Summary: After a long day of battling the wind, rain and each other, a 23-cyclist lead group approaches 5kms to go. Looking like a sprint will decide this one, unless somebody wants to try a bold move...

Race favourite Xander Das (not pictured by the limited race cameras) gives it go! He isn't the strongest sprinter so this is his best shot to win today. A few cyclists scramble to get on his wheel.


Das runs out of steam and Irish national champion Sam Bennett, wearing the NC jersey for perhaps just a few more weeks, sprints away in the final meters! He has a significant gap on the rest of the pack.


Bennett takes it ahead of a hard-charging Marcus Diamond, who beats Das to the finish line for a solid runner-up finish.

Result: 2nd - Credit to my teammates for pulling back multiple attacks in the final 20kms. I was set on waiting for the sprint finish, but after seeing how far ahead Bennett got with his early sprint, I decided I had to go early as well. It worked out, I guess. Third time I have finished second this season, while that first win continues to elude me.

Summary: Larry Gooden retains his fourth straight TT crown by besting the entire field by a minute and a half. The 25-year-old is well on his way to challenging Stuart Dangerfield (6) for the most career GB NC TT wins.

Result: 25th - While winning today was never going to happen, we decided to have a little family competition since it's not very often Grace, her sister Lucy and I are all racing at the same event.

The rules were simple: Whoever set the slowest time was buying the other two dinner after the race. Lucy set off first and clocked a 52'02". Grace was 14 seconds slower to put herself on the hot seat.

I was one of the last riders to go, so I knew what I had to beat... And I stopped the clock under 50 minutes with a 49'33" to earn an expensive steak dinner as a reward. Thanks babe.

Summary: We are off! The bookies had a hard time putting initial odds on this race because it could go a variety of different ways.

If the hills are hard, then Hugh Carthy or one of the Yates brothers could ride away solo. Not so hard, then you turn to the punchy sprinters like Marcus Diamond, Ben Swift or defending champion Christopher Lawless.


After a few rounds of attacks, the breakaway of the day settles on these five: Alistair Slater, James Knox, Harry Tanfield, Alex Braybrooke and Brent Prindiville. The only notable result between these five is Tanfield winning the 2022 edition of this race with a late attack that spoiled the sprinters. Can he surprise again?


Solid pacing from SEG and Tao Geoghegan Hart (for teammate Simon Yates) sees the first split with 95kms to go. The peloton is reduced to 22 cyclists with the breakaway 3'45" up the road.

Some outside sprinters miss the split, like Townsend and Blythe, but a majority of the well-known names were paying attention at the front.


Those riders do fight back to get in the pack, but another split happens on the next incline, and this one is more important with five more riders escaping off the front: Simon Yates, Ben Swift, Geoghegan Hart, Luke Rowe and Mark Donovan.

Bad spot for SEG to be in with only the couple of Grace Garner and Marcus Diamond left in the chase group. Hartley and Van Der Haar have already been exhausted with 72kms to go.


After 10kms of the peloton not really wanting to put forth an effort to chase. Diamond decides it's in his best interest to go after the recent attackers. Carthy decides to tag along for the ride.

What a free-for-all stage this is turning into. Still 60kms to go.


Well done! Carthy and Diamond work together to reach the front of the race. It took them 20kms of chasing. They only man missing from this group is early morning breakaway rider Braybrooke who fell behind.

That gives us 11 cyclists in the lead coming up to the penultimate climb, followed by Braybooke 40 seconds back and a "peloton" of 10 cyclists featuring Lawless and Adam Yates that is 3'22" behind.


Donovan attacks with 19kms to go and the final ascent ahead. Swift, Diamond, Carthy and Yates all have the energy to follow this move.


They all come back together with 16kms to go. They don't have a lot of time to play around here with Lawless and Kennaugh attacking across the gap a minute back.


It's Ben Swift's turn to give it a go!


Oh so close to the summit of the climb, and that accelerate cracks Diamond! Only Simon Yates, Rowe, Donovan and Carthy stay with Swift.


However, they can't match Swift's speed burst at the finish. The 36-year-old wins his first national championship by nipping S. Yates on the line!


Lawless wins the sprint for sixth ahead of Kennaugh and Diamond.

Result: 8th (+2'40") - Second year in a row finishing 8th. Maybe it's a Top 3 finish if I survive the last 250 meters of that final climb. Oh well. Try again next year.

- Each member gets 4.0 points to spread however they like over the 13 attributes listed above. One post per member.
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Summary: It's not going to be saved on his resume, but the home supporters will certainly remember. Marcus Diamond makes a dazzling first impression by scoring what turns out to be the game-winning goal in the 15th minute. Welcome home!


Rating: 7.3 - Great showing to ease some of the tension/pressure of Fulham signing me and not being able to play every day. Because of the Olympics I'll have to miss the season/home-opener against Cardiff City on Aug. 10. So this is my only appearance in the team's first six games.

Player of Game: Jon Dagur Porsteinsson, Fulham (7.5)

- Each member gets 8.0 points to spread however they like over the 36 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Only stats that aren't locked can be upgraded.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 1.0.
- Stats are bumped up in FM when they hit that number, ex. 2.9 = 2 in-game, and 13.4 = 13 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 20. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery and is different from the cycling progression scale.
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Summary: The Grand Departure is in Berlin for this monster 243kms opening stage. It's the only hilly stage in the entire tour, so the punchuers better make it count if they want to wear the yellow jersey.


The first attack of the TDF belongs to two Frenchmen! It's 23-year-old David Verger from Bretagne and 30-year-old Bruno Armirail from Direct Energie (who shows off his ability to drink and attack at the same time!).


