Tour de France kicks off, race to stay within country's borders
Starting in Lille, France on July 5, 184 riders representing 23 teams, climbed into their saddles to begin the roughly 2,075-mile race across the country.
Connor Zilisch ready to compete in Chicago NASCAR street race
The race is broken into 21 stages across a three-week window, during which riders will have to navigate flat, hilly and mountainous terrain, as well as two time trials.
For the first time ever, riders will have to climb a prominent hill in Paris known as the Butte Montmartre, three times before finishing at the legendary Champs-Élysées.
Trans athletes face uncertain future after Penn strikes deal with Trump administration
Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar is looking to defend his 2024 this year and favorited to do so. Cycling weekly reports that five Americans are competing in the race this year, including Sepp Kuss, who became the first American to win a Grand Tour in over a decade in 2023.
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For us, we want to have fun, enjoyable events, where it's more than just a race.' In the dirt lot behind the pit rooms, Ryan Maifield was stationed at the company tent for Tekno, an RC manufacturer, his shaggy beard and worn-in sneakers belying his global RC stardom. Coming into the Dirt Nitro Challenge, the Arizona-born Maifield was neck-and-neck with frequent competitor Dakota Phend for the top U.S. driver slot. At 38, Maifield has raced for longer than Phend, 28, has been alive. While racers and their crews flitted about the Tekno tent, Maifield worked quietly from a half-obscured corner, tweaking his car after a trial run. His tools sprawled across the table and onto the floor, as though rummaged through by a band of wood rats. To the untrained eye, Maifield's candy cane-colored buggy is 'just a toy car,' he said, but to a pro racer it's a way to make a living, pieced together from race winnings and sponsorships. 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In the pits, Quagraine approached Cavalieri. 'Should I advise on certain lines?' Quagraine ventured, his voice uncharacteristically even. Cavalieri snipped rubber from a fresh set of tires, the RC-equivalent of adjusting tire pressure on a race car. After running through his problem areas with Quagraine, the duo wordlessly passed parts back and forth, as though programmed in sync. A little after 5 p.m., Cavalieri popped open the Panda Express container that had sat untouched since lunch. 'Nothing to lose,' the racer thought out loud as the evening final neared. And punctuating his comment with an F-bomb, he noted he was 'right — last.' From the outside, the Team Associated trailer looked like a glorified tin can, but inside it was furnished with crisp white shelving and a treasure trove of motor parts. Spencer Rivkin ducked his head as he stepped inside and pulled a chassis off a rack. An hour or so ago, he finished last in the Electric Truck A-Main race, but he wore no dejection on his face. Rivkin, a self-proclaimed RC 'nerd,' received his first RC car on his 9th birthday. His parents split up around that time, he said, and racing kept him out of trouble. By age 13, he was racing competitively, and by 15, he had a slew of sponsors including industry big names like Team Associated and JConcepts. Two years ago, at age 24, he bought his first home in Arizona. 'Doing this saved my life,' he said. 'I just wish more people knew about it.' While a warm pink still lingered above the horizon, the floodlights switched on, illuminating patches of freshly watered dirt. (Tracks are watered intermittently to provide RC cars more grip, and to improve visibility for racers and spectators.) Around the track, cigarette smoke mingled with the tang of burnt rubber so that it was hard to distinguish the two. By the time the sun fully set, more than 12 hours after the first race, the day's dry heat was replaced by desert chill. Frogs croaked from nearby waterholes, joining the chorus of spectators who hollered as the announcer introduced their favorite racers — along with their laundry lists of sponsors. As their names were called, some racers gave a polite wave to the crowd, while others muttered into the headsets they use to talk to their pit crews. Meanwhile, the crowd sent the wave four times around the track. Amid all the fanfare, it was easy to forget these were toy cars. The championship race finally arrived and the drivers' pit crew chiefs lined up, buggies in hand, by qualifying position, with Phend leading the pack and Cavalieri bringing up the rear. 'Those are our gladiators who are going to do battle here,' announcer Scotty Ernst bellowed into the microphone. Then they were off. As the cars zoomed around the track, spectators squinted to decipher whose ride was whose. Some pulled up the live stream of the race on their phones to double-check. Early into the 45-minute event, most drivers maintained their qualifying positions, with Phend and Maifield shuffling between the first and second slots. Rivkin kept close behind, and on one turn bumped a competing buggy back into an upright position after a clash. 'Very good sportsmanship there for Rivkin,' Ernst said. Rivkin later said he didn't remember the run-in. More buggies ended up on their sides or backs, the result of collisions or bad landings in the whoops section. Marshals dashed on the track to the rescue. One had to perform a double leap and pirouette to avoid the leaders. At one point, Phend's buggy did a front-flip over a pipe serving as a racetrack barrier. Across the track, another car landed atop a rock, igniting a barely visible spark. It was still anyone's game. That is, until race leader Mason Fuller pitted at the last minute, giving Maifield several seconds over the pack. Quagraine was glad to have backed out of his earlier bet on Cavalieri, who finished well in back. As Maifield flew through the finish line, the cheers were surprisingly tame, so it wasn't clear the race had ended at all. The 45-minute affair and night's easy atmosphere seemed to have lulled a handful to sleep. But when the rest of the lot rolled in, and a trio of podium girls in snug red dresses and four-inch heels arrived for the awards ceremony, the buzz was back. As race host Joey Christensen read off the names of the top three finishers — Maifield, Fuller and Phend — the crowd members craned their necks, knowing what was coming. On cue, the three racers lunged for their congratulatory champagne, shook the bottles and doused each other in bubbly.
