Analysis

You think nothing happens in the first week of the Tour de France? Think again.

The 2016 Tour de France route is exceptionally difficult in unexpected ways. Andrew Hood considers the perils of the Pyrenees, Mont Ventoux, the Alps, and time trials.

Operación Puerto is likely the biggest, most confusing doping scandal to ever hit sports. Here's your quick-hit guide to what's happening after the latest court ruling in Spain.

Chris Froome will start next month's Tour de France as the outright favorite, but he does have a few vulnerabilities.

Too much talent is a good problem to have, right? It's an embarrassment of riches for American Olympic selectors right now.

Vincenzo Nibali got the glory with a win in the Giro's stage 20, but his teammate, Michele Scarponi might be the day's MVP.

This year's Giro offers a balanced route, an outright favorite in Nibali, and a host of sprinters, such as Greipel, Kittel, and Ewan.

The year's first grand tour kicks off May 6, and three riders stand above the rest of the field as favorites to win the overall.

Simon Yates risks missing the Olympics due to a failed anti-doping test that demonstrates how the TUE system is broken.

Movistar usually relies on early season stage race results to buoy its WorldTour standings, but things are pretty different in 2016.

Sunday’s epic Paris–Roubaix battle was one of the best in years, fueled by pure power and raw emotion in cycling’s most honest race.

Arnaud Démare's big win in Sanremo is further proof that French cycling has turned the corner after a couple dark decades.

Peter Sagan criticizes Van Avermaet's tactics in pivotal Tirreno stage 6, but really, he should be learning from the winner instead.

The Tour de France picked the same teams as last year for 2016, and that means we won't see a lot of surprises this July.

NASCAR enacts major changes that are strikingly similar to what Velon is demanding, so why doesn't it work for cycling too?

In the wake of the track and field IAAF doping scandal, there's a lot to be learned from cycling's dark past.

The years-long reform process ground to an unceremonious halt Tuesday as a compromise put the sport right back where it started.

Do you believe no clean rider can win the Tour, today and, perhaps, ever?

UCI president Brian Cookson says pro cycling can't run without dopers. But there are steps that can be made to clean up the sport.

Despite a drop in wins in 2015, Australia’s first WorldTour team sets high expectations for its 25-man roster next season.

Dusseldorf votes to bid to host the Tour's 2017 start, but doubts linger that the event would be worthwhile, and that's a pity.

Although the Tour lacks the bombastic mountains of recent tours of Spain or Italy, its balanced approach should showcase exciting racing.

Nairo Quintana is a perennial grand tour favorite, but he needs to improve his TT skills to contend for the 2016 Tour title.

Many say Froome is a lock to win his third Tour in 2016, but Contador may actually be more likely to earn a third yellow jersey of his own.

Two-time junior world champion Chloe Dygert has some impressive numbers from her fruitful races in Richmond last week.

What's the difference between riding in the grupetto and riding in the break? A comparison between Kwiatkowski's stage 11 and stage 12 data.

The wily Astana captain can drop rivals on fast, technical descents, and seize unexpected opportunities as they arise

Pressed to name favorites for Monday's U.S. pro road championships, most would begin with two teams: Boels-Dolmans and Cannondale-Garmin

Should American racing mimic Europe? Steve Maxwell and Joe Harris consider ways to improve how the U.S. races bikes

The early season has given away little about the condition of the 'fab four' GC kings who have shown equal parts brilliance and mediocrity

Alberto Contador starts the 2015 Giro as the five-star favorite, but nearly dozen riders will be nipping at his heels for the pink jersey

He seems to be getting better with age, but Valverde's Liege win, writes Andrew Hood, brings back talk of his dark history

Neal Rogers considers the riders who succeeded and those who came up short at Belgium's biggest race, the Tour of Flanders

Steve Maxwell and Joe Harris of The Outer Line weigh in on the CIRC Report, disappointed that it doesn't provide more direction

Tougher sanctions for first-time offenders and the pending CIRC report are sure to keep doping in the headlines during the 2015 season

Dan Seaton breaks down the reasons why these two cyclocross stars will compete in the U23 race at the world championships next month

Andrew Hood discusses how cycling needs to either improve its TV product or risk becoming obsolete in the Red Bull era

Trade team loyalties are often at odds with national allegiances at worlds, when the jackpot for the rainbow jersey is worth millions

Will the elite men's road race at the world championships come down to a sprint finish, or will a breakaway survive the lumpy profile?

