the tubes in plastic to disturb the paint and represent the “swirling of thoughts, emotions, training and everything else that goes into that one singular moment of glory as they become the world champion.”

But it’s the front of the bike where the stamp of the world champ is really made known, with a beautiful fade between the colours of that coveted jersey.

With the continuing subtle, swirling patterns, and the almost metallic finish, Alaphilippe’s SL7 has been given a very distinctive flair.

Although it seems that even winning the World Championships isn’t sufficient to bump you up the order list for new Dura-Ace – this SL7 is still spec’d with the now five-year-old R9100 series and its mere 11-speed cassette.

Julian Alaphilippe and Remco Evenepoel have spoken about their chances at the upcoming final Monument of the 2021 season, Il Lombardia.

While the third of the Italian Autumn Classics, Tre Valli Varesine, was underway, Deceuninck - Quick-Step held a press conference with their three main leaders for Il Lombardia, which takes place on Saturday, October 9.

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Evenepoel was asked about how he feels after his win at the Coppa Bernocchi on Monday, October 4 and if the awful weather will affect him at Il Lombardia. 

"At the moment, physically I feel really tired because of the weather conditions, they were quite bad so it took a lot of energy out of the body," he said. 

"It's important to try to recover as much as possible in the upcoming days, but it's always nice when you find some good legs just ahead of a big goal or big race and I think also for the team with the other guys we saw that everybody's in a good shape and doing well so I think we're all quite confident and looking forward for Saturday."

Upon being asked whether he had returned to the Muro di Sormano since his serious crash in the 2020 Lombardia, "no" he replied, flatly. Evenepoel added that it will take some time before he can return there.

Evenepoel suffered a serious crash on the descent of the climb in last year's edition as he was at the back of a group following Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo), with Evenepoel falling off a bridge into a ravine, fracturing his pelvis and other bones.

Alaphilippe, who is racing for the first time since retaining his world title in Leuven, Belgium, comes into the race as the likely top favourite.

However, the when asked about what he did after the World Championships, he said: "After the Worlds I was really tired and when I restarted training I felt a little bit sick, so since then I have enjoyed time with family and took it easy so I was fresh for my last two races."

Alaphilippe was unstoppable at the Worlds as he put in wave after wave of attacks along with his French team-mates, from 40km out until finally one move stuck and he soloed to the line.

When asked if he felt he could win, Alaphilippe said: "I hope so, for sure. I am in good shape but the rest of the bunch here is also really strong. Lots of guys are still really motivated and are also in great shape but yeah, I am confident that we have a really strong team, we are here to do our best and we'll see what we can do."

Evenepoel was asked what his experience of watching Paris-Roubaix was and if he was inspired to race it in the future, he said: "No! It does not inspire me at all. I think I was lucky to be inside with a good hot chocolate and watching all the others suffer.

"But of course, to see a race like this, you just have to respect all the riders who did it, even the riders that didn't finish. It really was hell. So, I don't think I want to go there."

He then looked at Alaphilippe,  Evenepoel then adding, "but never say never!".

Il Lombardia takes place on Saturday, October 9 over a tough hilly 239km course from Como to Bergamo, not taking in the usual climbs of Colma di Sormano, Muro di Sormano or Civiglio like in the past few editions, but a series of different climbs.

Alaphilippe, Evenepoel and Almeida will face stiff competition with former winners Nibali, Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Esteban Chaves (BikeExchange), Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) being joined by Grand Tour stars Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma).

Julian Alaphilippe said that if he had lost his rainbow jersey at the World Championships it would have been "a certain form of relief," as he felt the pressure to perform in the stripes this season.

The Deceuninck - Quick-Step rider was clearly the strongest rider in the race around the town of Leuven and the hills of Flanders as he put in wave after wave of attacks throughout the last 40km.

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Speaking to l'Equipe, Alaphilippe said: "Without being defeatist, I was prepared to lose the jersey,

"I also know what it cost me. It took up a lot of energy. It made me make some mistakes sometimes, through my impatience to win, by wanting to show the jersey all the time, to honour it, to make it shine as best I could. It took a lot out of me, and it was also a lot of pressure that I put on myself."

Alaphilippe has been consistent as ever this season, with solid early form including podium in Strade Bianche, a win in Tirreno-Adriatico before heading to the Classics where he won Flèche Wallone.

After it was onto the Tour de Suisse which he abandoned to be with his wife as she was giving birth to their first child. He then started the Tour de France, winning the opening stage and taking yellow, after that he went to the Tour of Britain, coming third over

“So I said to myself," continued Alaphilippe. ‘We’re coming here to win, but if I lose the jersey, it will also be a certain form of relief.

"But at the same time, I was starting a race and I wanted to win it. So you go for the jersey: it's for history, the most beautiful jersey in cycling. And so you go for it. It’s hard to describe."

Alaphilippe went on to say that racing in the French jersey without the rainbow bands liberated him: "It's hard to explain, but I was much more relaxed,"

The Frenchman is currently down to race the final Monument of the year in Il Lombardia on Saturday, October 9 where he will race in the rainbow bands once again.

Sam Bennett will make his return to the Deceuninck - Quick-Step squad this week, as his public dispute with team management continues.

Irish sprinter Bennett has been routinely criticised by Patrick Lefevere, general manager of the Belgian WorldTour team, over a knee injury that has kept the rider out of competition since May.

Lefevere recently spoke out against Bennett for competing in the European Championships road race, a hilly course not suited to a pure sprinter like Bennett, without the blessing of the team.

After his DNF in that event, Bennett will line up in Deceuninck colours at the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen one-day race in Belgium on Friday (September 17), one of his last races for the team before he departs for Bora-Hansgrohe at the end of the season. 

Bennett will be racing the 195km pan-flat race alongside Dutch sprinter Fabio Jakobsen. 

Lefevere has repeatedly slammed Bennett this season, routinely using his newspaper column in Belgian paper Het Nieuwsblad to publicly take issue with the 30-year-old. 

Former pro-turned-manager Lefevere recently suggested that Bennett had been exaggerating the seriousness of a knee injury that forced him to skip the Tour de France, instead suggesting Bennett was showing “mental weakness.

Lefevere later rowed back on those comments, but went on to compare Bennett with a domestic abuse victim for re-signing with his old team Bora-Hansgrohe. 

Bennett has never spoken publicly about the dispute with the team boss.  

After Bennett was confirmed to be competing in the European road race, Lefevere said: "What he's doing now is playing with my balls in public. He has also already sent a letter to the UCI to complain that I have tackled him in the media. It will not work.”

Bennett has been with Deceuninck for two seasons, having left Bora in 2019 after he was sidelined at the biggest races to make way for Peter Sagan and Pascal Ackermann.

After joining Deceuninck, Bennett went onto his biggest successes, winning seven races, including two stages of the Tour de France and claiming the green jersey in Paris. 

This year Bennett has matched his win tally from last year, despite only racing from January to May before his knee injury took him out of action. 

>>> Tour de France 2022 route: Rumours of gravel summit finish and potential Roubaix stage 

At the Tour de France however, Deceuninck gave Bennett’s spot to Mark Cavendish, who make a remarkable comeback to win four stages and the green jersey.   

Mark Cavendish explained to TV viewers about how motorbikes have an effect on the race, while he was racing in the breakaway on stage six of the Tour of Britain.

Cavendish (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) had made it into a talented breakaway along with team-mate Tim Declercq early on in the stage, but became frustrated with the motorbike sitting behind the leaders after they dropped a dangerous rider for the overall in Mark Donovan (DSM).

The 36-year-old was seen shouting and gesticulating towards the camera bike as they tried to distance Donovan, the breaking trying to prevent the peloton from chasing. 

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Cavendish took a moment when the bike pulled alongside to explain his annoyance before cameras cut away. He said: "For all you people at home, these motorbikes have a bearing on the race. The guys are sat on them..." 

Before that rather comical moment of the 34-time Tour de France stage winner adding some commentary while racing he was shouting at the motorbike.

"You're helping them. What's wrong with you?" before shaking his head.

These feisty moments were compiled into a montage by the GCN Racing Twitter page.

In a research piece conducted in 2019 by Professor Bert Blocken of Eindhoven University, it was revealed that riders do get a huge amount of help from a motorbikes presence, even from as far as 30 metres. 

If a rider is at 30m behind the motorbike, drag is reduced by 12 per cent which would give a rider an advantage of 2.6 seconds every minute over a rider who did not have that support.

If a rider is cycling at 54km/h without a motorbike in front then the presence of a motorbike will allow them to ride at 67km/h, providing a time gain of 14.1 seconds every minute, depending on how close that bike is.

Cavendish was looking for a potential win on an unlikely stage in an unusual manner to what we're used to seeing from him, as he took on the day's break over tough terrain that covered three Pennine mountain passes and several tough kicks that even saw him put in a couple of solo attacks.

However, it wasn't to be for Cavendish who, along with his fellow breakaway riders, was caught with around 15km to go as various teams were looking to close the break down so they could have a go at a possible stage win.

Cavendish was also involved in the bunch sprint the day before on stage five into Warrington, where he finished fifth behind stage winner and leader's jersey Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) after he had to put a lot of energy in to get back to the wheels after narrowly avoiding a late crash. 

Patrick Lefevere has spoken of his fury that Sam Bennett will ride the European Championships road race this weekend.

Bennett, who is leaving Lefevere's Deceuninck - Quick-Step team for Bora-Hansgrohe at the end of this season, hasn't raced at all since early May, when he won two stages and the points jersey at the Volta ao Algarve, due to injury. He missed the Tour de France - where he thrived with two stage wins and the green jersey in 2020 - because of the knee injury, the severity of which was questioned by the team boss.

Lefevere, who has regularly been posting his anger with the Irishman has, yet again, taken to his column in Het Nieuwsblad to voice his thoughts after reportedly beginning the process of halving Bennett's wages, this is allowed if a rider has not raced for three or more months due to illness or injury according to Article 21 of the Joint Agreement between the UCI, CPA and AIGCP. 

Bennett has not publicly spoken about the issues with the team since relations soured earlier this year.

>>> 'Not much is missing': Julian Alaphilippe says he's close to peak fitness for World Championship defence

"Anyone who knows me knows that I never do that [cut pay], but here the rider is acting in bad faith. He no longer uploads training files and he does not want to be operated on," Lefevere said.

The European Championships road race is unsuited to Bennett, with the hilly 179.2km course in the Italian region of Trentino including 12 climbs along the way, leaving Lefevere to question Bennett's motivation for taking a place in the Ireland squad.

"Apparently all the tricks of the trade are at work," Lefevere said. "A course with 4,000 metres of elevation...

