A humid Saturday morning and clearly it is moving day in Lourdes. Dozens of buses clog the narrow streets of the town in the Pyrenees, hazard lights on as people are wheeled or carried from their hotels, others moving with a pep in their step as if the visit to the Marian shrine has uplifted them.

Irish riders netted three-star Grand Prix victories on both sides of the Atlantic at the weekend, with Paul O’Shea scoring in Tryon, North Carolina, and Darragh Kenny coming out on top at Montpellier in France.

Connacht captain John Muldoon said that Simon Zebo has probably put his international career ‘on the back burner’ by going to France, but the veteran star can understand why he has made the move.

Chris Froome is set to win his fourth Tour de France title after increasing his lead in Saturday's penultimate time trial in Marseille.

Chris Froome surrendered the yellow jersey to Fabio Aru as Romain Bardet won stage 12 of the Tour de France in Peyragudes.

Chris Froome dodged crashes in the pack to retain his overall lead in the Tour de France before the race heads back to the mountains today.

Marcel Kittel yesterday claimed a fourth stage victory in this year’s Tour de France with a thoroughly convincing performance in Bergerac.

Marcel Kittel has won a fourth stage of this year's Tour de France.

Munster and Ireland second row Donnacha Ryan has inked a deal to move to Ronan O’Gara’s Racing 92 in Paris, Examiner Sport understands.

If women can get to the top on the sports pitch — and we’ve seen that they can — there’s no reason why they can’t do the very same in every other sphere of society, writes Clodagh Finn.

A former Irish captain, who demanded high standards and wasn’t content for things to be run in a haphazard fashion — Roy Keane wasn’t the only panellist to fit this description at the Bord Gáis Energy ‘Winning in Business’ forum.

Dressage rider Judy Reynolds is breaking new ground this weekend as the first Irish rider to line out in a World Cup final and her aim is to replicate the performances that have seen her greatly improve Ireland’s reputation in the sport.

It may well be the most notorious train journey in Irish sporting history.

Dan Martin made a brave but ultimately futile bid for a second ever Tour de France stage win yesterday, the Irishman finishing runner-up to Rafal Majka (Tinkoff Saxo) on a gruelling day in the Pyrenees.

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.

Paul O’Connell has confirmed that his Ireland career will end when Joe Schmidt’s side plays its last game at the upcoming Rugby World Cup.

Team Sky’s riders and management have staunchly defended the performance of Nicolas Roche following Sunday’s near miss at a stage win on the ninth day of the Tour de France.

Paul O’Connell won’t be the only Munster player making his last appearance in the red jersey at the Kingspan Stadium tomorrow night.

Taghrooda delighted connections in a workout over the Rowley Mile at Newmarket yesterday as part of her preparation for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Sunday week.

There’s a sign in the Irish dressing room that reads ‘The winning qualities of this team will be reflected by the standards we set’.

Vincenzo Nibali wsays anted to show he was "the boss" in winning his fourth stage of the 101st Tour de France yesterday to all-but seal overall victory.

Poland’s Rafal Majka was thrilled with his second victory of the 2014 Tour de France as Vincenzo Nibali further enhanced his hold on the race leader’s yellow jersey after stage 17.

Munster’s back-row forward Paddy Butler gets a chance to show what he’s capable of in an Ireland jersey against Uruguay in Wednesday’s IRB Nations Cup clash.

INTERNATIONAL TEST:

They pride themselves up north in getting straight to the point and saying what they think, so let’s not beat about the bush — Jerome Garces got it right.

France 19 Ireland 15

Ireland’s Lynne Cantwell will win her 83rd cap in tomorrow’s Six Nations clash with Grand Slam chasing France.

It’s a busy weekend for Willie Mullins’ stable, with runners at four meetings, including this afternoon at Aintree, but I’m staying at home to ride at Navan, where the exciting Faugheen and Felix Yonger hold very strong claims.

Lord Of Lords, who missed what looked a suitable opportunity because of a stone bruise at Wexford nine days ago, has obviously made a quick recovery and gets the nap in the Holycross Maiden Hurdle at Thurles this afternoon.

I must start this week by telling you about my first ever trip to Japan last weekend.

A 93-year-old man who watched the 1938 Cork Grand Prix in awe is gearing up to attend a re-run of the event this summer.

THEIRS is a name synonymous with French rugby. Formed as a sporting club of many different disciplines for the Parisian elite in 1882, Racing Club de France, alongside Stade Francais, dominated the early years of the French Championship before disappearing — like Stade — for the bones of a century until the emergence of the bow-tie wearing and champagne guzzling side of Franck Mesnel, Eric Blanc and Jean-Baptiste Lafond in the late ’80s.

World champion Mark Cavendish has described his Great Britain squad as “the dream team” but feels no additional pressure despite potentially being the first home champion of London 2012.

On a day when the defending champion, Cadel Evans’ defence of his Tour de France title disintegrated on the perilously steep slopes of the Pyrenees, Ireland’s Dan Martin turned in one of the performances of his career to finish seventh on yesterday’s 16th stage from Pau to Bagnères-de-Luchon.

Cadel Evans’ Tour de France title defence appeared to be in tatters on stage 16 as Bradley Wiggins sought to retain the race leader’s yellow jersey for a 10th day.

The Tour de France resumes today without Frank Schleck after the Luxembourg rider failed a drugs test.