Well, this is just bizarre. Early crosswinds allow a group of 18 cyclists at the front to make up a makeshift morning breakaway. Some of these cyclist didn't even try to get away, they just did. Like half of the SEG cycling team is here, including white jersey hopeful Marcus Diamond.


This group has their fun for a little bit before the peloton reels everybody back with 225kms to go. But, still, some early TV time for the energetic Diamond. We shall see if he or the gentile crosswinds make another appearance later today.


As the peloton starts the final climb of the day with 3.8kms to go, they can see the last remaining breakaway riders up the road: Diamond's teammate David Dekker and Frenchman J.P. Guillermin.


The leaders split as they throw in the towel. Big acceleration coming from David Gaudu, followed by Tim Wellens! 2.5kms left to climb.


Gaudu has a gap! It's not much, but the last kilometer flattens out. The Frenchman could be the first wearer of this year's yellow jersey!


Gaudu makes the bend with a few bike lengths lead over Wellens. Diamond is leading the charge from the chasing peloton!


The raw emotions on his face... Gaudu does it for FDJ! The scenes!


The World Champion Michael Matthews beats Wellens to the line for second, as Diamond fades hard to finish outside the Top 10 in 15th.

Result: 15th, 1st Youth - Got to remember to patient. I let the adrenaline rush get the better of me there. At least no time gaps were awarded up front, and the first 31 finishers got a 35-second gap over some of the time trialists. I also pulled on the first white jersey.

It's going to be a close competition between 25-year-old Maxim Shirshov (80MO, 81TT) and I, but I like a challenge. Stage 1 to me!

Summary: Marcus Diamond's journey in white lasted one whole day. Despite having TT specialist Stefan Kung, SEG struggles to a 17th place.

Great Britain, however, happily trades in the white jersey for the yellow one. Diamond's former teammate and former TDF winner Simon Yates takes over the race lead with his team Qantas winning the TTT by 14 seconds over Great Britain's main team The Guardian.

Last year's TDF winner Tao Geoghegan Hart and Carlos Betancur move onto the podium as well for Qantas, tied on the same time with Yates.

Result: 17th (+1'17"), 42nd GC (+1'17"), 2nd Youth (+23") - Not good, but not terrible. Still within striking distance for what should be an interesting cobbled finish on Stage 4 in Belgium.

Summary: The first stage to sort out the green jersey contenders goes to German National Champion Marcel Kittel in his home country of Dusseldorf, Germany. While that captures the headlines, a split happens at the back of the peloton with a few notable names losing 1'47" today: the white jersey of Maxim Shirshov, Tadej Pogacar and Kilian Frankiny.

Result: 34th, 26th GC (+1'17"), 1st Youth - Back in white after Shirshov misses the split today. Didn't really waste any energy in the sprint so I could be fresh for tomorrow's cobbled stage!

Summary: We hit the first cobbled sector with roughly 19kms to go. The breakaway, which contains three SEG riders, is struggle to hold on. No causalities in the peloton just yet. But we expect that to happen soon.


Lars Boom, Thomas Pidcock and Marcus Diamond are attacking from distance! 15kms to go and they got a small gap over the yellow jersey that is down to 16 cyclists already. Diamond still has three teammates up the road he can use (well, if they have any energy to spare).


With the Simon Yates and company fast approaching, Diamond decides to go solo. He leaves Pidcock and Boom behind and passes teammates Ottema and Hofstede. Three are still three breakaway riders a minute up the road, including van Trijp to aid Diamond if he can reach them.

We have 14kms to go.


Dig Diamond Dig! The young Brit has the experience Brit Yates panicking to keep his yellow jersey. The GC leader is now pacing the chase group, but the gap has grown to 32 seconds. A very inspired attack by Diamond.


Diamond final reaches the breakaway on the final climb. He looks exhausted and his gap to the peloton is gone. It's over.


Turns out Boom had the right idea by going back to the lead group after the first climb and using the final climb to take home the stage win.

Result: 9th (+33"), 23rd GC (+1'17"), 1st Youth - No time gained on my direct GC rivals. Although, I did distance Shirshov by another 3'23" to give me a 4'47" gap for when we reach the mountains.

Summary: The first stage in France is another sprinter's delight.


It's a seven-way photo finish with the green jersey of Kittel not involved. Goes to show how close the sprints can be this tour. The win goes to the Frenchman on home soil, Nacer Bouhanni! Lorena Wiebes takes second.

Result: 15th, 22nd GC (+1'17"), 1st Youth - Stuck my nose in the sprint to see what I could manage. Wasn't able to crack the Top 10. With bonus seconds gained, Wiebes moved within 9 seconds of taking the white jersey from me. However, I should be able to shake her when the road starts to go up. That starts on Stage 8.

Summary: Not as straight forward as yesterday, with a tricky Cat. 4 climb coming a few kilometers before the downhill finish into the town of Pont-a-Mousson. We shall see how many sprinters can overcome the speed bump.


Marcus Diamond isn't going to make it easy on them. This is a huge attack at the base of the climb from the Brit wearing the white jersey! Sajnok tries to keep up for his sprinter Groenewegen.


Diamond hits the summit with a 29-second gap!


Full tilt, head down. Diamond even catches some air on the downhill!


The banner. The crowd screaming. Do dreams come true?


Let the celebration commence!





The look on his face. He doesn't believe it.

What's even more unbelievable? Diamond could be pulling on the yellow jersey! He needs 1'08" after gaining 10 bonus seconds for the victory. Reports have the chasing group, with the yellow jersey of Simon Yates, around a minute behind.


Groenewegen hits the line and stops the clock... 48 seconds later.

Simon Yates will keep yellow. Maybe, just maybe, Diamond gains 20 more seconds if he doesn't celebrate as much. It was quite an exuberant celebration. Do you blame him? His first grand tour triumph.