"What he's doing now is playing with my balls in public. He has also already sent a letter to the UCI to complain that I have tackled him in the media. It will not work. I'm going to take him back until the steam comes out of his ears,"

It has now been four months since Bennett raced, and Lefevere claims that Bennett has chosen not to work with the team to prove he is fit to race.

"I hear from his manager Andrew McQuaid that he will definitely finish the European Championship," Lefevere said. "I'm not so sure about that yet. We have already suggested that we do an exercise test at our Bakala Academy, but he does not go into that. For me it's simple; first prove that you're fit, before you take the place of a teammate."

Lefevere has constantly slated Bennett in his column, but was forced to apologise after comparing his return to Bora-Hansgrohe to domestic abuse. The Belgian did apologise for the comparison, but did not budge on his opinion of Bennett.

It is very unlikely that Bennett will race again after the European Championships, apart from a possible ride at the World Championships in Flanders, Belgium. His next race in a trade team will likely be in the 2022 season for Bora-Hansgrohe.

Julian Alaphilippe has said that there is "not much missing" from his form as he is close to hitting peak fitness with his World Championships defence looming.

Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), put in an exceptional ride on the final climb of the fourth stage of the Tour of Britain, almost dropping Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma). 

But unfortunately for him, Van Aert held on and went on to out-sprint the Frenchman, which also put him back into the blue leader's jersey.

>>> Wout van Aert hails 'special finish' on Great Orme at Tour of Britain after beating Julian Alaphilippe

The 29-year-old Alaphilippe posted to Instagram and said: "Not much is missing but it's encouraging for the future. Fire in the legs for the end of the season, it will pay off."

Alaphilippe tried a big attack on the steepest gradients of the Great Orme climb in Llandudno, with Canadian Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) looking like he could easily follow with Van Aert just about clinging on.

After the gradient slackened dramatically, Van Aert was able to catch his breath and find his legs again as he looked to keep the then leader's jersey, Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers), out the back.

The Brit made it back but dragged Alaphilippe's team-mate, Mikkel Honoré, across who upped the pace, leading out Alaphilippe who was pipped on the line by Van Aert.

Deceuninck - Quick-Step sports director, Geert Van Bondt said "We did what we had to do, what we talked about before the start: we controlled the race, remained attentive and went on the offensive at the right moment, but another guy was stronger in the end. 

"Despite missing out on the win, we’ll keep fighting. We have the rainbow jersey on the team, he always display panache and we will continue to race accordingly, until the end, in the remaining stages"

Stage five of the Tour of Britain takes the riders back into England with an all Cheshire stage starting in Alderley Park and finishing in Warrington for a likely bunch sprint. However, some early climbs could cause difficulty.

Mark Cavendish has admitted that he remains in the dark as to where he will race next season, with a new Deceuninck - Quick-Step contract still not agreed.

The Briton completed an incredible comeback this summer by winning four stages of the Tour de France and the points classification, well and truly putting behind him a three year winning drought.

Despite his success and his reascension to the top of cycling's sprinting stakes, Decueninck - Quick-Step's manager Patrick Lefevere warned Cavendish that he shouldn't overvalue his worth.

Ahead of the Tour of Britain, Cavendish revealed that his future remains uncertain, but that he wishes to prolong his stay with the Belgian super-team.

"I said at the beginning of the year I wasn’t looking for a fairytale but I’ve had a fairytale," the Guardian reports the Manx man saying.

"It would be easy to say I’m done, [but] I’m still confident I’m on an upward stretch. If I didn’t believe I could get better I would stop. 

"I’m looking at carrying on, I hope it will be with Deceuninck but I don’t know. It’s not down to me."

Before tasting quadruple success at the Tour that moved him onto 34 stage wins alongside Eddy Merckx, Cavendish had returned to winning form with four wins at the Tour of Turkey and a stage win in the Belgium Tour.

It marked a huge change in fortunes from last autumn when it looked like the 2011 world champion would hang up his wheels.

Now, though, Cavendish believes that age will not disrupt him in his quest to keep on improving.

He added: "At the beginning of the year I was adamant this would be my last year, [but] what I’ve gained from this year is that I don’t believe I’ll stay at this level, I believe I will get even better.

"In the old days I never lost a race. This year I’ve won a lot, but I’ve come second and third a lot. It’s about consistently winning. I want to go back to when I didn’t lose. I should be able to win whatever race I go to."

In a separate interview with the Telegraph, Cavendish admitted to being upset for a few days after failing to win the final Tour de France stage in Paris, but in a further indication of his belief, he declared that "it won't happen next time."

Whether he stays at Deceuninck - Quick-Step or not, he's confident he will add to his tally of 155 professional wins.

"All I know is I can still win," he said. "And I know I’m going to be even better next year. 

"So for me it’s a no-brainer [to continue]. I wouldn’t be riding my bike if I didn’t believe I could win again. 

"I would have stopped two years ago, or a year ago. But I just knew I was going to get back to the top level of sprinting. I’m still hungry. I’m still professional. And I know I can be even better.”

Remco Evenepoel has said that he is looking at possibly leaving the Benelux Tour as he is struggling with eating due to stomach issues.

The Belgian rider looked to be in good shape on stage one of the race before he stopped due to a broken front wheel which saw him shout at Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Fenix) at the stage finish.

But he seemed to be in bad shape for the time trial on stage two which he spoke about after the stage, as reported by Wielerflits. 

"I couldn't eat anything until one hour before the time trial," Evenepoel said.

>>> Stefan Bissegger storms to impressive victory in Benelux Tour stage two time trial

"I was able to hold on for the first three to four kilometres, but after that my legs ran empty because I had not absorbed enough energy. We hoped for an improvement before the time trial, but that was not the case."

Evenepoel finished 39 seconds down on stage winner and new leader of the race, Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo) in a good ride, all things considered.

The 21-year-old and was recently announced as the Belgian team leader at the upcoming European Championships in Trento, Italy with the time trial on September 9 and the road race on September 12. He will be hoping he can recover sufficiently in time those events after suffering through the Benelux time trial.

"We are now looking at it day by day," Evenepoel said. "If the situation continues to deteriorate, there is no point in continuing [the race]. We'll see if I can keep down more food later. If that doesn't work, I better get sick and recover towards next week.

"The loss of time is not that bad, given the situation. It's just never fun, since I had hoped to take back time today. That might still work for some guys, but the differences won't be as big as hoped."

Evenepoel sits in 37th place overall at 1-36 but does have co-leader Kasper Asgreen in second place overall at 19 seconds behind Bissegger going into the next five stages. Meaning Evenepoel won't be leaving the team without hope in the GC.

The third stage of the Benelux Tour is a largely flat day over 168.3m from Essen to Hoogerheide leaving chance to recover if the wind is kind to the riders.

Remco Evenepoel cut an extremely frustrated figure at the side of the road with a broken front wheel during stage one of the Benelux Tour 2021.

The situation for the Deceuninck - Quick-Step man was not helped by the fact that the Shimano neutral service car took a very long time over the wheel change, first bringing the wrong wheel and then taking substantial time with the drill on Evenepoel's disc brake wheels.

It was made clear by the 21-year-old after the 169.6km route from Surhuisterveen to Dokkum, that was plagued with strong cross-winds, that he blamed Alpecin-Fenix rider Gianni Vermeersch for cutting across him and breaking his spokes.

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After the stage he was filmed shouting in Dutch: "We're just riding normally in the group and you just come diagonally into me. No need to run away, you should realise your mistake."

Evenepoel went from the leading group of riders to the third group on the road which, fortunately for him, made it back to group two and finished under a minute to the leaders with him coming to the line 57 seconds down alongside riders such as Gertaint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma), Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Greg Van Avermaet (Ag2r-Citroën).

When things had settled down after the day's racing, Evenepoel Tweeted: "Crazy first stage of the Benelux Tour, and in all the action emotions can run high... Tomorrow's a new day and a time trial! Let's go for it."

All is not lost for Deceuninck - Quick-Step though as the Belgian WorldTour team has their other leader and Tour of Flanders winner, Kasper Asgreen, made it to the front group along with team-mates, Álvaro Hodeg and Stijn Steels.

Evenepoel's chances of overall glory aren't done yet, either, as stage two sees an 11.1km individual time trial. However, with riders like Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo) both making the front group, it could be difficult to gain time.

Fabio Jakobsen admitted he didn’t have the legs to follow his lead-out train on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España. 

The Dutchman was the favourite to take the sprint on the flat run from Belmez to Villanueva de la Serena, having already won two stages in this year’s race.

But in the rapid run to the finish, Jakobsen’s Deceuninck - Quick-Step team-mates set a blistering pace through the roundabouts and sharp turns, stringing the bunch out with 3km to ride. 

At the 2.5km mark Deceuninck caused a split near the front of the bunch on a fast right-hand turn, with Jakobsen forced to close down too many gaps.

Then with 1.5km to the line, Jakobsen’s legs gave out, as he slipped off the back of his train, leaving his lead-out to fight for the victory, with Florian Sénéchal doing the job in Jakobsen’s place.

While Sénéchal said after the finish he believed his sprinter had suffered a puncture in the final, Jakobsen has now revealed he just didn’t have the legs to keep up with his train.

Speaking after the stage, Jakobsen said: “I tried to close the gap but I couldn’t. 

“I didn’t have the legs to sprint, so I told Florian he should do the sprint.” 

It was a remarkable turnaround for Deceuninck, who have been phenomenally consistent in the sprint stages at this Vuelta.

Jakobsen, who is still leading the points classification after the stage, already has two stage wins and two second-place finishes to his name in this race. 

He now leads the points competition by 86 points over Magnus Cort, with eight stages still to race.

>>> Vuelta a España 2021 route: Nine summit finishes and no Madrid finale in this year's edition 

But the Vuelta’s brutal final week could turn the tables, as the Spanish Grand Tour traditionally favours the climbers in the points classification.

Primož Roglič is currently third in the green jersey race on 106 points, 94 behind Jakobsen, which means it could be a close fight for the jersey in the final week. 

Julian Alaphilippe has been confirmed for the Tour of Britain in 2021 in his first appearance since he won the race back in 2018.

Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) has not raced much since the Tour de France where he won the opening stage and wore the yellow jersey for a day. Since then he has raced at the Clásica San Sebastian finishing sixth and most recently the Belgian Druivenkoers in Overijse, where he managed a solid 13th with his team-mates taking first, second and fourth.

The 29-year-old Frenchman is building up to his defence of the world title he won last year in Imola, Italy. This year the World Championships are being held in Leuven, Belgium, which suits the star rider's credentials. 

"I am really looking forward to racing the Tour of Britain, which will be my last in the rainbow jersey, that I have been so proud to wear for the last 12 months," Alaphilippe said of his upcoming return to the UK.

