Peter Sagan leads charge on rule change that could promote rider safety

By RUPERT GUINNESS, ESPN Contributo

ANGERS, France (July 4, 2016) – Tour de France leader and world champion Peter Sagan has weighed in once more with his strong concerns for rider safety. But this time, he has called for the world body of cycling to introduce a law change that would allow for less congested and dangerous finales.

US billionaire discusses European super league with UK soccer billionaires

An American billionaire is attempting to lure Europe’s elite clubs to form a continental super league

Officials from some of the English Premier League’s biggest clubs met with American billionaire Stephen Ross in London in March for preliminary discussions on forming a European Super League, according to a report at the time in The Sun.

Commercialization of English football: The corruption of pre-season friendlies

60 per cent of the English Premier League pre-season friendlies in the 2013/14 season was played overseas | Jon Candy/Flickr

By STEVE MENARY

(playthegame.org) – With Euro 2016 which started on June 10, international football should be centre stage but the increasing commercialisation of pre-season club friendlies is threatening this opportunity.

What was once a loosely organised series of matches used mainly by club managers to test new players and formations ahead of the forthcoming season has changed completely.

Tour de France 2016 route and guide

Here’s the Tour de France route 2016, which runs from Saturday July 2 to Sunday July 24

The peloton of the 103rd edition of the Tour de France will set off on July 2 in the Manche Department.

The west side of Col du Tourmalet viewed from the top — the highest paved road in the French Pyrénées at 2115m (6939′)

Tour de France 2016 Essential Guide

The 2016 Tour de France route was officially revealed in Paris in October 2015, with its 21 stages between Mont Saint-Michel and Paris including a stage up the legendary climb of Mont Ventoux, as well as two tough looking individual time trials.

The Tour de France I love and hate

A fan cheers wildly during the 2014 Tour de France | LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images

By RUPERT GUINNESS, ESPN Contributor

It was a wire agency report on the fifth stage of the 1981 Tour de France that planted the seed of my interest in the race that has drawn me back for all but two of the past 30 years.