Diamond got what he wanted: a stage win.

Result: 1st, 7th GC (+19"), 1st Youth - We did it... Wow. So thankful. So happy. So... incredible. Been waiting for this first win all season and it comes in the biggest race. Just a huge relief. This is better than I could have even imagined. Hard to put into words really. Wish I could talk more, but I'm going to go celebrate with my girlfriend.

Summary: We pick up our coverage with the Top 10 GC riders left to leave the start gate here in Nancy. The current best time has been set by Fabio Aru at 56'15".

The rain has been off and on throughout the day. Although the rain has stopped for now and Tom Dumoulin, currently on course, has beat Aru through the first two time checks.


Yesterday's winner Diamond struggles, as expected, and comes home over four minutes behind the winner...

Dumoulin, who completes his strong performance.

New leader of the race is stage runner-up Laurens De Plus, building a healthy 30-second gap over Tao Geoghegan Hart and 42 seconds on Dumoulin. Yates is lurking, less than a minute back.

Result: 93rd (+4'19"), 25th GC (+4'00"), 1st Youth - I mean, after all the celebrating I did last night, this still could have gone much worse.

Summary: The Guardian is laying down a heavy tempo in pursuit of the remaining breakaway riders. No favourites have attacked yet, everybody just trying to hang on at the moment with 3kms to the summit.


Basically at the top, Martinez attacks. Mas follows. This effort, however, goes nowhere. Still 5-7 breakaway cyclists hovering off the front with 19kms remaining.


So here we are, 31 cyclists at the base of the final climb up the Mont Sainte-Odile. The stage win looks out of reach with the breakaway leader 4 minutes ahead.


That didn't take long. Sosa makes the first move. Diamond reacts quickly, followed by Simon Yates, Martinez, Latour, Dumoulin and Geoghegan Hart. No reaction from the yellow jersey of De Plus yet.


De Plus has gotten onto the end of this long chain of attackers. Fifteen in total with Sosa still trying to up the tempo. The Top 9 in GC are all here.


Sosa is drained. Now Yates goes. Again, Diamond, is all over this.


Yates hits a wall. Here goes Columbian national champion Martinez. Diamond can't follow this move. Leaving the chase to the polka dots of Dumoulin.


Diamond quickly fades into the yellow jersey chase group.


The win belongs to breakaway man Tim Wellens.


The favourites are led home by Martinez, who gains a 16-second gap with Ciccone, Sosa, Dumoulin, Padun, S. Yates and De Plus over the other favourites behind.

Result: 24th (+2'37"), 18th GC (+4'16"), 1st Youth - Followed attacks and held on as long as I could. Lead Shirshov by over four minutes in the U25 competition. Solid day.

Summary: The breakaway warriors looking to challenge the KoM competition have today circled on their calendars. We have three Cat. 1 climbs, two Cat. 2 climbs and a Cat. 3 ahead. And, as expected, we have some very interesting names in a very large 29-cyclist breakaway.

Very surprised the peloton is happy to let this group go.

The best GC rider is 8th overall Wilco Kelderman (+1'30") followed by the U25 leader Marcus Diamond in 18th overall (+4'16"), who has five teammates around him!

The best climbers present? Mikel Landa, Richard Carapaz, Sam Oomen, Primoz Roglic and yesterday's winner Tim Wellens. Surprisingly not present, the KoM leader Alexis Gougeard.


Great sprint up the first climb. Eiking nips Diamond on the line for maximum point. Looks like the white jersey also wants to contend for polka dots!


Eiking goes 2-for-2 with Diamond sending his teammates after the points after not having the legs to keep up this time.


Over the first cat. 1 of Col du Platzerwasel, Kelderman beats Eiking and Diamond. Eiking leads the virtually KoM competition with 24 points, followed by Kelderman (12), Gougeard (11) and Diamond (10).


Rain starts to fall on the downhill. Always dangerous and there is a crash in the breakaway. Diamond narrowly avoids his falling teammate Hofstede and Dolorier. Van Bartle also gets caught up in this.


Diamond is the only rider interested in the sprint point and rolls over in first place. Why not go for the green jersey too? The 20 points gained puts him tied for fourth place (85 points) in that competition behind Kittel (113), Groenewegen (96), Bouhanni (94).

The breakaway is down to 22 cyclists with a 4'39" lead over the peloton with 87kms remaining, which includes three more climbs.


The fog has rolled in and the peloton is closing in on the breakaway.


Roglic wins the race to the top while Diamond gets dropped.


Diamond watches the favourites ride by up the penultimate climb.


Diamond regroups at the base of the final climb. Three breakaway riders still remain up the road Landa, Kelderman and Roglic. Kelderman is dreaming of yellow with the gap approaching 5 minutes with 25kms left.


The win goes to Landa but it's Kelderman behind him who takes the grand prize, the Maillot Jaune! The gap back to the favourites is 1'40" with Mark Padun and Tom Dumoulin attacking away to finish fourth and fifth 55" seconds back.

So, the top two in GC at the end of the night are two Dutchmen: Kelderman and Dumoulin. De Plus drops to third overall after a poor showing from his team.

Result: 38th (+10'18"), 31st GC (+13'10"), 4th points, 6th KoM, 2nd youth (+ 1") - Every eventful day ends with some heartbreak. After getting dropped for good at the base of the final climb, I rode my heart out to keep the white jersey. I stopped the clock one single second short. Maxim Shirshov is the new U25 leader.

The goal for tonight was to do what Landa, Kelderman and Roglic did, but I just didn't have the legs in the end and it costed me dearly. Thankfully, there is a rest day tomorrow so I can recovery a little bit.