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"I had a successful race in Britain the last time I was there in 2018, and I know it will be a hard-fought race this time. It will be the perfect race for me to take on, ahead of the World Championships. We come here with a strong team and will look to race hard, as we always do."

Alaphilippe joins his team-mate Mark Cavendish as well as Belgian champion Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) as the first three riders announced to be starting the eight-day race around Great Britain.

It's a course that suits Alaphilippe and Van Aert very well with multiple hilly stages including a summit finish on the Great Orme in Llandudno, Wales. Also included in the route is a team time trial which should open up the general classification on stage three.

By his high standards, Alaphilippe has not had his best season with just three wins to his name. A stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, Flèche Wallonne, and the previously mentioned Tour stage. 

It is not yet known how the rest of the Deceuninck - Quick-Step team will look at the race but it is likely to be a very strong one when the first two riders announced are Cavendish and Alaphilippe.

The Tour of Britain starts on Sunday, September 5 in Penzance, Cornwall and finishes eight days later in Aberdeen, Scotland on Sunday, September 12.

Julian Alaphilippe and Remco Evenepoel are set to ride Belgian one-day race Druivenkoers Overijse as a recon for the upcoming World Championships on the same roads.

Reigning world champion Alaphilippe will be joined by young Belgian star Evenepoel and Tour of Flanders winner Kasper Asgreen, as part of a strong Deceuninck - Quick-Step team to tackle to hilly race and to ride some of the roads used at this year's World Championships.

The roads around the town of Overijse are just south-west of the 2021 Worlds host town Leuven, with Druivenkoers taking place on August 26, making it an ideal recon race for some big names.

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Team sports director, Rik Van Slycke said: "Druivenkoers Overijse is an important race, because it puts on the table a hard course with some sections that will be ridden also at the Worlds, and this will make things more interesting than usual. 

"We have a strong team and we will try to play an important role, as we always do. It won’t be easy, but we go to the start with a lot of confidence and motivation."

Druivenkoers Overijse 2021 will be raced over 192km, starting and finishing in the Flemish town of Overijse, featuring 20 punchy categorised climbs, including the Moskesstraat, the Taymansstraat, and the Bekestraat, all over which will feature in the elite men's road race at the World Championships.

The men's race at the 2021 Worlds, scheduled for the final day of racing on September 26, will be raced over 268km from Antwerp to Leuven in Flanders, featuring 2,500 metres of climbing. 

This will be Alaphilippe's first race since finishing sixth at the Clásica San Sebastián in late July, where his team-mate Mikkel Honoré took an impressive third. 

Alaphilippe had a mixed Tour de France after taking the first stage, wearing the yellow jersey for a day before Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) took over. He then went into a series of breakaways but was unable to get a second stage win.

Evenepoel on the other hand has come back in flying form after having to abandon his first Grand Tour, the Giro d'Italia earlier this year.

He has since retained his title at the Belgium Tour, scored a top-10 in the Olympic time trial and put in a very impressive performance to win the Tour of Denmark, lapping the peloton on the queen's stage.

The 21-year-old Belgian will be keen to get close to top form heading towards a home World Championships that will be held just 48km from his hometown. .

As well as Evenepoel and Alaphilippe, the Danish duo of Asgreen and Honoré will surely be in the mix for the win both at this race but also the Worlds.

Both riders have had strong results this season with Asgreen taking the Tour of Flanders and the E3 Saxo Bank Classic as well as his nation TT title and Honoré pulling off fifth overall at the Tour of Poland behind team-mate and overall winner,  João Almeida as well as multiple top-10 results across the season and a win at Coppi e Bartali.

The rest of the team is made up of three of the strongest domestiques around with Iljo Keisse, Pieter Serry and Dries Devenyns set to ride in a support role.

Deceuninck - Quick-Step team for Druivenkoers Overijse 2021

Julian Alaphilippe (Fra)
Remco Evenepoel (Bel)
Kasper Asgreen (Den)
Mikkel Honoré (Den)
Dries Devenyns (Bel)
Pieter Serry (Bel)
Iljo Keisse (Bel)

Fabio Jakobsen puts life-threatening crash behind him

It was almost exactly a year ago that Fabio Jakobsen awoke from a medically induced coma, having suffered life-threatening injuries in the Tour of Poland. 

The Dutch sprinter has fought so hard to return to the top of the sport after a crash that could have ended his career or even his life.

But on stage four of the Vuelta a España 2021, Jakobsen picked up where his career began to take off, with a stage win in the Spanish Grand Tour. 

In 2019, Jakobsen looked like he could be the next big name in sprinting, winning 10 races in a single season, including two Vuelta stages on his debut in the race, before the crash with Dylan Groenewegen in Poland changed the trajectory of his life beyond recognition in August 2020. 

Now with his huge sprint victory in Spain, beating the veteran Arnaud Démare, Jakobsen’s comeback is complete. 

It’s another fairytale win for Deceuninck - Quick-Step, whose biggest success have come from riders looking for redemption - first Mark Cavendish in the Tour de France and now Jakobsen in the Vuelta. 

Jakobsen’s confidence in the sprints is the real shock however, as he seems to have lost none of his bravery in battling through the bunch to hit the line first.  

Arnaud Démare fails to capitalise on strong lead-out 

French sprinter Arnaud Démare’s search for form continues. 

Last year the Groupama-FDJ rider was in unbelievable form, winning 14 races across the season, including four stage of the Giro d’Italia, but this year he has not returned to that dominant position.

While Démare has picked up plenty of wins in smaller races on home turf this year, he just hasn’t hit the level he needs in the biggest races. 

Stage four of the Vuelta looked like it could be Démare’s moment, as his Groupama-FDJ squad put in a huge effort to lead him into the final turn right at the head of the race as the road ramped up to the line.

Démare was dropped off too early though and had to launch his sprint around 100m from the finish, allowing Jakobsen to get into position on his wheel and launch past to take the sprint.

It was a promising performance for the 29-year-old, but after being eliminated by the Tour de France time cut earlier this year, the pressure is on for him to deliver in this race. 

The Rein came down in Spain 

If you’ll forgive the awful pun (which has probably been repeated 10,000 times on cycling Twitter already), Rein Taaramäe’s frustrating crash inside the final 3km of stage four highlights the constant danger of Grand Tour racing. 

The Estonian veteran took a dream victory on stage three, taking his second Vuelta stage 10 years after hiz first ,  and also moving into the race lead. 

But the dream almost came tumbling down with him, as Taaramäe fell during a compression in the bunch heading into the final few kilometres. 

Fortunately the Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux rider was able to get back on his bike and ride to the line, as any time losses were neutralised thanks to the 3km incident rule, saving his race lead. 

As the final Grand Tour of the year, the stakes are high in the Vuelta for riders hoping to take a big victory, so the road remains treacherous for those high up on the general classification. 

Absence of the best sprinters makes for some unpredictable racing 

One of the most notable details of the sprints in the 2021 Vuelta a España is the absence of the current crop of top-tier sprinters.

While the Vuelta is traditionally not a race for the sprinters, this year’s edition actually has plenty of opportunities for the fast men to win the stage.

Last year’s race featured the likes of Sam Bennett and Pascal Ackermann, two of the fastest riders last year, but both are missing from this year’s race.

Instead this Vuelta is an opportunity for younger sprinters to prove themselves, as Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) did on stage two and now Jakobsen on stage three.

Philipsen was boxed in on stage four and had to settled for ninth place, while Alberto Dainese (Team DSM) took fourth, closing in on a Grand Tour win at the age of 23. 

We also saw the veteran’s hit the front, with Démare second, Magnust Cort (EF Education-Nippo) in third, Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) in fifth, and Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) in eighth.

This all makes for some brilliantly unpredictable sprint finishes, with no one team or sprinter dominating the fast finishes.

A welcome quiet day for the GC contenders 

The sprint opportunities are often the most dangerous for the general classification contenders in a Grand Tour, as the long and often uneventful days in the bunch often cause inattention, and in turn disastrous consequences.

But stage four was a very calm day with no major crashes to upset the general classification, which after the chaos we’ve seen already in Grand Tours this year (particularly the opening week of the Tour de France), this will be a welcome result for both the riders and for the fans.

>>> Mark Cavendish: ‘The Tour de France is not a bike race, it’s a world sporting event’

We still have a well-poised GC race before the mountains start later this week, with another sprint stage on day five, followed by a punchy uphill finish on stage six, and then a huge mountain day on stage seven. 

Mark Cavendish says the Tour de France is more than just a bike race, it’s a “world sporting event.”

British pro Cavendish is the most successful sprinter in the history of the race and is tied at the top of the standings for the most stage wins, sitting alongside cycling legend Eddy Merckx. 

But Cavendish has spoken about the pressure riders face when racing the Tour and explains why “emotions are so high.” 

Speaking on Danish TV show Radio Tour during the Vuelta a España, the “Manx Missile” said: “You have cycling, WorldTour cycling, then you have the Tour de France.

"The Tour is not a bike race, it’s a world sporting event. It’s a different level. People who have never been don’t understand. 

“Every time you do an interview with one of the riders, whether it’s a rider with personality or without personality, they always say ‘the Tour is the Tour.’ 

“It’s the only bike race in the world where you have 180 of the best bike riders at that time, all in peak form. The consequences of winning or losing are just bigger.  

“That’s why the emotions are so high.

“The stress is different, it’s something you have to prepare for.” 

Cavendish made his return to the Tour de France this year, having not raced since 2018 due to illness, injury and mental health struggles.

But having joined Deceuninck - Quick-Step at the start of 2021, Cavendish was back to the top in the Tour, winning four stages and claiming the green jersey for the second time in his career.

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Cavendish also extended his winning record in the Tour to 34 wins, matching the record previously held by all-round great Eddy Merckx, making Cavendish the most successful pure sprinter in the history of the race. 

During the Tour, a video also emerged showing him shouting at a mechanic before the start of stage 19. 

Cavendish was having problems was his bike and was filmed venting his frustration in front of fans. 

He then shared a post on Instagram responding to the video, but fell short of making an apology. 

The 36-year-old will be back in action at the Deutschland Tour later this month, before he heads to the Tour of Britain in early September. 

Mark Cavendish has been announced to be riding the 2021 edition of the Tour of Britain with his Deceuninck - Quick-Step team after a very successful season.

The sprinting star made an incredible comeback from the Epstein-Barr virus, which was diagnosed in 2017, to winning four stages of the 2021 Tour de France and the point jersey.

Cavendish is the first rider officially revealed to be riding the week-long race across Great Britain with this year's race starting in Penzance, Cornwall and finishing in the highlands of Scotland. 

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Speaking after the announcement, Cavendish said: "It is always an honour to race on the home roads of the Tour of Britain - It is a race where I have always enjoyed success and I am really looking forward to racing with what I know will be a strong Deceuninck - Quick-Step team.

