The route for the inaugural women's Tour de France was unveiled on Thursday with eight stages, embarking from the Eiffel Tower on July 24 next year.

The 2022 Tour de France embarks from Denmark, pushes into Switzerland and Belgium, visits Dunkirk and Lourdes, and features five mountain slogs.

A mud-spattered Sonny Colbrelli won a three-way cat-and-mouse struggle to claim victory in the epic Paris-Roubaix bike race in dreadful conditions on Sunday.

British rider Lizzie Deignan won the inaugural women's Paris-Roubaix bike race on Saturday with a solo breakawayacross the muddy, cobblestoned mining roads where many of her rivals sufferednasty falls.

Basque puncher Alex Aranburu has signed a three-year deal with Movistar, the Spanish team announced on Wednesday while Italian 'bad boy' Gianni Moscon has taken his place at Astana.

The 2022 Paris-Roubaix cycling classic will be moved a week later due to the French presidential election, race organiser Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) said on Wednesday.

The organisers of Paris-Roubaix, which returns on Sunday, have been battling grass that has sprouted along some of its famed cobbled sectors during the two-and-a-half year coronavirus hiatus. The "queen of the classics" was postponed and then cancelled last year and postponed again last spring. It was last run in April 2019, when the Belgian Philippe Gilbert won.

Title holder Julian Alaphilippe won cycling's world championships road race on Sunday, after dropping all of his rivals following a series of solo attacks on Flanders' cobbled hills. The Frenchman attacked from 50km out to create an elite group of 17 riders, then again from 15km to edge away to a solo victory in an epic 268km struggle through cycling's heartland. As road race world champion, Alaphilippe will race the next year wearing the fabled rainbow jersey another year after winning in similar fashion at the 2020 event in Italy.

Italy's Elisa Balsamo won the women's world road race title on Saturday ending a four-year run of success for Dutch riders. The 23-year-old held off a challenge by the Netherlands' three-time champion Marianne Vos to take the rainbow jersey after a gruelling 157.7 kilometres ride under clear blue skies. Balsamo crossed the line with her arms spread wide in celebration as she became the first Italian to win the title since Giorgia Bronzini won the second of her two titles in 2011.

Tony Martin ended his career in style on Wednesday after helping Germany to win the mixed relay time-trial title at cycling's world championships in Flanders.

European road race champion Ellen Van Dijk of the Netherlands claimed a second time-trial title at cycling's world championships on Monday after finishing ahead of Marlen Reusser and Annemiek Van Vlueten. The 34-year-old Van Dijk was 10 seconds faster than Switzerland's Reusser, who was also runner-up in the Olympic event in July, and 24sec ahead of her compatriot Van Vleuten, who won in Tokyo. Van Dijk went down the ramp over an hour before her key rivals and had a "quite horrible" nervous wait in the leader's hot seat.

Italy's Filippo Ganna retained his time-trial crown at cycling's world championships in Bruges on Sunday. The 25-year-old Ineos rider defended his title by beating local favourite Wout Van Aert (Jumbo) by five seconds in a carbon copy of last year's outcome. Another Belgium rider,  Remco Evenepoel took third, 43sec back at the end of a flat 43.3km course in the opening event of the championships in the Belgian city.

The UCI Road World Championships road races in Flanders, Belgium take place Sept. 25-26. The Flanders region is a hotbed for professional cycling, known for its steep and often cobbled climbs. Both the elite men's and women's road races begin in Antwerp and feature multiple complex circuits which will give racers and fans a taste of quintessential Belgian bike racing before finishing on Leuven's Geldenaaksevest.

The UCI Road World Championship road races in Flanders, Belgium take place Sept. 25-26. The Flanders region is a hotbed for professional cycling, known for its steep and often cobbled climbs. Both the elite men's and women's road races begin in Antwerp and feature multiple complex circuits which will give racers and fans a taste of quintessential Belgian bike racing before finishing on Leuven's Geldenaaksevest.

“The Race of Truth ' comes to the 2021 UCI Road World Championships in Knokke-Heist, Belgium, in the form of a 30.3km time trial for the elite women on Sept. 20. The elite men will race 43.3km on a similar, longer course the day before. Both races will pass through Damme before finishing in the heart of Bruges.