Summary: Back-to-back stages the peloton has conceded a 31-cyclist breakaway. Again we see Diamond rolling through the sprint point to collect maximum points. He has four teammates with him today.

Other notables in this large group are: Carapaz (25th overall) and Eiking (2nd KoM). Not too many climbers in this group. But, the peloton is still taking this move seriously. The gap is only 3'13" with 103kms to go.


Eiking, wearing the KoM jersey, takes first on the opening cat. 4 climb. Diamond doesn't even bother. Saving his energy for later in the day?


It appears so. Diamond second on the cat. 2 climb, losing out to Schachmann. Reaching the summit with them is Carapaz, Diamond's teammate Van der Poel and Paret-Peintre. All five can climb a little bit.


At the base of the final climb, and it's a big one. The HC-rated Le Mont du Chat — 14kms at 8.8%. Last stage crash victim Dolorier rejoins to make it six cyclists up front. In the distance is Gesink trying to bridge the gap.

Reports have the peloton 2 minutes behind Gesink.


With the favourites closing in, SEG shows their cards. Van der Poel attacks! Paret-Peintre is first to react. Diamond follows with Carapaz on his wheel.


Right into our camera it's Paret-Peintre upping the pace with an attack! 8.5kms from the top.


The road is steep, the peloton is inching ever closer. Paret-Peintre holding a 40-second gap to Carapaz with Diamond hot on his tail. Schachmann also hanging around on Diamond's wheel.

The peloton is just lurking to make the catch.


So close. Paret-Peintre is caught with 2kms left to climb. It's Mas doing the dirty work for Sosa. Martinez and Latour are along for the ride. Those four end up going over the top together.


Mas outsprints Martinez and his teammate Sosa for the stage win. Kelderman struggles, losing 4'45" and the yellow jersey to fellow countryman Tom Dumoulin. De Plus is only three seconds back with Sosa (+33), Geoghegan Hart (+49) and Latour (+53) all within a minute of the lead still.

Result: 20th (+1'26"), 28th GC (+13'36"), 2nd points, 7th KoM, 1st youth - No stage win, but a fantastic day nonetheless. Back in the white jersey by over three minutes as Shirshov didn't have the legs today. Now just eight points behind Kittel for the green jersey... Never thought that prize would be within reach. Just got to stay consistent, which probably means a lot more breakaway miles ahead.

Summary: It never gets easier. Three more challenging climbs today!

Marcus Diamond, in the breakaway for a third straight day, leads the front group across the lone sprint. That gives Diamond 125 points and the virtually green jersey over Marcel Kittel (113 points)!

But surely Diamond isn't thinking too much about that now. The breakaway has a massive 15-minute gap over the peloton with 155kms to go.

GC contenders pressing their luck in the break are: KoM leader and 15th overall Kelderman (+3'45"), 16th Alaphilippe (+3'52"), 19th Gaudu (+6'31"), 22nd Carapaz (+9'49"), 23th Grosschartner (+9'53"), 24th Roglic (+10'05") and 26th Wellens (+10'25").

And, of course, Diamond in 28th (+13'36"). Who has the most support with three teammates to lean on: Hofstede, Van der Poel and Kung.


At the top of the first HC climb, the Col de I'lseran, Grosschartner attacks away for the maximum points. Kelderman biggest challenger, however, is the man with the lead in two other competitions already. Diamond takes fourth on the climb to move up to third in the KoM competition.

What can't Diamond do?

The leaders still have 14-minute gap to the peloton with 109kms left.


The second climb goes to Sam Oomen, but it's ever-steady Diamond with a third place behind Alaphilippe. Diamond now a point away from being the KoM virtual leader with the HC climb of Col du Finestre looming.

The peloton is reported to be 10'17" back with 69kms left. So, the breakaway has a realistic shot to win today's stage as well!


Our 13 leaders make the turn onto the 20km climb up the Col du Finestre.

We have Wellens leading the charge followed by a pair of TEAM Ridley climbers in Schachmann and Paret-Peintre. Behind them is Dolorier, Oomen, Diamond, Brozyna, Grosschartner, Moscon, Roglic, Carapaz, Alaphilippe and Meintjes.

The strongest climber is probably Grosschartner, but he used a lot of energy up winning the first climb today. The most dangerous however, has to be Diamond. If he can stay in contact over this final climb, he wins the sprint to the line hands down.


Halfway up and the breakaway splits! Eight riders go clear with Carapaz, Meintjes, Schachmann, Moscon and Brozyna getting dropped. Carapaz and Meintjes recover to cross the gap, but Wellens is dropped in their place.

The peloton is also gaining, just 4'20" back and closing in fast.


Diamond is struggling at the back of this group, but he is hanging on!


Not anymore... Oomen creates the attack that pops Diamond with 5.3kms to the top of the climb. Carapaz, Alaphilippe and Grosschartner have the legs to follow Oomen.


Moments later the favourites arrive, flying past Diamond and Roglic. They have made massive time up on this climb. Those power numbers have to be surreal.


Oomen rightfully wins the sprint for the win after a gutsy attack on the final climb. He beats favourite Sosa and breakaway partners Alaphilippe and Carapaz to the line.

Sosa is happy enough with becoming the next yellow jersey wearer. He also takes the lead in the KoM competition (32 points) ahead of Kelderman (30) and Diamond (29).

Diamond holds the other two coveted jerseys: green and white.

Result: 21st (+2'47"), 25th GC (+15'56"), 1st Points, 3rd KoM, 1st Youth - Another great day in the breakaway. Legs getting tired, but with all these prizes I'm collecting, got to keep pushing on.

Summary: We start the day with some familiar names battling for the KoM points. Alaphilippe gets the best of Oomen, Eiking, Kelderman and Diamond.