"It has already been a special year for me and riding the Tour of Britain will be a great way to see so many of the people that have supported throughout."

For Cavendish, 10 of his 155  career wins have come at the Tour of Britain and the 'Manx Missile' is likely going to want to add to that tally. Especially after missing out on victory at the recent Tour of Denmark.

Just three or four stages of the Tour of Britain look like sprint stages with the rest being very challenging routes taking on tough climbs including stage four finish up the Great Orme in Llandudno as well as a stage three time trial.

Race director, Mick Bennett added: "We always pride ourselves on the quality of riders we attract, and the participation of Mark Cavendish in this year’s Tour of Britain will no doubt whet the appetite of the British public. 

"He’s a true great of our sport – something he has proved once again throughout his unforgettable 2021 season – and I cannot wait to see him on the start line in Penzance."

The Tour of Britain starts on Sunday, September 5 with a stage from Penzance to Bodmin over a 180.5km course.

Remco Evenepoel put in an unbelievable ride on stage three of the Tour of Denmark, coming back from a crash to then lap the peloton. 

The 21-year-old Belgian star was among the favourites to win the general classification in the five-stage race and didn’t disappoint on the undulating 219km stage. 

Evenepoel’s first attack came around 46km from the finish as he put down the hammer in the leading group, attacking again a few kilometres later and causing a split among the group.

Into the final 35km and Evenepoel found himself in an attacking group with Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Søren Kragh Andersen (Team DSM) and Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma), but Evenepoel misjudged a corner on a descent, leaving the road and almost dashing his hopes. 

However the Deceuninck - Quick-Step rider was able to chase down the leading group after the mistake, as he crossed the finish line for the first time with around 18km to the line. 

Evenepoel attacked again 17km from the finish to finally drop his companions, as he took on two full laps of the finishing circuit.  

As the race split to pieces on the tough, punchy course, Evenepoel continued to ride away from his nearest rivals and began gaining time on the peloton, which had also entered the finishing laps. 

With 1.5km to go, Evenepoel passed the biggest group on the road, which included his team-mate Mark Cavendish, with Evenepoel crossing the line 1-29 ahead of his nearest rivals and 13 minutes ahead of the bunch.

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Evenepoel now leads the race overall by 1-33 to Lotto-Soudal’s Tosh Van Der Sande. 

Tour of Denmark 2021, stage three: Tønder to Vejle (219.2km)

1. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, in 4-54-44
2. Tosh van der Sande (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, at 1-29
3. Nick van der Lijke (Ned) Riwal Cycling Team, at 1-32

General classification after stage three 

1. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, in 12-44-14
2. Tosh van der Sande (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, at 1-33
3. Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo, at 1-36

João Almeida put in a huge ride on stage two of the Tour of Poland 2021, taking his second career win on a brutal uphill finish.

The punchy stage came down to an uphill sprint from a reduced bunch, with Almeida going early on the steep ascent to the line.

Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) was able to make the late bridge across the Almeida (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), but was out-sprinted at the line by the Portuguese rider. 

After race leader Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) was dropped earlier in the stage, Almeida also moved into the top spot on general classification. 

How it happened 

The second stage of the 2021 Tour of Poland was another day set for a punchy finish, after 200km from Zamość to Przemyśl.

The decisive moments on the course came in the final 40km, with three climbs in quick succession, two of which were second category (2.1km at 9.2 per cent, then 31.km at 5.9 per cent).

After a flat 20km run towards the finish, the road then ramped up again in a sharp 1.5km-long, eight per cent average gradient dash to the line.  

Early in the stage, a five-rider group was able to get the gap on the peloton in the opening 20km to establish the day’s breakaway.

Britain’s Gabriel Cullaigh (Movistar), Nikita Stalnov (Astana-Premier Tech), Patrick Stosz (Polish national team), Taco van der Hoorn (Intermaché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), and Sebastian Langeveld (EF Education-Nippo) were the riders to break free of the bunch, pulling out a four-minute advantage at the maximum before the peloton began to reel them in, led by Bahrain Victorious. 

Inside the final 100km, there was an attack in the bunch by three riders, as Ryan Mullen (Trek-Segafredo), Manuele Boaro (Astana-Premier Tech) and Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) bridged across to the leading group. 

Into the final 30km and race leader Phil Bauhaus was dropped from the bunch, as the break surged towards the finish. 

But a flurry of attacks in the final 20km reeled back the escapees and with 10km to finish the reduced bunch was all together, heading for a fast finish on the final climb.  

UAE Team Emirates, Lotto-Soudal and Israel Start-Up Nation were all motivated, but onto the climb it was Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) who attacked, followed by Tim Wellens and João Almeida.

Into the final kilometre and Almeida attacked alone and pulled out a strong advantage on the surging bunch, setting up a slow-motion chase.

With 500m to the line Almeida was still giving his all, as attacks came from the peloton but riders struggled to close down the Deceuninck rider. 

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Diego Ulissi attacked from the chasing group and bridged across to Almeida, the pair going wheel-to-wheel in the final 300m, but Almeida kicked again out of the saddle and led into the final turn on the seemingly endless climb. 

Ulissi sprinted with 100m to the line but Almeida matched his pace and rolled across at the line to win the stage and move into the race lead. 

Tour of Poland 2021, stage two: Zamość to Przemyśl (200.8km)

1. João Almedia (Por) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, in 4-41-33
2. Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
3. Matej Mohorič (Slo) Bahrain Victorious, all at same time
4. Michał Kwiatkowski (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers, at 4s
5. Mikkel Honoré (Den) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 8s
6. Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), at 12s
7. Jai Hindley (Aus) Team DSM
8. Giovanni Aleotti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
9. Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain Victorious, all at same time
10. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, at 16s 

General classification after stage two 

1. João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, in 9-42-47
2. Matej Mohorič (Slo) Bahrain Victorious, at 4s
3. Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates, at same time
4. Michał Kwiatkowski (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers, at 11s
5. Mikkel Honoré (Den) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 18s
6. Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain Victorious, at 22s
7. Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert-Matériaux,
8. Jai Hindley (Aus) Team DSM)
9. Giovanni Aleotti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe, all at same time
10. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, at 26s 

João Almeida has been confirmed to be joining UAE Team Emirates from 2022 on a huge five-year deal.

The Portuguese rider was reported to be leaving the Belgian team of Deceuninck - Quick-Step after team boss Patrick Lefevere said his manager showed "relatively little respect in the negotiations." Meaning Almeida will be joining double Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar.

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Almeida showed his excitement to join the team in a press release: "I am really looking forward to this new chapter in my career and in my life.

"I feel like the move to UAE Team Emirates is coming at the right time and I’m sure I will be happy on this new adventure. The team is growing every year and I can’t wait to be a part of it.

"I am quite a thoughtful person by nature and I find myself already dreaming and visualising about the future and I’m super excited about it."

The 23-year-old Almeida has managed a top-10 result in five of the 10 races he has attended this season, with a win at the Portuguese time trial championships and a top-six in the Giro d'Italia after looking exceptionally strong in the final week.

In the 2020 Giro won by Ineos Grenadiers rider, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Almeida held the pink jersey for 15 days but lost it in the closing few stages.

UAE Team Emirates manager, Joxean Matxin Fernandez said: "Almeida is a rider we’ve known for many years since he was a junior and we are delighted to welcome him to UAE Team Emirates. 

"João is a cyclist of great quality and we have no doubt that he will be a strong pillar in the team. He’s a hugely talented and versatile rider and I’m sure we’ll enjoy many great successes together with him in our squad. Our aim is to strengthen the team year-by-year and we have full confidence that João will bring great things to the group, both as an athlete and as a person."

Almeida could lead in the Grand Tours that Pogačar does not ride, but could also act as super-domestique for the Slovenian and a possible second option in the GC at the Tour. 

World champion, Julian Alaphilippe will make his return to racing at the Clásica San Sebastián this weekend after taking a short break following the Tour de France.

The Deceuninck - Quick-Step star will be leading his squad at the race around the Basque Country's regional capital of San Sebastian, otherwise known as Donostia.

This is an important race that is part of the UCI WorldTour calendar and a potential build-up to the final Grand Tour of the year, the Vuelta a España. 

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Deceuninck - Quick-Step have won the last two runnings of this race with Alapilippe taking victory in 2018 and young Belgian star Remco Evenepoel winning in 2019. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a team press release, sports director Wilfried Pieters said: "San Sebastian is always a hard race, everybody knows that. You’ve got a lot of climbing and an extremely tough ascent inside the last 10 kilometres, which since it has been added to the course, it’s been decisive almost every single time. 

"But we have a solid team, built around a former winner of the race, and we go there with the confidence that we can get a good result at the end of the day."

Alaphilippe will be supported by Mattia Cattaneo, who has just come off the back of a 12th place overall at the Tour, along with James Knox, Zdeněk Štybar, Mikkel Honoré, Pieter Serry and Dries Devenyns in what is a very solid team.

Riders will have to tackle 223.5km of racing taking on six categorised climbs including the famous Jaiskibel, an 8km ascent, as well as the final climb of the Murgil-Tontorra which is 2.1km at an average of 10.1 per cent gradient.

The race starts and finishes in San Sebastian with the race going in and out of the city throughout the race before finishing on the seafront boulevard next to the popular beach. It takes place on Saturday, July 31 on the same day as the much shorter women's event which is going to be racing its third edition of the event.

Fabio Jakobsen has overcome his demons to take his first win since his life-threatening crash one year ago. 

The Dutch sprinter lined up in the Tour de Wallonie this week as the chosen sprinter for his Deceuninck - Quick-Step squad, as he continued his comeback after the fateful collision with Dylan Groenewegen last August. 

Jakobsen suffered serious injuries to his head and face during the opening stage of last year’s Tour of Poland, after he was pushed into the barriers by rival sprinter Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) in the infamous downhill finish into Katowice. 

Groenewegen was banned from racing for nine months by the UCI for his role in the collision, while Jakobsen underwent multiple operations, including facial reconstructive surgery.

Jakobsen, 24, returned to racing at the Tour of Turkey in April, but hadn’t broken into the top-30 on a stage before the Tour de Wallonie. 

But on the second stage of Wallonie on Wednesday (July 21), Jakobsen completed his comeback in emphatic fashion, beating Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) in a bunch sprint in Zolder.

Jakobsen’s win came just a day after his rival Groenewegen also took his first win since the crash on stage one of Wallonie, in another bunch sprint. 

Jakobsen’s crash happened in the sprint finish of stage one of the Tour of Poland last August when Jumbo-Visma’s Dylan Groenewegen pushed him into a barrier at high speed and the barriers gave way.

Jakobsen suffered facial injuries and a serious concussion in the fall, while Groenewegen broke his collarbone.

