Cycling

Fittingly the curtain came down on cycling’s European Championships with a Scottish medal for the Glasgow crowd to cheer in an event in which the legend whose name adorns the velodrome produced some of his most thrilling moments.

There seems to be quite a disconnect between the reception in Britain, especially Wales, to Geraint Thomas’s Tour de France victory, and the reception elsewhere to yet another win by Team Sky.

Such is the domination Katie Archibald has shown at European Championships, even a silver medal can feel like a relative disappointment.

On the first day of medals at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, the home crowd had been hoping for treble joy. But while Katie Archibald and Neah Evans helped deliver Great Britain’s first gold of Glasgow 2018 there was no medal success for fellow Scot, Jack Carlin.

When Jack Carlin enters the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome 
arena in Glasgow to start his European Championships campaign today his eyes will be drawn to the stands. Not just to locate the army of friends and family there to support him but also, perhaps, to reflect on the fact that was where he was four years ago.

Scottish cycling star Katie Archibald was set to decide last night on whether she will defend her individual pursuit title at the European Championships which get under way as part of Glasgow 2018 
tomorrow.

Geraint Thomas paid tribute to team-mate Chris Froome as he savoured victory in the Tour de France in Paris.

Geraint Thomas is set to win the Tour de France today after protecting his yellow jersey on the stage 20 time trial from Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle to Espelette.

A scene in Time Trial, the recently released film, shows David Millar riding alongside Geraint Thomas during an early season stage race in Italy in 2014. Millar, in his final year, is offloading to Thomas, complaining about the way younger riders race, the lack of respect, the distance, the cold, the sheer pointlessness of, as he put it in another scene, “200 idiots racing each other to a line in the road”.

Sir Chris Hoy is on a tour bus parked outside Glasgow City Chambers, doing his best to promote both cycling and Glasgow ahead of next week’s European Championships, but his flow is interrupted by some nutter on two wheels, screaming obscenities at an unidentified target.

Chris Froome shrugged off a “misunderstanding” that saw a police officer knock him off his bike after Wednesday’s stage of the Tour de France.

Yellow jersey Geraint Thomas and world champion Peter Sagan were among a number of Tour de France riders affected by a spray used by police to break up a farmers’ protest which caused stage 16 of the race to be stopped.

Chris Froome set up a fascinating final week of the Tour de France yesterday by insisting he would be willing to sacrifice a record-equalling fifth title to help Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas win instead.

Magnus Cort Nielsen of Denmark sprinted away from two other challengers to win Stage 15 of the Tour de France yesterday, while Geraint Thomas had no trouble holding the overall lead for a fourth consecutive day.

Sir Bradley Wiggins has claimed he has found out facts relating to the leak of his therapeutic use exemptions and the so-called “Jiffy Bag” case which are “very sinister” and wants it all to come out into the open.

By andrew dampf

A lit flare was thrown into the peloton of the Tour de France late on yesterday’s stage 13 to Valence.

Geraint Thomas made history as the first Briton to win a Tour de France stage on Alpe d’Huez, extending his overall lead on stage 12.

Geraint Thomas insisted Chris Froome remains the Team Sky leader despite racing into the yellow jersey himself with 
victory on stage 11 of the Tour de France in La Rosiere.