Geraint Thomas won his first Tour de France title yesterday, concluding his transformation from a support rider into a champion of cycling’s biggest race.

The horrific leg injury sustained by Spanish road cyclist Francesco Ventoso has forced the sport’s governing body, the UCI, to suspend the use of a new type of braking mechanism in the pro peloton.

Chris Froome stamped his class all over the Tour de France yesterday by totally obliterating the field on the first mountain stage of this year’s race.

Carrick-on-Suir sprinter Sam Bennett delivered the An Post Chain Reaction team’s second stage win of this year’s An Post Rás when he outgunned Dane Morten Ollegaard (Blue Water Cycling), Polish rider Marcin Bialablocki (Team UK Youth) and the rest of the peloton in a mass bunch sprint to the line at the end of stage three in Listowel yesterday.