Groenewegen later revealed he had received death threats following the collision. 

After being disqualified from the race, Groenewegen was banned from racing for nine months by the UCI, making his return at the Giro d’Italia, which he abandoned without taking a podium place. 

The Tour of Poland finish into Katowice has since been banned by the UCI under safety grounds. 

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Speaking after his first win since the crash, Groenewegen said: “This win is more than just a win for me.

“I went through a very difficult period in which cycling came second. A lot has happened. Of course with the accident, but also in my private life. We have continued to work hard and it is very nice to finally win again. The team has been fully supporting me all the time and I am very grateful to them for that. That has helped me a lot."   

Deceuninck - Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere has said that Julian Alaphilippe races "way too crazy" but understands that's the key to his success.

Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) has been on the attack on almost every other stage at this year's Tour de France without much success since his stage win on the opening day.

In a piece by Het Nieuwsblad, Patrick Lefevere said: "It's true that Julian has had all of his great successes.

"He is used to racing impulsively. As world champion in his own country, he also wants to show his jersey, of course. But at the same time, that jersey also weighs on him. From the moment Julian bounces, there are a lot of people on his wheel."

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Alaphilippe hasn't quite had the success of previous years while being world champion, but he really impressed on stage one in Brittany.

"What he did there was a really big number," continued Lefevere. "Julian wins in Landerneau and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) the next day on the Mûr de Bretagne, while everyone expected it to be the other way around. Cycling is not always predictable."

Lefevere says that Alaphilippe is racing "way too crazy, but that's how he has achieved all his great successes."

It is likely that the world champion won't be back to his general classification days in the Tour after he took fifth overall in 2019, according to Lefevere: "He doesn't have the 'long distance' he had two years ago when he finished fifth in the standings,

"Julian may be a little impulsive, but everything he does is with the best of intentions. We don't blame him. I've never been able to be mad at Julian."

The Tour de France heads into the Pyrenees on stage 15 with the highest point of the Tour in Andorra, the one and only time that the race leaves France in 2021. 

Alaphilippe was on the move early on stage 15 (July 11) as he looked for a second stage win in the rainbow bands.

Michael Mørkøv said that Mark Cavendish is ‘clearly the best sprinter there ever was,’ as Cavendish matched Eddy Merckx’s record at the Tour de France. 

British sprinting superstar Cavendish fired his way to his 34th career Tour de France stage victory on Friday (July 9), as he was guided to the line by lead-out expert Michael Mørkøv. 

The stage 13 victory in Carcassonne is a historic moment, as Deceuninck - Quick-Step’s Cavendish matched the all-time record for Tour stage wins, all from bunch sprints, while Merckx won across all types of terrain.

Speaking after the finish on stage 13, Mørkøv said: “I can understand Cav, he pushed [the record] away. It’s not something you want to play mind games with yourself over, now he’s equalled Eddy Merckx. 

“I think it’s amazing, just as a sports fan as well. Even if I wasn’t his team-mate I would still think it’s really special that a rider from this time has equalled Eddy Merckx. 

“It’s history. He broke a 50 year old record. Having said that, Merck won his stages differently, so you can clearly say Mark is the best sprinter there ever was in cycling.” 

It was a hard-earned win for Cavendish and his Belgian team, as Deceuninck were forced to control the entire 219km stage to keep the three-rider breakaway on the leash.

After their main chaser Tim Declerq went down in a crash 60km from the finish, the squad then had to navigate a hectic final, with Cavendish losing Mørkøv’s wheel inside the final 500m only to find his man again 250m from the finish. 

Cavendish then put in a staggering sprint to deny Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) and Iván García (Movistar) at the line, with Mørkøv himself sprinting to second place on the stage behind Cavendish. 

Mørkøv said: “It was a very hard stage. It was very hard to control it.

“The whole team put in a massive effort at the end. What a way [to win]. Cav has won four out of four sprints he was participating in.”

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Cavendish now has four stage wins in the 2021 Tour, matching the success of the 2016 edition, which was the last time he won a stage of the Tour before this season.

The Manxman also has a comfortable lead in the green jersey competition, which he leads by 99 points over Michael Matthews (BikeExchange), and looks set to take home in Paris if he can survive the tough mountain stages in the Pyrenees yet to come.  

Mark Cavendish put his third stage victory in the 2021 Tour de France down to an “old school, textbook lead-out’ from his team.

British sprinter Cavendish was dominant yet again on stage 10, after a chaotic final that featured crosswinds and splits in the bunch. 

But throughout the tumult, Cavendish’s Deceuninck - Quick-Step team were unshaken, delivering their sprinter to the line with a classic lead-out, with Cavendish only hitting the wind 150 metres from the line.

Speaking after the stage, Cavendish said: “It was an old school, run of the mill, like you’d read in a cycling magazine, textbook lead-out. Just get the lads on the front as fast as they can so no-one can come past you.

“We knew this finish. I didn’t make it to this finish last time in 2015, I got dropped and [André] Greipel won. We studied that. We knew if you took that last corner wide you’d keep the speed, and actually it split in the wind.”

Into the final 20km of stage 10 from Albertville to Valence the race burst into life, as winding roads and winds caused a split in the bunch, with Cavendish comfortably at the front of the race while other battled for position.

Deceuninck have stacked team in this year’s Tour, which Cavendish is still in awe of.

He said: “I’m just humbled. You’ve got the winner of the Tour of Flanders [Kasper Agreen], you’ve got the world champion who’s had the yellow jersey [Julian Alaphilippe], you’ve got Michael Mørkøv whose going to the Olympics, and the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winner [Davide Ballerini] leaving everything on the road for me. I had to finish it off for them. 

“I didn’t really do anything until 150m. It was the team. I have to thank them.” 

The battle for the green jersey was also lit up on stage 10, with the intermediate sprint point coming at the top of a 3km uncategorised climb.

Bahrain Victorious and Team BikeExchange took up the race at that point for their respective sprinters Sonny Colbrelli and Michael Matthews, with Colbrelli taking home 15 points, Mathews 13, while Cavendish was no-where to be seen.

But Cavendish still extended his lead in the points competition with another huge stage win. 

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He said: “I don’t go for the green jersey, I go for stages and hope the green jersey comes from that. I always try and pick up points but I’m not going to put myself over the limit to do it. 

“They’ve gotta try something, it’s bike racing, but I feel like they’ve burnt their matches doing that

“My team stayed round me and got me over it. I just needed to get over that climb and I knew I’d be safe for the sprint.” 

The manager of Deceuninck - Quick-Step Patrick Lefevere will open discussions on a new contract for Mark Cavendish after the Tour de France.

After an opening week in the race that has seen the 36-year-old win two sprint stages and hold a sizeable advantage in the points classification, securing a contract extension to keep Cavendish with the Belgian team will be a priority beyond the French Grand Tour. 

Cavendish, who re-joined the team last winter on a minimum contract, wasn't expected to ride the Tour until the late withdrawal of the team's de-facto number one sprinter Sam Bennett.

But the 2011 world champion has shown that he is still capable of winning stages at the biggest race of them all.

His double success means he now has 32 stage wins and he is just two adrift of Eddy Merckx's record of 34.

Writing in his weekly Het Nieuwsblad column, Lefevere said: "His contract will expire at the end of this season, but we have agreed to wait until after the Tour to talk about it.

"When we went to dinner after the Elfstedenronde race [in early June], Mark said he wanted to continue for another year, but in the meantime the world looks completely different.

"What if he would soon win in the dream scenario on the Champs-Élysées in the green jersey for his 35th Tour victory?

"Maybe he'll say there: Voilà, this is the end of the ride. I would advise against it, but I've seen too many that are way past their sell-by date.

"Mark has another chance to leave the sport on his terms, but the choice is obviously his."

Given the momentum and confidence that Cavendish now possesses, it seems unlikely that he would be keen to retire at the end of the 2021 season, pointedly saying earlier in the week that he is fuelled by the desire to race head-to-head against Caleb Ewan, an opportunity that he was deprived of in this race due to the Australian's race-ending crash on stage three.

Before his place in the Deceuninck - Quick-Step team was confirmed, there were reports that Cavendish was loathed to riding the Tour on his bare-bones contract, but Lefevere revealed that late adjustments to his salary were made.

He continued: "Last Monday, when the Tour was already underway, we agreed on a number of bonuses.

"A premium to ride the Tour, one for each week he completes and of course one for each stage win.

"If he continues like this, Mark won't have earned badly on his minimum contract by the end of the year.

"We never talked about the green jersey on Monday. At the time, it just seemed completely unrealistic that Mark would even complete in that classification."

Mark Cavendish wins again

The comeback continues.

For the second time in three days, Mark Cavendish has won a stage of the Tour de France, a remarkable occurrence given all that has happened in the past few years.

We don’t need to repeat the story and instead just need to praise Isle of Man's favourite son.

Class is permanent, as they say, but what is spectacular about Cavendish’s win is his age: he is 36. His age would indicate that he has no right to be the fastest man in the field, but he clearly is.

His win in Châteauroux – the third time he’s won in the city - was classic Cavendish, too. He had a good lead-out and then switched his line, pulling in behind Alpecin-Fenix before timing his final attack perfectly.

Of all his 32 stage wins – and he’s not just two behind that magic number – this was as vintage Cavendish as they come.

The fairy-tale is still being written.

Is green on the agenda?

Cavendish came to the Tour, his 13th participation in the race, looking for a dream stage win.

His double success so far is not just a surprise to him, but it is giving him a real and probable chance of winning the race’s green jersey for only the second time.

Jasper Philipsen is his closest contender, 46 points adrift of him, while Peter Sagan, who has won the points classification seven times, has been surprisingly quiet so far and is 76 points shy of Cavendish’s tally of 148 points.

For every stage he wins, the Briton is collecting 50 points and if he continues at this rate, as well as picking up a good number of points in each stages’ intermediate sprint, Cavendish will be on track for a scarcely believable second green jersey.

Another rider to keep an eye on is Michael Matthews. The Australian won the classification in 2017, and he looks especially motivated to repeat his success this year. He is currently 52 points off Cavendish.

Alpecin-Fenix showing bigger teams up

Jasper Philipsen finished second in the stage behind Cavendish, the third time in four days that the Belgian has ridden to a top-three finish but missed out on the top spot.

His team-mates Mathieu van der Poel and Tim Merlier were victorious on stage two and three respectively, and although the team weren’t able to make it a hat-trick, the ProTeam outfit appear to be the best sprint team in the race.

Despite being in the sport’s second tier, Alpecin-Fenix are performing significantly better than almost all WorldTour teams, and there’s an argument to say even better than Deceuninck – Quick-Step, even if Cavendish has just won the last two sprint stages.

