Pope Leo XIV blessed the 159 cyclists competing in the Giro d’Italia as the three-week race’s final stage began with an unprecedented ride through the Vatican gardens behind St. Peter’s Basilica.

Marijuana use is to stay banned at sports events.

Jonas Vingegaard has won the first big mountain stage of the Tour de France to claim the yellow jersey from Tadej Pogacar.

More than a dozen men have a chance to capture the gold medal when cycling starts at the Tokyo Games this weekend.

LE PECQ – Two people questioned in a Tour de France doping probe around the team of former runner-up Nairo Quintana have been released without charge, a French prosecutor said Wednesday. Police released the pair, a doctor and a physiotherapist, on Tuesday night, Marseille prosecutor Dominique Laurens said in a statement. Colombian rider Quintana, runner-up in 2013 and 2015 but 17th this year, has denied any wrongdoing. In a statement late Tuesday, he said police who searched his hotel room after a Tour stage in the Alps found only “perfectly legal” vitamin supplements. Quintana said French officials questioned him Monday, the day after the Tour finished in Paris, and that he responded voluntarily to the summons.

Roglic, the Spanish Vuelta champion, used the race's first summit finish Tuesday in the ski resort of Orcieres-Merlette to erase any lingering doubts surrounding his form. Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe managed to follow the late accelerations and kept the race leader's yellow jersey after crossing the line in fifth place. Roglic couldnt drop any of his rivals but used his power to prevail in the sprint launched by Frenchman Guillaume Martin with 500 meters left. Overall, Alaphilippe kept a four-second lead over Adam Yates of Britain, with Roglic three seconds further back. Stage 5 will take riders from Gap to Privas on a mainly flat route suited for sprinters.