Diamond, wearing the green jersey today, is in pursuit of becoming the first rider since Eddy Merckx in 1969 to win both the green jersey and the KoM jersey. Fifth here doesn't help his cause as Alaphilippe is now the virtual leader on the road.


Brozyna denies Diamond max points at the sprint point. Could be costly later in the tour. But, for in the meantime, Diamond increase his advantage to 142-113 over Kittel in that competition. Two flat stages ahead, though.


Interesting strategy by SEG on the second climb as Van der Poel steals max points at the top with Diamond not having the legs to keep up.


Or was he just saving them! Diamond attacks at the base of second HC climb. All the KoM contenders take notice and follow. Although, I doubt they wanted to attack from this far out.


Kelderman and Diamond eventually do get a tiny gap. Still 13kms to the top. So strange to see the green jersey and KoM jersey side-by-side leading a mountain stage in the Tour de France.


Diamond wasted a lot of energy trying to make this move happen and it's not going work. The remaining breakaway riders that have paced themselves have now dropped the green jersey with 7kms to the top.

In that group is the white jersey holder Shirshov, who needs 7'32" to grab the jersey for real from Diamond, who is struggling mightily now.


Carapaz leads the breakaway home for another win. He skyrockets to third in GC with fellow breakaway man and new KoM leader Alaphilippe moving up to second overall tonight. The peloton was caught napping.


Diamond is the last breakaway rider to reach the finish in 14th place before the yellow jersey of Sosa crosses. His lead is down to 45 seconds to Alaphilippe.

Whereas Diamond is going to lose his lead in U25 competition by a single second... again! Utterly impossible how that happens once, but twice. At least there are nine more stages left to get the lead back from Shirshov.

Result: 14th (+8'10"), 26th GC (+15'49"), 1st Points, 7th KoM, 2nd Youth (+1") - Goal today was to get KoM points. That backfired and I lost the white jersey. Now I could easily lose the green jersey with two flat stages left to close out the second week of the tour. I might have too many eggs in multiple baskets.

Summary: After five energy-sapping mountain stages, the GC contenders finally get a day off today. It's the sprinter's turn once again. And for Diamond. He seemingly never gets a day off.

A ninth place at the sprint point extends Diamond's green jersey lead by four more points over Kittel, who took 13th. A precursory for what's to come at the finish line?


Van der Poel is finally reeled back as the last breakaway man with the banner in sight. We will get a sprint finish for the first time in a long time!


Bouhanni is the fastest! Over De Buyst and Demare. Kittel 6th and Diamond does well to grab 9th after multiple breakaway days in the mountains.

As a result, the points competition tights up considerably. Diamond (159), Bouhanni (153), Kittel (130), De Buyst (126) and Groenewegen (122).

Result: 9th, 26th (+15'49"), 1st Points, 7th KoM, 2nd Youth (+1") - Needed a decent sprint to keep the green jersey and did that. Not sure I can do the same tomorrow. Then again, it's an uphill sprint.

Summary: The sprint point comes early and Groenewegen tops Bouhanni for the 20 points. With Diamond taking 8th, Bouhanni is the virtual green jersey leader by three points (170-167).


Surprisingly, the peloton has no interest in chasing the 6-man breakaway today. They have a 9-minute gap with 11kms to go. The best placed GC rider here is Van der Poel in 37th place (+43'20"). But, more importantly, he will clean up some of the points so the sprinter's will only be racing for seventh today (or a max of 13 points).

Diamond should be pleased with that, unless this is a stage he thinks he could have won with a sharp incline up to the finish line.


That would be a hard no. Diamond looking a little fatigued with a 47th place finish. At least he doesn't lose too much today with Kittel finishing 9th, Groenewegen 11th and De Buyst 15th.

Bouhanni nowhere to be found.

So the point standings after two weeks of racing: Bouhanni (170), Diamond (167), Kittel (154), Groenewegen (147) and De Buyst (141).

Diamond will trade the green jersey in for white though as Shirshov inexplicitly lost 37 seconds on the quick climb to the line today. Alaphilippe and Carapaz also paid for their efforts yesterday and dropped to 4th and 5th overall, respectively.


Nils Politt wins. SEG gets a podium finish with Van der Poel in third.

Result: 47th (+9'30"), 25th GC (+16'28"), 2nd Points, 7th KoM, 1st Youth - Two weeks down, lots of drama left to unfold. Legs are burning, but can't back down. Probably should decide on one jersey to target over the last seven days, but with three of them within my reach...

It's hard to focus only on one. I want them all.

Summary: A maximum of 28 KoM points available today, so you know a handful of riders wanted in on the breakaway. Surprisingly, though, Marcus Diamond isn't involved today. He looks to protect the white jersey with Shirshov not going on the attack either.

The breakaway contains: Kung, Van der Poel, Jungels, Landa, Pinot, Roglic, Alaphilippe and Brozyna. Kung gets dropped rather early on after supporting Van der Poel for SEG Racing.


Crash on the descent of the first climb splits the peloton. In total, 38 cyclists are caught out, including big names of Padun, Aru and De Plus. It takes them a bit, but they do eventually rejoin.


Both breakaway riders Landa and Alaphilippe crash on the downhill leading to the penultimate climb and sprint point. The 43-cyclist peloton picks them up with ease. Landa, the Stage 9 winner, eventually retires from the race.


Alaphilippe survives just before the sprint point, as Diamond sneaks up to grab 8th and 8 points. Enough to give him the green jersey back after Bouhanni was dropped on the latest climb.


We start the final climb with 28kms to go. Half of that will be going up and the other half will be coming down. Three breakaway riders are left standing. Jungels leads with a 36-second gap to Roglic, followed by Pinot another 20 seconds back. The peloton is 40 seconds behind Pinot with 35 cyclists still working well together.