Alpecin-Fenix have got a clear plan that is delivering them results, and they will be the envy of teams with bigger budgets who have a top-tier licence.  

Lotto-Soudal are without possibly the fastest rider in the peloton, Caleb Ewan, but more is expected of other sprint teams in the race.

Mathieu van der Poel stays in yellow

Of course it was expected that he would, but Mathieu van der Poel’s stint in yellow continues for at least another day.

Stage six was the fourth consecutive day that the Dutchman has led the race and he is playing the role exemplary well, including forming part of his Alpecin-Fenix team’s sprint train. 

It’s likely that the 26-year-old will stay in yellow into the weekend before ceding it on Saturday when the race hits the mountain.

Wearing the yellow jersey is something his grandfather Raymond Poulidor was unable to do, and Van der Poel is not taking the honour lightly, savouring the moments and trying to hold onto it for as long as possible.

He understands the privilege and the achievement and is guarding it with the respect it deserves.

That was a proper Tour de France summer’s day

The opening stages of the race have been characterised by rain and not very summery conditions, but stage six felt like a proper Tour de France day.

You know, the days where nothing really happens, the commentators divert onto obscure tangents, and we’re left watching images of the peloton riding comfortably through the countryside, past excited villagers and, at times, beneath a near-total blue sky. 

It was a picture-perfect Tour de France day. There are very few sports like cycling that you can watch while also potter about doing other jobs, and today was one of them days.

The racing wasn’t exciting, but the Tour is a celebration of France, of summer and, as corny as it says, of life in general. Today was quite blissful.

A television presenter has been sentenced to two years in prison and forced to pay substantial damages to Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider Iljo Keisse.

A court in Antwerp this week found Melvin Klooster guilty of seriously injuring Keisse outside a nightclub in October 2017, after the track specialist intervened after witnessing a fight.

Keisse was knocked unconscious after a hit to the head from Klooster and also fell on shards of glass which severed tendons in his finger.

He was forced to undergo surgery and missed months of competition, including that year’s Ghent Six-Day, which Keisse has won seven times.

A long-running trial was finally brought to a close earlier this week and Klooster, who is also an actor, was sentenced to two years in prison, one of which is suspended, and ordered to pay a fine of €1,600.

According to Het Nieuwsblad He was also instructed to pay Keisse €36,384 for loss of earnings, less than the €90,000 in compensation that the cyclist had requested.

The incident happened at around 5am on October 11, 2017, when Keisse visited the Roxy nightclub in Antwerp with his Quick-Step Floors team-mates.

Upon leaving the nightclub, Keisse and his colleagues saw a brawl outside and went over to break up the incident, thinking that it was their team-mate Fernando Gaviria who was being punched by two men.

When Keisse went to the scene to aid the victim, he was knocked to the ground by a punch and briefly lost consciousness.

Keisse’s team-mates, including Tim Declercq and Yves Lampaert, identified Klooster as throwing the punch having spoken to him during the night.

Lampaert testified in court in April, saying that “I recognised Melvin. It all happened very quickly, but I saw him waving his arm and then saw Iljo’s knees give way. He hit his temple.”

Klooster has always denied that it was he who hit Keisse, but earlier this week the court in Antwerp found the Dutch presenter, 38, guilty of the incident.

Keisse has not spoken publicly about the incident, and at the time his team made no mention of the fight, reporting that Keisse had undergone surgery but not specifying why.

Now aged 38, Keisse recently rode the Giro d’Italia and is currently taking a mid-season break before returning to competition in August.

Mark Cavendish is back

Mark Cavendish’s selection for the Tour de France may have been the biggest surprise of the year...until he went and won a stage.

While the British sprinting star had been looking somewhere near his best this year, getting back on the top step after three winless years, Cavendish’s 2021 victories all came from lower tier races like the Tour of Turkey.

For that reason Cavendish wasn’t expected to be chosen for the Tour, as Deceuninck - Quick-Step were more likely to favour their number one sprinter Sam Bennett with his proven track record at WorldTour level this year. 

But after a knee injury in the weeks before the Tour raised questions about Bennett’s form, along with a bizarre public dispute with Patrick Lefevere, Mark Cavendish packed his bags to and set off to Brittany. 

Then on the first sprint opportunity of this year’s Tour on stage four, Cavendish admitted he was nervous, having never expected to race the Tour de France again.

It wasn’t to be for Deceuninck on that day in Pontivy, as most of the team were caught up behind the numerous crashes in the final, but they didn’t have to wait long to deliver their man to the finish.

It’s hard to overstate what this win means to Cavendish and cycling as a whole - he hasn’t race the Tour since 2018 and hasn’t won a stage since 2016, once of his most dominant seasons with four Tour stages.

This wasn’t his first success in Fougères either, as the 36-year-old won a stage there in 2015 while racing with his current team, then named Etixx-Quick Step. 

He now sits on 31 Tour de France stage victories, cementing his position as the most successful sprinter in Tour history, and putting him just three victories behind the all-time record held by Eddy Merckx, 34 wins. 

But beyond the stats, it was the sheer emotion that immediately struck Cavendish that tells the real story. 

After fearing the end of his career last season, battling through illness, injury and mental health struggles, Mark Cavendish is back. 

A welcome quiet day for the peloton 

Stage three was one of the most chaotic stages in recent memory at the Tour - and that’s a high bar. 

We saw two of the general classification favourites, Primož Roglič and Geraint Thomas, both go down in separate incidents while Caleb Ewan was forced out of the race after a crash in the final 300m.

But after all that unwelcome action, stage four was a much quieter affair.

There were no notable incidents either in the two-rider breakaway or in the peloton on day four.  

It was only the two riders committed to an attack on the day, with Brent Van Moer (Lotto-Soudal) and Pierre-Luc Pèrichon (Cofidis) attacking early after a minor delay to proceedings at kilometre zero, with the pair never pulling out more than a three-minute advantage.

Alpecin-Fenix put in a huge amount of the pulling-work back in the bunch with Deceuninck - Quick-Step also ultilising Tim Declerq to keep the break within range.

Alpecin-Fenix put in a huge amount of the pulling-work back in the bunch with Deceuninck - Quick-Step also utilising Tim Declerq to keep the break within range.iggest haul in the peloton. 

Luckily it was a quiet day for the GC contenders, with both Thomas and Roglič resting and nursing their wounds in the bunch, finishing safely ahead of the pivotal time trial on stage five.

After yesterday’s upheaval, it was a welcome change for the riders. 

Minor safety protest fails to make waves 

The number and severity of crashes on stage three caused waves both within the Tour de France peloton and the wider sporting world. 

As more details emerged about the chaos on day three, including the revelation that riders wanted the GC times taken from the 8km mark rather than the usual 3km but the request was denied, news also suggested that riders were planning a protest at the start of stage four. 

While we’ve seen rider protests in the past, this one was slightly more bizarre. 

As riders approached kilometre zero at the end of the neutralised start, a slightly agitated André Greipel (Israel Start-Up Nation) emerged at the front of the bunch and shared words with Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step).

The bunch then came to a halt in the road, waiting a brief moment before Alaphilippe appeared to take matters into his own hands and rode off alone, with the rest of the bunch sheepishly deciding to follow.

That was followed by another exchange of words between Greipel and Alaphilippe.

While the message was clear, that riders are concerned about their safety in sprint finishes, it’s not likely Tour de France organiser ASO or the UCI will take any note of this easily-ignored protest. 

Bizarre moment almost throws the race for the sprinters 

After that initial protest, there was another slightly unusual moment right into the final of the race, as a lone leader powered his way to the finish.

As Brent Van Moer (Lotto-Soudal) rode away from the peloton and threatened to steal a victory with 10km to race, there was no sense of urgency in the bunch, and at one point it even appeared that Ineos Grenadiers and Bora-Hansgrohe might have been blocking at the front of the bunch to prevent any meaningful chase. 

With the sprint teams nowhere to be seen, it almost seemed like this might be a secondary, and arguably more effective protest, letting Van Moer ride clear to secure the stage win uncontested.

Eventually the sprint trains did get into gear, setting up a thrilling cat and mouse to the final, but suggesting this wasn’t an extension of the protest but just a very ill-timed lull in the pace that threatened to throw the second sprint of the race to the breakaway.

An odd-moment, but one that only contributed to the thrills that followed. 

A thrilling finish (this time for the right reasons) 

After the upsets of stage three, stage four was the antidote we all needed.

Following the calm day throughout, the excitement came thick and fast into the final 10km, starting as the sprint trains started to show no interest in catching Van Moer.

The Belgian had attacked and dropped his breakaway companion Pierre-Luc Périchon and was on a determined march to the line, alone.

With 1-06 over the peloton 10km from the finish, it actually looked in the balance for Van Moer, who won his first pro race at the Critèrium du Dauphinè this year. 

As the chase stalled behind, with GC teams appearing to block the sprint trains in, Van Moer began to dream of a revolutionary victory.

The tides turned however when Deceuninck - Quick-Step committed the entire weight of their squad to the chase, knocking Van Moer down to a 30-second advantage in the blink of an eye. 

But as the pace slowed slightly again, Van Moer made it into the final kilometre out front, in sight of the peloton with the dream still alive however.  

Into the final 300m and Van Moer still hadn’t been caught, but Alpecin-Fenix were now more than alert to the threat and their sprinter Jasper Philipsen launched his sprint early, potentially in a moment of panic, which played into the hands of Cavendish.

>>> Tour de France 2021: Mark Cavendish says he never should have left Deceuninck-Quick-Step

Cavendish was initially boxed in at the 200m mark, with Philipsen then striking across his wheel and causing him to ease off, but somehow Cavendish kept up his momentum and blasted clear of the fading Philipsen to take the victory. 

It was an utterly breathless finish, that will have sparked the heart-rates of cycling fans across the world.

Exactly the kind of action we needed after the unwelcome drama of stage three. 

Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) took victory on stage four of the 2021 Tour de France, out-sprinting Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samisc) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) to the line in Fougères.

Cavendish came from behind Philipsen who led out the final sprint to the line after being set up perfectly by his Alpecin-Fenix team, with Bouhanni following as well.

>>> Tour de France 2021: Mark Cavendish says he never should have left Deceuninck-Quick-Step

The sprint caught lone breakaway rider Brent Van Moer (Lotto-Soudal) in the final 200m with the Belgian drifting back into the line of Cavendish. Incredibly, Cavendish was able to check his sprint and move around Van Moer, sticking to the wheel of Philipsen before coming around him in the final 50m to power across the line and take an emotional victory.

It is Cavendish's 31st stage win at the Tour de France, and his first since 2016. The Manxman hasn't ridden the Tour de France since 2018 and didn't expect to be riding this year but was selected as a late replacement for Sam Bennett.

