Michael Matthews won stage three of the Giro d’Italia which saw Italian rider Domenico Pozzovivo suffer a frightening crash to bring back memories of the accident which killed Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt in the 2011 edition.

Nicolas Roche got Ireland’s UCI World Championships campaign underway in Ponferrada, Spain yesterday with a fifth-place finish in the Elite men’s team time-trial.

Michael Matthews pipped Dan Martin in a sprint finish to win the third stage of the Vuelta a Espana yesterday and claim the leader’s jersey.

A devastated Mark Cavendish ruled himself out of the Tour de France after suffering a shoulder injury in a crash on Saturday's opening stage to Harrogate.

Daryl Impey, who last year became the first African to wear the Tour de France yellow jersey, has failed a drugs test, his team Orica-GreenEdge have announced.

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.

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche made a real statement of intent at the Giro d’Italia yesterday when he moved up to seventh overall following the day’s 203-kilometre trek from Taranto to Viggiano.

The Giro is crossing the border today as 200 of the world's best cyclists gear up for the final Irish stage of the famous Italian race.

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.

Peter Sagan won yesterday’s seventh stage of the Tour de France into Albi, just about seeing off the challenge of fellow fast-men John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) and Daniele Bennati (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) after the 205-kilometre trek from Montpellier.

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.

Orica-GreenEDGE director Matt White has been dismissed by the Australian team, after he admitted to doping during his racing career.

Andre Greipel claimed a third victory of the Tour de France with a stage 13 success to Le Cap d'Agde.

Bradley Wiggins took possession of the Tour de France race leader's yellow jersey after a dominant performance from Team Sky today, capped by a stage seven success for fellow Briton Chris Froome.

Giro d'Italia champion Ryder Hesjedal abandoned the Tour de France ahead of stage seven today.

Defending champion Cadel Evans and rival Bradley Wiggins successfully negotiated a crash-strewn first week of the Tour de France as some of their rivals for the Paris podium saw their hopes come to an end on stage six to Metz.

Dan Martin’s Garmin-Sharp team have endured more than most in the opening week of the Tour de France but matters worsened yesterday when their team manager Jonathan Vaughters was taken to task before the stage start in Rouen about reports in a Dutch newspaper that some of his riders had received six-month bans after confessing to doping.

Irish duo Nicolas Roche (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) survived another day of carnage at the Tour de France yesterday but world champion Mark Cavendish wasn’t so lucky as he crashed heavily inside the final three kilometres on the run-in to the finish in Rouen.

Mark Cavendish today won a first Tour de France stage as world champion and a 21st of his career.