After 9kms of gentle climb and the peloton not really going anywhere, 6th overall Miguel Angel Lopez attack! Finally some action!


Lopez quickly sweeps up Pinot and Roglic. Grosschartner, Diamond, Carapaz and Oomen all try to follow this move. The peloton is also quick to react.


When they all get brought back, Martinez makes a dig with Carapaz going again. This comes with 3.2kms to climb and Jungels 1'25" up the road. His time looks limited though.


When that move fails to create a gap, Lopez goes again! Jungels is now in the distance. The peloton pinned him back with multiple failed attacks.


Jungels looks around in disbelief as the peloton catches him 900 meters from the top. 28 cyclists up front but many are struggling at the back of this group, including the white jersey of Diamond. Who is a good bet to win a downhill sprint if he can recover in time.


Speak of the devil. As Martinez makes yet another attack, Diamond gets thrown off the back a few hundred meters from the top. Can he rejoin on the downhill?


No. Diamond loses 1'18" and the white jersey to Shirshov again.


The Guardian goes 1-6 at the finish leading Sosa home safely. What a team result for them.

Result: 26th (+1'18"), 25th GC (+17'46"), 1st Points, 8th KoM, 2nd Youth (+42") - Trading white for green. Just couldn't hang on over the final climb. Maybe if I don't waste energy following MAL, I stay in the group and compete for the stage win.

Summary: We are back in the Pyrenees following the second and final rest day of this year's Tour de France. We still have 164 cyclists dreaming of making it to Paris as we depart from a bright and sunny Narbonne.


It takes a while for the breakaway to get organized, but eventually 21 cyclists getaway for good. They are:

13th overall Grosschartner, 17th and KoM leader Alaphilippe, 18th Jungels, 19th Roglic, 21st Pinot, 24th and U25 leader Shirshov, 25th and points leader Diamond, 26th Oomen, 27th Meintjes and 28th Moscon.

Other climbers: Kelderman, Dolorier, Konrad, Brozyna, Jornet, Eiking, Van der Poel, Sepulveda, Niewiadoma, Verger and Paret-Peintre.


Diamond leads the breakaway through the sprint point uncontested. That's 20 more points to give him a 25-point lead over Bouhanni. Meanwhile, the peloton is doing a good job keeping this large breakaway in check. The gap hovers around three minutes.


Roglic, Diamond and Paret-Peintre all get detached as we start the HC climb up the Port de Pailheres. Only 10 cyclists left in the lead group. The peloton is roughly 3 minutes behind Group Roglic/Diamond (no offense Paret-Peintre).


I take that back... Diamond drops Roglic in his pursuit to rejoin the leaders. Make this Group Diamond/Paret-Peintre.


Soon it's only Diamond. He continues to pick through the fallen leaders while the peloton is slowly approaching. 3kms to the top of this climb.


It's a suburb ride by Diamond! He might be the fastest rider up this incline. He crosses the line sixth ahead of Alaphilippe. The five riders in front of him: Niewiadoma, Meintjes, Shirshov, Jornet and Oomen.


Under 5kms to go, Diamond/Oomen/Alaphilippe are caught by a group of attacking outsiders: Dumoulin and Lopez, with former breakaway riders Aru, Sepulveda and Moscon hanging on for the free ride.


Diamond caught by the yellow jersey group with 2.5kms left to climb.


History made at the top! Katarzyna Niewiadoma becomes the second female to win a stage in the Tour de France! Following in the pedal strokes of Lorena Wiebes.


MAL beats the yellow jersey home for second place on the stage and in GC with Geoghegan Hart, Yates and Carapaz all having off days.

Diamond with another solid climb to finish near the front in eighth place. That's a valuable eight additional sprint points on day he looked defeated after being dropped on the first climb.

Result: 8th (+2'33"), 18th GC (+18'16"), 1st Points, 6th KoM, 1st Youth - Decided halfway up the first climb to start riding my own tempo. Paid off massively today. Jumped seven spots in GC, gained some key sprint points and took back the U25 lead by 1'17" over Shirshov. Oh, and not to mention, a Top 10 stage result.

Summary: Sick of mountains yet? The green jersey isn't. As per usual, Diamond gets in the breakaway and nabs the sprint points today.

He didn't contest the first two climbs, though. Looks like he is conceding the KoM competition in hopes of saving energy for the stage win or move further up in GC.

The breakaway is currently 29 cyclists strong with a 5-minute gap to the yellow jersey. Six riders have already been dropped from the front group. Hard day so far with 75kms still to go.


By the top of the first Cat. 1 of Col du la Crouzette, eight riders have gone slightly clear from the breakaway: Jungels, Moscon, Diamond, Meintjes, Formolo, Carapaz, Wellens and Jornet.


Six more rejoin before the base of next climb: Alaphilippe, Gaudu, Oomen, Shirshov, Pinot and yesterday's winner Niewiadoma.


The same can't be said once they reach the other side of the mountain. Rain and snow causing some chaos. Jungels, Niewiadoma, Meintjes, Pinot, Moscon and Jornet have rode away from the chase group of Diamond, Shirshov, Carapaz, Alaphilippe, Bilbao and Herrada.

And we just got word (no photos) of a crash in the peloton taking down 4th overall Mas, Roglic and bunch of others on the descent.


Diamond looks to lose his followers on the small downhill section in the middle of the final climb. The peloton is closing in fast.


Decent attempt but the move doesn't stick and now the peloton is here.


Diamond limps home for a 21st place finish. But still gaining 49 seconds on Shirshov who finished in 25th. Diamond now leads Bouhanni by 53 points in the green jersey competition.