Cavendish also takes over the lead of the green jersey competition from his team-mate Julian Alaphilippe thanks to his victory and taking 15 points at the intermediate sprint earlier in the day.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) retained the overall lead for a third day after finishing safely in the main peloton.

How it happened

The Tour de France 2021 began Tuesday still in shock from the carnage of the previous day, something which was reflected in the rider protest that took place shortly after kilometre zero on stage four.

It was clear that not all riders were on the same page, and after a brief stop on the road the riders started the 150.4km stage from Redon to Fougères - the final stage in Brittany - in earnest, albeit slowly.

Two riders then went clear up the road, Brent Van Moer (Lotto-Soudal) and Pierre-Luc Périchon (Cofidis). With so many teams invested in the stage finishing in a bunch sprint, there was little rope given to the pair who established a maximum gap of around 2-50 before that began to drop.

Things remained the same throughout much of the stage, with the pair still leading by around 1-19 as they crossed the intermediate sprint with 36.1km to go. Van Moer took the first prize at the intermediate sprint, with a maximum of 15 points remaining for the green jersey contenders behind.

There was an expertly led out sprint for the points behind, with Michael Mørkøv leading Mark Cavendish with ease to take the 15 points. Mørkøv claimed the second place with Nacer Bouhanni taking third. 

The calm then resumed for the next 15 kilometres or so with the gap dropping below the minute mark for the first time with 21.5km to go.

Périchon and Van Moer valiantly fought on into the final 20km, holding out a gap of 40 seconds with 15km remaining, but the pair were attacking each other which hampered their pace-setting.

Finally Van Moer was able to shake Périchon with 13.9km to go, the breakaway winner of the opening stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné hoping for a repeat of that success on the big stage.

Still there was no urgency to make the catch from the peloton, with Van Moer able to stretch the gap back out to 55 seconds riding solo into the final 12km.

The Belgian was not giving up on this solo lead easily, his gap growing beyond a minute into the final 10km with still no one really pushing on from the peloton.

Van Moer’s determination to win appeared unmatched by anyone in the peloton as he held a minute with 6km to go, before Deceuninck-Quick-Step finally started chasing hard with just over 5km left to ride, pegging him back to 42 seconds into the last 4km.

It was touch and go whether the sprinters would make their catch heading towards the final kilometre, but a slight rise ahead of the flamme rouge put Van Moer in difficulty. Still, he held on admirably and it was only in the final 500m that the sprinters closed in on him.

Within 250m to go he was swallowed up as the sprinters fought for the win, with Cavendish able to move around him and then Philipsen to power clear and take a hard-fought, emotional victory at the Tour de France.

The Tour continues on Wednesday with stage five and focus turns to the general classification. Riders face a 29.7km individual time trial that will potentially see big changes in the top-10 overall.

Results

Tour de France 2021, stage four: Redon to Fougères (150.4km)

1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, in 3-20-17
2. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkéa-Samsic
3. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
4. Michael Matthews (Aus) Team BikeExchange
5. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
6. Cees Bol (Ned) Team DSM
7. Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis
8. Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
9. Boy van Poppel (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
10. André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation, all at same time

General classification after stage four

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix, in 16-19-10
2. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quick-Step, at 8 seconds
3. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, at 31s
4. Wout van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma, at same time
5. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 38s
6. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, at 39s
7. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, at 40s
8. Nairo Quintana (Col) Arkéa-Samsic, at same time
9. Pierre Latour (Fra) TotalEnergies, at 45s
10. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 52s

Others

14. Rigoberto Uràn (Col) EF Education First-Nippo, at 52s
16. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, at 55s 
18. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 1-07 
20. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, at 1-35

Patrick Lefevere has subtly reiterated his stance that Sam Bennett did not have the desire to race the Tour de France.

The manager of Deceuninck – Quick-Step has maintained over the previous few weeks that Bennett, the winner of the points classification in 2020, could have started this year’s race.

Bennett, however, did not take to the start-line in Brest on Saturday owing to a niggling knee problem.

In a further sign of the pair’s fraying relationships, Lefevere has disputed the diagnostic and accused the Irishman of having a “fear of failure” and being a person who “doesn’t dare to tell the truth.”

>>> Live blog: Follow stage two of the Tour de France

The war of words from Lefevere, which are increasing in severity and tone, continued at the start of stage two of this year’s race.

Asked by Cycling Weekly what his thoughts are on the situation, the Belgian said: “I don’t want to speak any more about people who are not here. It says more about him than about me.”

Bennett is expected to leave the Belgian team at the end of the season and join another outfit, ending his two-year spell with Lefevere’s men.

His position in the team at the Tour was replaced by 30-time stage winner Mark Cavendish who is aiming to add to that tally.

“That would be wonderful,” Lefevere said when asked about the possibility of the Briton winning again in the race. "We brought him in at the last minute and we put him on the throne.”

Cavendish was not injured in any of stage’s one big crashes that abruptly ended the Tour for at least four riders, but the sprinter was apprehensive throughout the day, according to his boss.

“He was very nervous,” Lefevere said. “He hasn’t been here for many years and then coming back at the last minute, he feels the race. It’s normal.”

Specialized bikes have extended their contract with men’s WorldTour team Deceuninck - Quick-Step on a new long-term contract.

The Belgian squad, home to Mark Cavendish and world champion Julian Alaphilippe, will be riding Specialized bikes up until 2027, as well as helmets and shoes provided by the US company.

Deceuninck will also be riding wheels and components from Roval, the Specialized-owned parts brand. 

Mike Synard, founder and CEO of Specialized, said: “For over a decade, Deceuninck – Quick-Step has been instrumental in the development of cutting-edge technology for our bikes and equipment, which has resulted in some of the most monumental victories for Specialized. We are honoured to continue the close partnership with Patrick and this special team, to drive the future of our sport.” 

Specialized said it has worked closely with the team to develop its products during their long-standing partnership, including working on their clincher tyres and the recently launched Tarmac SL7 bike. 

>>> Allan Peiper: 'I've seen a lot of champions come through my ranks but Tadej Pogačar is different' 

Deceuninck - Quick-Step CEO Patrick Lefevere said: “We are delighted to extend our agreement with Specialized, who has been a vital part of what we have achieved in recent times. You only have to look at the record books to get a feel for their standing in the sport of professional cycling, and we have hugely enjoyed having them by our side.

“In a sport as product orientated as cycling, it is perhaps too obvious to say that the equipment we provide our athletes must be of the highest quality and perfect for the purpose. That is where Specialized is impeccable as a partner – rather than tell us what they need, they interact with us, and we develop and evolve together. Their processes and communications, their enthusiasm, their drive for innovation, and their eye for details make them the perfect technical partner. 

“We are very much looking forward to developing our relationship even further and working together to achieve the goals that we have set ourselves for the coming years.”  

Mark Cavendish will not be going for Eddy Merckx's record of 34 stage wins at the Tour de France 2021, according to his trainer.

The Deceuninck - Quick-Step sprinter was a surprise selection for the Tour as it was expected reigning green jersey champion Sam Bennett would be riding, despite being injured in training a few weeks earlier.

However, the injury proved too much for Bennett and Cavendish was selected to ride in his place. But the Manxman's trainer, Vasilis Anastopoulos has played down the chase for the record amount of stage wins at the Tour.

>>> Tour de France 2021 start list: Teams for the 108th edition

The record is 34 victories at the race with Cavendish second with 30 wins, but Anastopoulos is keeping things realistic.

Speaking in the recent Tour de Greaves Cycling Show, Anastopoulos said: "We’re not going to chase down the record of Eddy Merckx because that’s something he has never talked about. It’s always around the media and journalists who make those questions. For me personally, I’m really happy that Cav is able to start on Saturday. 

"If he wins a stage, chapeau, it would be great. If he doesn’t, nobody’s going to blame him because he came up from nowhere. He hadn’t won anything for the last three years and went through some really bad moments, he fought with depression, he almost quit last year but everybody knows the story.

"To me personally, as his coach, I’m already happy he has five wins this year. He proved that he can be up there again with the best guys. He’s not finished yet."

Cavendish took his first win in three year's at the Tour of Turkey before following it up with three more at the same race. He then went on to win the final stage of the Belgium Tour against some of the biggest names in sprinting including Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal).

"Our preparation was not ideal." continued Anastopoulos. "We didn’t do any altitude camps, but after the Tour of Turkey he had a short rest then he came to Greece with me for a really nice camp for 10 days, a hard camp. Then he went to the Ruta del Sol where unfortunately he had some stomach problems and we had to stop the race.

"Then he had a good block of racing in Belgium and last week he won the final stage of the Belgium Tour against the best sprinters in the world. If you look at the start list of the race, [Arnaud] Démare (Groupama-FDJ) was not there and Sam Bennett. All the rest were there."

This is the first time that Cavendish will ride the Tour de France since 2018 when he was riding for Dimension Data. He hasn't won a stage at the Tour since 2016 when he won four as well as wearing the yellow jersey.

That isn't expected to happen in this year's race as the opening two stages are very tricky for pure sprinters and are expected to be a battle of the punchers such as Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).

Cavendish's first opportunity will likely come on stage four from Redon to Fougères over a pan flat 150.4km course.

The Tour de France starts on Saturday, June 26 in the Bretagne city of Brest before meandering around France, with a brief trip to Andorra, to then finish on the Champs Élysées in Paris, where Cavendish will hope to sprint to victory once again, if he makes it through the tough mountain stages on the route. 

Julian Alaphilippe is heading to the 2021 Tour de France with a spring in his step after some strong displays in his return to racing at the Tour de Suisse last week.

The world champion did not manage a stage win but that was partly due to the imperious form of Dutch champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), however, Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) did show he has good form in the legs in time for the Tour.

Alaphilippe is something of an unknown coming into a Tour, over the past two years he has said he will just be looking for stages, but in 2019 he almost won the general classification, while he also had a stint in yellow at the 2020 edition of the race too.

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It seems that his objectives are no different coming into the 2021 race, where he says a stage victory in the rainbow jersey will be his priority.

"The main goal at the Tour will be to get a stage victory," Alaphilippe said. "To raise my hands there, at the biggest race in the world, with the world champion jersey on my shoulders, would be something really special. 

"The first week is going to be an important one, with several opportunities. We will give our best there, as we always do. A successful Tour for me would be a beautiful victory and to show some good things together with the team."

The French star will be coming into the race as the main leader away from the sprints with Deceuninck - Quick-Step likely opting for Sam Bennett for the faster days, despite his recent knee injury and Mark Cavendish waiting in the wings for a call.

It has been a tougher season in 2021 for Alaphilippe though. He hasn't been the unstoppable force we've seen the last few years with injury and illness playing big parts in that.

