Cold shower for Seixas, quiet Zidane, Queen Beaugrand: sports news from the weekend

The sporting events that you shouldn’t miss during the weekend: here is the France 24 sports recap.

Cycling: McNulty world champion, Seixas 15th

American Brandon McNulty created a surprise by becoming world road cycling champion on Sunday in Montreal, thanks to a solo 32-kilometer raid. The UAE rider raced past all the favorites to win with a thirteen-second lead over the Australian Michael Matthews and the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, at the end of a suspenseful race with multiple twists and turns.

He became the third American to wear the rainbow jersey after Greg LeMond (1983 and 1989), and Lance Armstrong (1993), who later admitted to doping during his career. The main favorites were trapped in a thrilling, very tough race, marked by numerous offensives and indecisive until the end.

Paul Seixas, who hoped to become the youngest world champion in history at 20, finished with cramps in fifteenth place, more than two minutes behind. Remco Evenepoel, in the running for an unprecedented time-line race double, was not having a good day (12th), like the other Belgian favorite, Wout Van Aert (28th), a big disappointment for the flat country.

Also readCycling: Brandon McNulty surprise world champion, Paul Seixas 15th

A first world title for Vollering

The Dutchwoman Demi Vollering won her first world title on Saturday in Montreal (Canada), assuming her role as huge favorite, despite a scenario full of twists and turns, to win in the sprint ahead of the Polish Katarzyna Niewiadoma and the Italian Elisa Longo Borghini.

Winner this season, among others, of the Tour of Italy, her second Tour de France, the Tour of Flanders or Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the 29-year-old rider confirmed that she was the best current cyclist, even if she was almost knocked down.

Second in Glasgow (Scotland) in 2023, the reigning European champion blew up the race for the first time 38 km from the finish when, well launched by Puck Pieterse, she accelerated on the climb of Camillien-Houde. No one was able to follow her in the main ascent of the ‌13.4 km circuit completed eight times, after a first part in line to reach a total of 180 km.

Demi Vollering took over and then overtook Maeva Squiban in no time, while the Frenchwoman still had a 46-second lead less than two kilometers earlier. The Dutchwoman seemed well on her way to racing alone to the finish but her pursuers never lost hope. Katarzyna Niewiadoma, Juliette Berthet and Elisa Longo Borghini took her back 15 km from the end, then the latter tried her luck at the start of the last lap before being taken over by the Niewiadoma-Vollering duo, under the leadership of the Dutchwoman while Juliette Berthet broke down.

Demi Vollering and Katarzyna Niewiadoma finally flew to the top of Camillien-Houde’s last climb, in a remake of the last Tour de France to compete for victory in a duel. The one who usually runs for the FDJ United-Suez team finally triumphed during a short sprint, crushing her opponent.

A second world title for Cassandre Beaugrand

French Olympic triathlon champion Cassandre Beaugrand won a second world title on Saturday in Pontevedra, Spain. After the 2024 world title, the year in which she also won Olympic gold in Paris, the 29-year-old triathlete flew through the world final, in Galicia, ahead of the British Georgia Taylor-Brown and Kate Waugh, relegated to more than a minute.

Beaugrand joins the closed circle of triathletes who have been crowned world champions at least twice, behind Bermudian athlete Flora Duffy (four titles) and Australian Emma Snowsill (three titles). After being forced to retire in 2025 in Australia, the Frenchwoman won her second world title in three years at the end of an exceptional year 2026. She won all five races (Alghero, Quiberon, London, Weihai and Pontevedra) on the world championship circuit in which she took part.

Also readTriathlon: Cassandre Beaugrand wins a 2nd world title at the end of a perfect year

A successful baptism of fire for Zidane

Zinédine Zidane did not miss his big debut at the head of the France team by achieving a success in Turkey (1-0), Friday in the League of Nations, thanks to a goal from Kylian Mbappé. An evening tarnished by the knee injury of the superstar of the Blues, package for the next match against Belgium. The icon of French sport could not have dreamed of a better starter, having waited so long before donning the coach’s costume, owned by Didier Deschamps for 14 years. The Blues largely dominated the proceedings and were finally rewarded in the 54th minute by their captain’s 67th goal in 107 caps.