The winner? Breakaway man Jungels finally gets his prize. GC wise, Sosa as strong as ever. Mas recovers from his crash to maintain his spot in the Top 5. And De Plus flops, losing five minutes to drop from 3rd to 14th.

Result: 21st (+3'11"), 19th GC (+20'50"), 1st Points, 6th KoM, 1st Youth - Average day. Got my sprint points and being in the breakaway gave me the head start I needed over the peloton. One mountain stage left.

Summary: It's a mini peloton in front of the peloton! The largest breakaway of the tour comes on the final mountain stage, 42 cyclists are allowed clear. Too many for us to go through right now but we will sort them out when it dwindles down.


Diamond takes the sprint points without any fuss. Probably the last sprint points he will get uncontested.


At the base of the Tourmalet, the penultimate climb, the breakaway has been split to pieces. Three leaders of Jungels, Shirshov and Oomen have a 25-second gap on Diamond, Aru, Jornet, Brozyna and Eiking.

The yellow jersey is reported to be almost 10 minutes behind. So, one of these eight, could be a stage winner. All that stands in their way is the majestic Tourmalet and the Luz Ardiden. No sweat.


Then there were five brave souls. Diamond doing a lot of work. Dragging white jersey rival Shirshov, Oomen, Eiking and Jornet up this climb.


Bye bye to Eiking and Jornet. Diamond is a machine. 5.7kms to the top.


The pace slows a tad and Shirshov sees this as his opportunity! Oomen grabs the wheel, Diamond decides to keep his own tempo.


Diamond can physical see his white jersey riding away from him.


Diamond not giving in. He pulls back Oomen.


Over the Tourmalet. Shirshov, Diamond and Oomen in that order. Who knows where everybody else is. All eyes are on these three men.


Here we go. The final major climb of the Tour de France. Oomen wheel-sucking Diamond as he chases after his white jersey and a stage win.


Diamond cracks Oomen with 11.2kms remaining.


Shirshov dances on the pedals while Diamond sets tempo in the saddle.


Shirshov goes again! Does he have the leg power to sustain this?


The devil screams go faster. Diamond isn't going away. 4.4kms to go!


Diamond is willing to go to Hell and back for this stage win. Incredible!


But Shirshov won't slow down. He knows what is at-stake.


Past the banner. Diamond looks back to see nobody. The man he wants is in front of him. Shirshov is riding away with his white jersey and the stage win.


Maxim Shirshov denies Diamond! What a win!

Diamond stops the clock 59 seconds behind Shirshov. Which is good enough to keep the U25 lead by 63 seconds, but Shirshov is a better time trialist and should grab the white jersey for good on Stage 20.


Oomen finishes third a few minutes later to secure the KoM competition. Sosa then brings in the favourites to basically seal his first TDF victory.

On a brutally stage, 13 cyclists didn't make the time limit. Roglic, Kelderman, Paret-Peintre, Gesink and Kung are the notables to miss out.

Result: 2nd (+59"), 16th GC (+15'03"), 1st Points, 3rd KoM, 1st Youth - Most memorable stage of my career so far. Gave Shirshov everything I had. He was just better. Made up a bunch of time. But not over my closest rival. Looks like I might finish second in another Grand Tour youth competition, but that's fine if I steal the green jersey. Hopefully, 90 points up on Bouhanni is enough cushion with two flat stages left.

Summary: With the yellow jersey and KoM jersey basically wrapped up, today the green jersey gets put under pressure. Marcus Diamond leads with 260 points followed by pure sprinters Bouhanni (170), Kittel (154) and Groenewegen (147).

Bouhanni is the only sprinter in the peloton to contest the sprint point on today's route. With seven breakaway riders ahead of him, Bouhanni takes 8 points to move within 82 points of Diamond's lead. Diamond, and well everybody else, are saving their energy for the finish.


The morning breakaway has been caught and for the first time this tour we see the SEG boys creating the front sprint train for Marcus Diamond. The green jersey is getting the proper treatment today!


Van Trijp does his job and pulls off. Leaving Ottema as Diamond's last leadout. Meanwhile, Bouhanni is almost 11 guys back down the line.


Flying past the banner! Diamond still in an excellent position, but here comes Wiebes, Groenewegen and Cort Nielsen on the inside. Bouhanni is still caught in traffic and might struggle to even get a Top 5 at this point.


Kittel with a late burst, as Wiebes eyes her fifth career TDF stage win.


It will be Wiebes on the line! Groenewegen beats Kittel for second. Then Arghittu, Kulikovskiy and Cort Nielsen. However, the happiest rider of them all has to be Diamond in 7th place. His team's great leadout might just have won him the green jersey.

Bouhanni wasted all his energy at the sprint point, and takes 11th at the finish. Meaning the points standings now look like this: Diamond (272), Bouhanni (184), Groenewegen (177), Kittel (174) and Wiebes (166).

Result: 7th, 16th GC (+15'03"), 1st Points, 3rd KoM, 1st Youth - Can't thank my teammates enough. Perfect sprint. I might not be the fastest, but I was the smartest throughout this tour. With a ITT and Paris left, I can't see myself losing over 88 points to Bouhanni. Next challenge is keeping white. It's a longshot. I have a 1'03" gap over Shirshov going into a 49km TT. Wish me luck.

Summary: Realistically, the only jersey that could change hands today is the white jersey. Marcus Diamond vs. Maxim Shirshov.

Shirshov exited the starthouse right before Diamond. So the green jersey knew what times he had to keep up with. Shirshov eventually stopped the clock at 55'50". Good enough to finish 8th on the stage, which was won by former yellow jersey holder Laurens De Plus.

Diamond crossed the finish line and peered up to see 1h02'13", losing over 6'23" to Shirshov on a day he only had a 63-second advantage. But, hey, the green jersey is a nice consolation prize. None of the sprinters scored points today, so as long as Diamond finishes tomorrow, he joins the likes of Lorena Wiebes (2022) and Peter Sagan (2012) as recent cyclists to win the green jersey before their 25th birthday.