"It has been very special so far with the World Champion jersey on my shoulders," he said, explaining he had trouble finding his form after a good Tour de la Provence in February. 

"I was there, but I had a hard time searching for victories, that was a bit more difficult. Still, it didn’t take anything from how special racing in this jersey feels. My victory at Flèche Wallonne was one that I will never forget. Also, at Liège, I wasn’t far from the win, and while it would have been nice to take the victory there as well, I can still be happy with the Ardennes Classics campaign I had."

The next race for Alaphilippe is the French National Championship road race where he will be aiming to add the national jersey to his glittering collection of achievements.

This is his first race since becoming a father last week, something he described as "truly special."

"It’s a unique emotion that gives you a lot of energy," Alaphilippe said. "Now I’ll be heading to the Tour in just a couple of days, so I won’t have a lot of time to spend at home, but I can say it’s the best moment in my life."

Kasper Asgreen defended his Danish time trial title for the second time, as Audrey Ragot-Cordon became the French champion for a fifth occasion on the second day of National Championships.

Asgreen was the quickest across 47.8km in his country’s race, the Deceuninck – Quick Step rider making it two time trial wins in as many days for the team, following Yves Lampaert’s victory in the Belgian race on Wednesday. 

Mikkel Bjerg of UAE Team Emirates was second to Asgreen who won the first of his three titles in 2019.

Emma Norsgaard scooped her maiden senior national time trial title in the Danish women’s race, with the Movistar 21-year-old finishing a convincing minute ahead of her nearest challenger Louise Houbak.

In the American championships, Chloe Dygert won the women’s race for the first time. The 2019 world champion hasn’t ridden on the road all season as she prepares for the Olympic Games. 

The win for Ragot-Cordon in the women’s French race was her first since 2019. The Trek-Segafredo rider was second in the last two editions, but reclaimed the title for a fifth time on Thursday.

The 26.3km course was covered by the 31-year-old in 38-11, 29 seconds faster than second-place Juliette Labous of Team DSM.

Benjamin Thomas claimed the equivalent title in the men’s race, the Groupama-FDJ rider continuing his impressive form in time trials to win the French crown for a second time. 

The 25-year-old first won the jersey in 2019, and on Thursday he beat his two teammates Bruno Armirail and Alexys Brunel to the top spot.

Elsewhere, Aleksandr Vlasov of Astana-Premier Tech won the men’s Russian title, the 25-year-old picking up his first-ever win against the clock.

For Rein Taaramäe of Intermaché - Wanty – Gobert Matériaux, winning national titles is just something he does quite often.

And on Thursday the 34-year-old earned the right to wear the colours of Estonia in time trials for the fifth time, 12 years after his first.

Could Yves Lampaert be any more Belgian? 

Just hours are being crowned the fast man in his country against the clock, the 30-year-old then hopped back on his bike once again to cycle home.

Not on his time trial bike or his road machine though, but instead aboard a no-fuss town bike strapped with two panniers on each side.

A video posted on Instagram shows the Deceuninck - Quick-Step rider casually cycling home with absolutely zero intention to repeat the 50.3kmh average speed he delivered earlier in the day.

Lampaert does seem to have his victory on his mind, however, and at point takes both hands off the handlebars and stretches them out wide in what we want to believe is a victory salute. 

Not that there's a single soul on the street to see it, expect the car behind him.

The triumph for Lampaerts came just six days after he was beaten into second place in the time trial at the Belgium Tour by his team-mate Remco Evenepoel.

This time round and Lampaerts beat Evenepoel by 20 seconds, sharpening his claims for selection in the upcoming Olympics, where Evenepoel has stated his desire to win gold in the time trial.

If Lampaerts is to be selected he would also have to fend off competition from Wout van Aert, the winner of the time trial championships in 2019 and 2020 but absent from the 2021 staging.

Nevertheless, Lampaerts can reflect on a positive first half of the season that includes a further six top-10 finishes, including third at the recent Dwars door het Hageland.

His victory on Wednesday was the 28th of the season for Deceuninck - Quick-Step, and he became the 11th rider from the team to score a win in 2021. It was also his first victory in a time trial since the 2019 Tour de Suisse.

The men's and women's road race champions of Belgium will be confirmed this weekend as National Championships continue across Europe, with the exception of Great Britain that will stage their delayed event in October.

Fabio Jakobsen has undergone another successful round of facial surgery, now smiling with 10 new teeth that he described as “astonishing”.

The Dutchman has made a spectacular return to the sport in recent months following his horrific crash at the Tour of Poland last August then left him fighting for his life in hospital. 

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Having broken almost of all his bones in his face and lost all but just a few teeth, Jakobsen has been a regular visitor to the surgery clinic and most recently received dental implants.

Posting on his Instagram, he wrote: “Extremely grateful for all of the work that has gone in to giving me my teeth back.

“Starting with Prof. Gert Meijer and Drs. Jeroen Liebregts. Thank you both and all other medical and dental co-workers for the support and work over the last eight months. You have all been amazing.

“Also Michiel Wouters who constructed the implant bridges. The result looks astonishing to me and I am thankful for it. I think they are beautiful.”

The 24-year-old, who remains in a messy dispute with Dylan Groenewegen, the Jumbo-Visma rider who caused the crash in Poland, returned to racing at April’s Tour of Turkey.

He was part of a successful Deceuninck – Quick-Step team that won four sprint stages with Mark Cavendish, and Jakobsen has fitted back into the rigours of the peloton comfortably.

Since his return race, the two-time winner of Scheldeprijs – often referred to as the sprinter’s world championships - has also ridden the Volta ao Algarve and Critérium du Dauphiné.

He has yet to challenge for a sprint, but will make his second appearance at the Vuelta a España in August. Before then, the winner of 18 professional races will challenge for the title in the Dutch National Championships this weekend.

“Now on to the coming goals on the bike,” he added. “First nationals championship this weekend with a big smile. Next up are training camp Livigno, Tour de Wallonië and La Vuelta a España.” 

Mark Cavendish continued his return to winning ways on Sunday, the Deceuninck-Quick-Step rider winning the final stage of the Belgium Tour.

Cavendish beat some of the world’s on-form sprinters in Beringen and has surely strengthened his hand should he want to ride the upcoming Tour de France, with Sam Bennett’s knee injury threatening to rule him out.

>>> Richard Carapaz survives to win the Tour de Suisse overall

In his post-race interview he would not comment on whether he has a chance of taking Bennett’s place on the Belgian team’s roster, saying: “We have the current green jersey winner in Sam Bennett, I think it’s right to see how he’s going before we think of anything else.”

Rumours have been swirling about whether Cavendish, who already has 30 Tour de France stage wins to his name, will go to this year’s race, which begins in Brittany in less than two weeks. He took Bennett’s place this week after the Irishman suffered a knee injury, and the success can’t harm his chances should his team-mate be unfit.

Sunday’s victory came on the back of some characteristically sterling work from his team, who were also working to protect the overall lead of eventual overall winner, Remco Evenepoel. Holding position in the closing kilometres, they came to the front with 1800m to go, out riding the Lotto-Soudal team of stage three winner Caleb Ewan, and dominating the front.

While final lead-out man Michael Mørkøv released Cavendish perfectly, he ended up in a head-to-head drag race with Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix), the Belgian even getting ahead but Cavendish was able to cross the line first.

The race was Cavendish’s third opportunity to sprint in the last eight days. Towards the end of Friday’s third stage he lost Mørkøv’s wheel and finished well outside the top 10. But at last Sunday’s Elfstedenronde he placed second behind Alpecin-Fenix’s Merlier, who has been one of the riders of the year, with six victories so far. 

“Quite a hectic finale today, which was normal, as every team wanted to be there and fight for positioning and for the win, but I had a superb team around me, with the boys doing everything to keep me at the front” said Cavendish in a team press release. 

“We knew what we had to do and we did it, and I couldn’t have asked for more. It’s my first time in the Belgium Tour and to win here, against so many sprinters who will be at the Tour de France in two weeks, makes this victory even more beautiful. I’m incredibly happy!”

After fearing his career was over at the end of 2020, Cavendish found a home at Deceuninck-Quick-Step, the squad he rode for between 2013 and ’15, and has since undergone a renaissance. Prior to this year the 36-year-old had not won since the Dubai Tour in February 2018, but this year alone he has won more than in that season and the one before.

After a number of early season podiums he dominated April’s Tour of Turkey, winning four stages. However, Sunday’s victory in Belgium eclipses those as he was competing with some of the best.

Not only was Merlier present, so was Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Dylan Gorenewegen (Jumbo-Visma), Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samsic) and, of course Ewan, who was only able to finish ninth.

Mark Cavendish has stepped in for Sam Bennett at the Baloise Belgium Tour after the Irishman suffered a knee injury in a small incident when out training.

Cavendish (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) has looked close to his old self this season taking 12 top four results including four wins at the Tour of Turkey, however, he has not yet won against some of the biggest names in sprinting.

The British sprinter, however, now does have that chance after team leader Sam Bennett suffered an injury to his right knee with the Belgian team choosing to not risk it, advising the reigning Tour de France green jersey champion to rest before trying to retain that title. 

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Cavendish will be coming up against the likes of Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) who returns to racing after taking two stage wins at the Giro d'Italia, with the Australian sprinter using the Belgium Tour as a leg tester ahead of the Tour.

Other big names in the sprint line-up are Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka-Assos), Cees Bol (DSM), Tim Merlier and Jasper Philipsen (both Alpecin-Fenix), among others.

This will be another big opportunity for Cavendish who has publicly said he wants to look at potential short or long-term contract negotiations in the coming weeks with Deceuninck - Quick-Step boss, Patrick Lefevere.

In a press release, the team said: "Following a small incident in training last weekend, Sam Bennett has incurred a problem with his right knee. After consultation with our medical team, it has been decided that he will not start this week’s Belgium Tour and will instead take some rest ahead of the Tour de France.

"Sam will be replaced on Deceuninck - Quick-Step’s roster for the five-day race by Mark Cavendish."

Bennett, who hasn't raced since the Volta ao Algarve in early May, will likely be disappointed with the setback so close to the Tour de France, especially with the toughest battle for the green jersey in years set to take place at the Tour. The likes of Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) and many more talented punchy sprinters will all be looking to steal his crown at the 2021 edition.

The Deceuninck - Quick-Step squad for the Belgium Tour is a strong one with 2019 overall winner Remco Evenepoel making his return to stage racing along with Davide Ballerini, Yves Lampaert, Zdeněk Štybar, Iljo Keisse and top lead-out man Michael Mørkøv all in the team to support Cavendish.

The Baloise Belgium Tour starts today (May 9) with a 175.3km stage from Beveren to Maarkedel where riders will tackle two and a half laps of a tricky hilly course to the finish.