But the top scorer in the history of the France team had to give up his place immediately, holding his left knee. A tough start for Zidane, who announced after the match that the striker was going to return to Madrid for treatment due to a “tendinous injury”.

Barely three days after this first test, Zinédine Zidane passes his first big test at the head of the France team on Monday in Brussels by coming up against Belgium, quarter-finalist of the 2026 World Cup. With this second meeting in the Nations League, the difficulty will go up a notch for the Blues and their new coach.

Also readThe French team wins in Türkiye for the premiere of Zinédine Zidane

Volleyball: the Blues win European silver

The Blues fell on a bone: beaten against defending champion Poland (3-1: 29-31, 19-25, 25-20, 16-25), the French volleyball team had to settle for silver on Saturday at the Euro, as frustrating as it was promising for a new generation.

Eleven years after the only victory for Laurent Tillie’s French in the event, Andrea Giani’s players this time stopped on the penultimate step, stumbling against the Poles on a cloud. Enough to further establish the selection of Wilfredo Leon, victorious in the League of Nations this summer, Olympic vice-champion, at the top of a discipline in which it already occupies first place in the world rankings. To that, add a ticket won for the Los Angeles Olympics.

Also readVolleyball: France loses against Poland in the Euro final

Top 14: Toulouse takes back the reins

Led by Antoine Dupont and the Ntamack brothers, Stade Toulouse has already regained its leadership position after just four days of Top 14, dominating Montpellier (40-18), its rival during the last final, Sunday.

The shock of June, won 28-20 by the Rouge et Noir for their fourth consecutive title, was close and electric. The first leg between Toulouse and Montpellier lasted only a half, before the Hauts-Garonnais inexorably took off to win with the bonus and take the lead in the standings, with 15 points.

Like last season, they moved to the top after four days and took a lead over their runners-up from Lyon and Pau and six ahead of the MHR, seventh.

Arthur Fils enters the top 10

Frenchman Arthur Fils reaches 9th place in the ATP rankings published on Monday and still dominated by Jannik Sinner ahead of Alexander Zverev (2nd) and Carlos Alcaraz (3rd). He is the 13th French player in history to appear among the ten best in the ATP rankings, inaugurated in 1973.

The last Frenchman to have appeared in the Top 10 was Gaël Monfils in September 2020. This season, Arthur Fils won the first Masters 1000 of his career in Cincinnati, but only won one Grand Slam match, at Wimbledon, after having withdrawn from the Australian Open and Roland-Garros due to injury.

The 22-year-old from Ile-de-France, absent since the US Open, returned to competition on Monday by winning the first of the two qualifying rounds that he must pass to enter the final draw of the ATP 500 tournament in Tokyo.

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sports cafe — Cover image: café des sports © france 24

Qualifiers for the next African Cup of Nations (CAN) in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania began last Thursday. New players, new coaches, new era… Here are seven stories to follow among the upcoming posters of African football

Also readCAN 2027: seven stories to follow during the first two days of the qualifiers

Ireland easily dominated Israel (3-0) on Sunday evening in Debrecen, Hungary, in an almost deserted stadium and with a reduced pre-match protocol, after several days of intense debate around a possible boycott of Irish players. The three goals were scored before the break during a match without relief, and without major incident. Only a brief scuffle on the pitch between several players, at the hour mark, led the referee to distribute two yellow cards, one to each side.

Just before kick-off, at 6:45 p.m. GMT, and as the Irish leaders had announced the day before, there were no exchanges of pennants or handshakes between the captains of the two teams. The Irish players wore a black armband, as a sign of solidarity with “all the lives lost in this conflict”, as the director general of the Irish Federation (FAI), David Courell, had also explained the day before.

These initiatives were sharply criticized on Sunday by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who accused Dublin of being “on the wrong side of history”. Ireland must face Israel twice in the Nations League. Sunday’s match, officially hosted at home by Israel, took place on neutral ground in Hungary, as Israel cannot host international matches on its soil due to the security situation.