Ireland’s Dan Martin stepped up his preparations for the upcoming Vuelta A Espana and next month’s World Championships with a solid result in his main build-up race last night.

Vincenzo Nibali completed victory in the 101st Tour de France in Paris yesterday as Marcel Kittel won the final stage on the Champs-Elysees-

Vincenzo Nibali has vowed to "honour the yellow jersey" by going all out for stage victory in today’s time trial on the penultimate day of the Tour de France.

History was made in Clare yesterday when, for the first time in the 38-year history of the Junior Tour, a rider successfully retained the title.

German powerhouse Tony Martin stormed to his maiden road stage victory at the Tour de France yesterday — and his Omega Pharma-Quick Step team’s second win in three days.

German sprinter Andre Greipel believes he answered his critics after extending the country’s Tour de France sprint supremacy with victory on stage six yesterday from Arras to Reims.

German sprint sensation Marcel Kittel took his second stage win in three days at the Tour de France yesterday, blasting clear in the final metres to take a thrilling stage that concluded on The Mall in London.

Mark Cavendish’s bid for the yellow jersey ended in a heap as the Manxman tumbled to the tarmac in a dramatic conclusion to the opening stage of the 101st Tour de France in Harrogate.

CYCLING: Sam Bennett is the hot favourite to win tomorrow’s Elite National Road Race title in Mullingar, but the Carrick-on-Súir rider is playing down his chances.

American Andrew Talansky claimed the Criterium du Dauphine title yesterday on a truly epic final stage of the race.

Nairo Quintana plans to target the 2015 Tour de France after celebrating victory in the Giro d’Italia yesterday.

CYCLING: Nacer Bouhanni of France continued his dominance of the Giro d’Italia sprint finishes by winning his third stage of the race in Salsomaggiore Terme yesterday.

Dan Martin’s race programme for the remainder of the season is unclear following his collar bone break on the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia in Belfast last Friday night.

Giro D’Italia: Dan Martin had surgery on his broken collarbone in Dublin yesterday following his race-ending crash on Friday’s opening stage in Belfast.

Dan Martin was due to have surgery on his broken collarbone on Saturday evening after an opening-stage crash ended his Giro d'Italia hopes.

The race is only one stage old but already it’s a case of what might have been for Ireland’s big hope in the Giro d’Italia as Dan Martin crashed out of the race after just 15 minutes in last night’s opener in Belfast.

Dan Martin's Giro d'Italia dreams were ended on the opening stage in Belfast as he suffered a serious crash.

Dan Martin’s Giro d’Italia dreams were ended on the opening stage in Belfast as he suffered a serious crash.

Ireland’s Dan Martin says he’ll be taking the Giro d’Italia "one day at a time" as he seeks to become the first Irishman to finish on a podium at a Grand Tour for over a quarter of a century.

One of the key figures in bringing the Giro d’Italia to Ireland is hopeful the race can leave a lasting and positive legacy.

Ireland’s Dan Martin suffered one of the biggest disappointments of his career yesterday when he crashed within sight of the line in the iconic one-day Belgian classic, Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Irish cycling legend, Vuelta winner and former world No 1, Sean Kelly has described as a “scandal” the lack of promotion by Tourism Ireland of the Giro d’Italia coming to Dublin in May.

Sam Bennett came agonisingly close to winning a second stage of the Tour of Britain yesterday but had to settle for second best against Mark Cavendish as the race concluded in London.

Ireland’s Sam Bennett took a brilliant second place on Stage Two of the Tour of Britain yesterday, only pipped on the line by Gerald Ciolek of Team MTN-Qhubeka.

Dan Martin has withdrawn from the Vuelta a Espana following a crash on Friday’s seventh stage.

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche remains third overall at the Vuelta A Espana after finishing safely in the main bunch of yesterday’s 168-kilometre fifth stage from Sober to Lago de Sanabria in the north west of the country.

Dan Martin has revealed how “gut-wrenching” it was to have gotten sick in the final week of the Tour, which deprived the Irish rider the possibility of a high placing overall, another stage win, or even both.

Chris Froome was looking forward to going racing again at the 100th Tour de France today after a rest day in which his patience finally began to crack in the face of more doping questions.

There was the familiar sight of an Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider timing his burst to perfection and winning a sprint finish but instead of Mark Cavendish it was his room-mate Matteo Trentin who took the honours on stage 14 of the Tour de France in Lyon today.

An incredible day of tactical racing has set the tone for the weekend

Dan Martin slipped back to 13th overall at the Tour de France yesterday following the day’s gruelling 11th stage individual time-trial.

Dan Martin followed in his uncle’s footsteps yesterday as he became the first Irish winner of a Tour de France stage since Stephen Roche in 1992.

Dan Martin ended Ireland’s 21-year wait for a stage win at the Tour de France yesterday when he blasted to a stunning win in Bagnères-de-Bigorre following the most gruelling day of this year’s race so far.

Ireland’s Dan Martin has won stage nine of the Tour de France in Bagneres-de-Bigorre.

German powerhouse Andre Greipel won his first stage of this year’s Tour de France, coming home ahead of Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) after yesterday’s 176-kilometre run from Aix-en-Provence to Montpellier.

Mark Cavendish claimed his 24th Tour de France stage victory on the seafront in Marseille yesterday.

Three days after they were the laughing stock of the Tour de France, when their team bus became wedged under the finishing line gantry, Orica GreenEdge capped a marvellous turnaround when they won their second stage in as many days and claimed the race leader’s yellow jersey yesterday.

Orica GreenEdge pipped Mark Cavendish’s Omega Pharma-Quick Step squad by a single second to win today’s team time trial in the Tour de France and make it two stage victories in as many days.

Orica GreenEdge were all smiles after Simon Gerrans pipped Peter Sagan to the line and won stage three of the Tour de France in Calvi.

Jan Bakelants’ first victory as a professional was one to savour as the Belgian found himself the surprise leader of the 100th Tour de France last night.

Garmin-Sharp are keeping the peloton guessing ahead of the Tour de France, but it could be that an Irishman, rather than a Grand Tour winner, is the nominated leader.

All British eyes will be on Team Sky’s Chris Froome at the Tour de France, but a Birmingham-born Irishman is capable of upsetting the odds, according to one former winner.

Ireland’s Dan Martin finished safely in the main bunch on yesterday’s third stage of the five-day Bayern-Rundfahrt stage race in Germany.

Mark Cavendish claimed the spoils on the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia, benefitting from a crash in the final kilometre to snatch the win for his Omega Pharma team.