Alejandro Valverde has a tough row to hoe if he is to win the rainbow jersey on his home turf, with the Aussies and Belgians gunning for him

Defying the odds again, Contador is not only racing the Vuelta a España, but providing hints that he might be here for more than training

American Tejay van Garderen is among five men vying for spots on the Tour de France podium in the race’s final week

Froome is aiming to be the first rider to officially win back-to-back grand tours in the biological passport era

Andrew Talansky’s exciting Critérium du Dauphiné win sets up an epic showdown in France next month, writes Andrew Hood

Nairo Quintana, 24, overcame bad weather conditions and an illness to earn his first grand tour victory

Aside from the final-stage sprint, the Giro's final week is one built for the climbers

With a venture into the mountains and sprinters' stages, the Giro's second week will see a mix of exploits for the GC riders and fast men

Rohan Dennis turns the Amgen Tour into a two-man race after exposing the former Tour de France champion's weaknesses high up on Mount Diablo

Neal Rogers examines the Wiggins, and losers, of Monday's Tour of California time trial

The typically unpredictable Giro delivered some surprises while touring the Emerald Isle, but as it heads for Italy the race is not yet over

Garmin lost hope for the GC Friday, but the American team was far from the only squad to bleed time in the stage 1 team time trial

Olympic and former Tour de France champion is the man to beat when the Amgen Tour sets off in Sacramento on Sunday

The Giro d'Italia opens Friday with a run through history in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

From the Passo dello Stelvio to Mount Etna, we run down the 10 most iconic climbs of the Italian grand tour

With an historic route for its 100th edition, Sunday's Liège–Bastogne–Liège promises an explosive finale to the Ardennes classics

It's all about the Mur de Huy on Wednesday, and Philippe Gilbert heads a list of men aiming for glory in the second of three hilly classics

The Ardennes classics serve up the full package of thinking man's races, where it's game on from start to finish and one miscue ends it all

The cobbled classics are over and the time for the climbers has arrived with Sunday's Ardennes-opening Dutch classic

Is there a gray area when it comes to anti-doping?

An extremely animated Paris-Roubaix wraps up a thrilling cobbled classics season for the old hands and a new generation of stone bashers

Anything can happen over 51 kilometers of cobbles, but "Spartacus" is the overwhelming favorite with oddsmakers for the "Hell of the North"

Boonen, Cancellara, Sagan, and Vanmarcke are the favorites, but 17 climbs, a half-dozen teams, and forecasted rain don't care about odds

With many of the top classics riders sitting out, the sprinters — and Peter Sagan — take center stage at De Panne

With Boonen and Cancellara fit and motivated for a monumental win, will 2014 mark the final full-steam showdown in a decade-old rivalry?

Buckle up for a massive weekend of racing as Belgian classics season kicks definitively into gear with E3 Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem

Fabian Cancellara held tight when Vincenzo Nibali jumped on the Cipressa and said he's not interested in attacking just to put on a show

The season's first major classic is the longest and most unpredictable, and while Sagan is the favorite, no one knows who will win on Sunday

With 25 riders separated by less than 30 seconds, the final half of Paris-Nice should be open and aggressive — just as ASO hoped

A new-look Paris-Nice offers aggressive, open racing and the overall winner with no time trial or summit finish is anyone's guess

With pro cycling deeply affected by the struggling European economy, Strade Bianche and Roma Maxima will provide a lift this weekend

Omega Pharma's breakthrough Polish rider has started 2014 where last year left off, and appears on the verge of notching a major win

Classics season starts Saturday at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Andrew Hood previews the double weekend, which wraps at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne

Sky shows a new look in Oman, but it's the same old Froome, and no matter which way they play the game, they're going to be hard to beat

Pantani's biographer says that much of the media coverage surrounding the Italian's death has been self-indulgent and profit-oriented

On the 10th anniversary of the Italian's overdose, we look back at our 2004 cover story on the rocky journey from Tour de France champion to drug-addled death

The big names have found racing kilometers in Italy instead of France in recent years, but can a new route for Paris-Nice bring them back?

Cycling's Middle East tour continues Sunday with the Tour of Qatar, which will tell us a lot about the classics riders' preparation for the cobbles

There is no one like him in cycling; Taylor Phinney is a world-class bike racer, but is embarrassed if he misidentifies a man's fragrance

Will 2014 be the season that Cavendish returns to the top or Kittel comes back to the field? A new race in the United Arab Emirates this week will give the first indications

Reigning champions Sven Nys and Marianne Vos — and American Katie Compton — are at the head of the favorites for the cyclocross world championships in The Netherlands