Diamond, despite the poor TT, also only dropped one place in GC to 17th.

Result: 89th (+7'15"), 17th GC (+19'59"), 1st Points, 3rd KoM, 2nd Youth (+5'20") - Can't be good at everything. For the second straight Grand Tour, I'll take the runner-up spot in the U25 competition. Oh well, I'm ready to take my victory laps wearing green tomorrow in Paris!

Summary: A day of celebration. The peloton has made it home to Paris.


Former World Champion Magnus Cort Nielsen earns the honor of winning on the Champs-Élysées. He is the first rider to step onto the famed podium. Followed by the overall winner Ivan Sosa, next to second overall Tao Geoghegan Hart and third overall Miguel Angel Lopez.

Dutchman Sam Oomen then steps up to bask in his moment as the King of the Mountains winner. He topped Julian Alaphilippe, Maxim Shirshov and Marcus Diamond.

Speaking of the latter, Diamond strutted to the podium next. He becomes the second-ever British cyclist to win the points competition. The first one obviously being the great Mark Cavendish in 2011.


Result: 14th, 17th GC (+19'59"), 1st Points, 4th KoM, 2nd Youth (+5'20") - Some people questioned why I targeted two Grand Tours this season. This was why. To make history. A Tour de France stage win and the green jersey. Wow. I can't even comprehend. I can't stopped dreaming because my dreams continue to come true. So happy!

Summary: Aussie sprinter Bayung van Steeden wins his first race of the season. Pretty easily I might add as well.

Result: 9th - Today was more of a parade than anything. Got to ride in front of friends and family again. We have done lots of celebrating these last few days together. Pleased with a Top 10 here, considering my mind was pretty much elsewhere at the time. But more on that later.

Olympics here we come!

Date	Race	Winner
1-Jul	Portuguese Championships	Amaro Manuel Antunes
1-Jul	French Championships	Julian Alaphilippe
1-Jul	Spanish Championships	Mikel Aristi
1-Jul	Italian Championships	Fausto Masnada
1-Jul	Belgian Championships	Tiesj Benoot
1-Jul	Dutch Championships	Mathieu Van Der Poel
1-Jul	German Championships	Marcel Kittel
1-Jul	Canadian Championships	Jim Arghittu
1-Jul	Danish Championships	Søren Kragh Andersen
1-Jul	Swiss Championships	Silvan Dillier
1-Jul	USA Championships	Gavin Mannion
1-Jul	Russian Championships	Alexandr Kulikovskiy
1-Jul	Great Britain Championships	Ben Swift
1-Jul	Polish Championships	Alan Banaszek
1-Jul	Czech Championships	Frantisek Sisr
1-Jul	Ukrainian Championships	Mikayil Saenko
1-Jul	Slovak Championships	Peter Sagan
1-Jul	Slovenian Championships	Jaka Primozic
1-Jul	CCdS et des Champions Olympiques	Hafiz Sidek
1-Jul	Austrian Championships	Felix Gall
1-Jul	Irish Championships	Michael O'Loughlin
1-Jul	Kazakh Championships	Maxim Shirshov
1-Jul	Norwegian Championships	Odd Christian Eiking
4-Jul	Sibiu Cycling Tour	Amaro Manuel Antunes
6-Jul	GP Internacional Torres Vedras	Nicola Toffali
7-Jul	Tour de France	Ivan Sosa
7-Jul	Int. Österreich Rundfahrt	Georg Preidler
8-Jul	White Spot / Delta Road Race	Gian Friesecke
15-Jul	Tour of Qinghai Lake	Salvadore Gazzea
25-Jul	Prueba Villafranca	Sepp Kuss
25-Jul	Grand Prix Cerami	Marc Sarreau
26-Jul	La Tour Alsace	Issac Canton
27-Jul	VOO-Tour de Wallonie	Baptiste Planckaert
29-Jul	GP Kranj	Matvei Mamykin
31-Jul	RideLondon-Surrey Classic	Bayung van Steeden
31-Jul	CdG Memorial Ricardo Otxoa	Michele Gazzoli
1-Aug	Volta a Portugal
1-Aug	PostNord Danmark Rundt
4-Aug	Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian
4-Aug	Tour de Pologne
4-Aug	Hansa Bygg Kalmar Road Race
5-Aug	La Poly Normande
6-Aug	The Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah
7-Aug	Vuelta a Burgos
9-Aug	Czech Cycling Tour
11-Aug	KOGA Slag om Norg
13-Aug	BinckBank Tour
15-Aug	Tour du Limousin
16-Aug	Arctic Race of Norway
16-Aug	Colorado Pro Classic
19-Aug	EuroEyes Cyclassics Hamburg
21-Aug	GP Stad Zottegem
21-Aug	Baltic Chain Tour
22-Aug	Arnhem-Veenendaal Classic
23-Aug	Deutschland Tour
25-Aug	Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde
25-Aug	Bretagne Classic-Ouest France
25-Aug	Vuelta a España
26-Aug	Croatia-Slovenia
26-Aug	Ronde van Midden Nederland
29-Aug	Druivenkoers - Overijse

2-Aug	Road: Time Trial
3-Aug	Track: Keirin
4-Aug	Track: Elimination Race
5-Aug	Track: Sprint
6-Aug	Track: Time Trial
7-Aug	Track: Points Race
8-Aug	Track: Scratch
9-Aug	Track: Omnium	Marcus Diamond In
10-Aug	Mountain Bike: Cyclocross	Marcus Diamond In
11-Aug	Road: Race	Marcus Diamond In

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