Geraint Thomas joked he would be happy with an 'uneventful' Tour de France as long as a Team Ineos rider is stood on the top step in Paris at the end of the month.

Team Dimension Data head of performance Rolf Aldag has made clear he will stay with the team for the remainder of the Tour de France as the row over Mark Cavendish's non-selection rumbled on.

Geraint Thomas survived the first day of racing through the climbs of the 2019 Tour de France but then suggested that team-mate Egan Bernal is favourite for the first summit finish on stage six.

Geraint Thomas breathed a sigh of relief at the finish of stage eight of the Tour de France after he survived a team pile-up at the bottom of a fast downhill section on the approach to Saint-Etienne.

Geraint Thomas and Team Ineos had every reason to be satisfied as they reached the first rest day of the Tour de France in an enviable position. He is in second place in the general classification.

MATT LAWTON IN BAGNERES-DE-BIGORRE: The race for the big prize might have failed to ignite here on the first day in the Pyrenees but there was no shortage of fireworks

Thibaut Pinot led a French one-two ahead of overall leader Julian Alaphilippe to win the 14th stage of the Tour de France, a 117.5-km mountain trek from Tarbes on Saturday.

MATT LAWTON ON THE COL DU TOURMALET: Owner of Ineos Jim Ratcliffe must have sat in the team car on Saturday afternoon and wondered if he had just bought a cycling team in decline.

MATT LAWTON IN FOIX: There was a second stage win for Simon Yates, a first sign of human weakness from Julian Alaphilippe, not to mention further difficulties for Geraint Thomas on Sunday.

The defending champion came off on a right-hander with around 130km of the 177km stage, which started and finished in Nimes, remaining. He was though soon able to rejoin the race.

Trentin won by 36 seconds, while there was no change at the top of the general classification, with Julian Alaphilippe still leading ajnd Geraint Thomas trailing by 95 seconds.

MATT LAWTON IN VALLOIRE: To some extent it felt like normal service had been resumed here in the Alps, the sight of five Team Ineos riders leading the yellow jersey group up the final climb.

Thibaut Pinot's dream of becoming the first French winner of the Tour de France for 34 years is over after the Groupama-FDJ rider was forced to abandon early on stage 19 to Tignes.

MATT LAWTON IN VALLOIRE: Thibaut Pinot abandoned the race in tears and Julian Alaphilippe lost the yellow jersey on the brutal ascent of the highest paved pass in Europe.

MATT LAWTON IN PARIS: Brailsford believes Bernal is capable of maintaining the team's dominance of the Tour de France for years to come. At 22, he is the youngest man to win in Paris since 1909.

The extra cash injection and prospect of thousands of new jobs comes as the firm is set to announce Jaguar and Land Rover production in booming China.

A British sports car, whose determined lady driver beat the Nazis to win Olympic gold at the Berlin Games of 1936, has revved into London 2012.

Start queuing for the Dacia Sandero - it’s Britain’s cheapest car at less than £6,000. Renault bought the Romanian car-maker in 1999 as its ‘budget’ brand and the UK market is the final piece of the jigsaw.

Mailonline has had an exclusive first drive of the astonishing new ‘green’ super-frugal car offering 2p a mile motoring that could swiftly put Osborne and the Treasury out of business.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a growing family must be in want of a multi-purpose car, writes RAY MASSEY of the £23,895 KIA Carens '3' 1.7 CRDi manual.

That rare shaft of sunshine this week was enough for British supercar-maker Aston Martin to launch a blistering £200,000 flagship soft-top, a highlight of its centenary year.

Earplugs ready! German sports car meister Porsche and the Goodwood Festival of Speed are revving up for their birthdays this month. Porsche will mark the 50th anniversary of its classic 911.

The second worst car was the Mercedes-Benz B-Class (2005- 2012) managing just 42.6 mpg compared with the claimed 59.6 mpg (71.8 per cent).

The Ford Kuga 2.0 TDCi 163PS has a distinctive, yet handsome, contemporary, family-friendly crossover. Smart without being too flash.

Motoring editor Ray Massey takes the Honda Civic Tourer 1.6 i-dTEC EX Plus diesel (manual), £27,960 (price as driven) for a mini test and tells you the best and worst bits of his drive.

A few weeks ago Ray branded the Government's electric car policy being in a mess. His Whitehall sources tell him it rattled cages at the Department for Transport.

The Audi S3 feels smart, comfortable, sporty and grown-up, but also great fun says RAY MASSEY. The stop-start system also switches off the engine to save fuel.

Prices start at £20,455 on the road for the 1.4-litre TSI 125 PS manual and rise to £33,795 for the mean-looking 2-litre TSI 280 PS R. First UK deliveries will be in October

This French back-to-basics family car combines simplicity and efficiency with practicality, low ownership costs and quirky looks. It also boasts a 1.6 litre HDi four-cylinder in-line turbodiesel engine.

The XE, on sale next spring from £27,000, is Britain's challenger to Germany's big-selling BMW 3-series and is arguably the most important family car in the firm's history.

Honda has revealed its new compact sports utility vehicle — the HR-V — which goes on sale next summer from £16,000.

Expect prices from around £25,500 to about £43,000 for the pumped-up CLA45 AMG, which will accelerate from rest to 62mph in 4.7 seconds, thanks to its 360 bhp, 2-litre turbo engine.

Acceleration from rest to 60mph in 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 168mph. The guiding principle, it says, was 'functional beauty'. The driver can also control wing deployment.

RAY MASSEY tests the new Land Rover Discovery Sport on the snowy roads of Iceland. With an impressive seven seats avilable and fantastic flexibilty this car is perfect for families.

It's Mercedes-Benz's its answer to rival BMW's X6 sports utility vehicle. It will be launched at the Detroit Motor Show next month. The new GLE Coupe is to get sporty styling and improved suspension.

Including the new BMW 6 Series Convertible, Coupe and Gran Coupe. The cabriolet will go from rest to 62 mph in just 5.5 seconds. All petrol models will have a sports tuned exhaust system.

The Czech company beat rivals BMW and Range Rover to win the title. The original Skoda Fabia won the award 15 years ago as well. Since VW took over the firm, Skoda has shed its joke reputation.

The Passat has been around for 42 years, the first model came out in 1973. The estate car is the fourth biggest-selling VW in the UK. The new model has keyless entry and heated seats.

Built with flexibility in mind, it also has a sliding second row of seats. There is a choice of five turbocharged petrol and diesel engines. It is also the only car in its class to team four wheel -drive with seven seats.

Just as George Osborne ratcheted up company car tax for thousands of motorists, German giant BMW unveiled its new 'budget buster' — its first mainstream plug-in petrol-electric hybrid SUV.

In a stunt worthy of the latest Bond film Spectre — for which the firm is supplying many of the cars — the XF (pictured) was revealed in a dramatic stunt high over the Royal Dock in Canary Wharf.

Korea's SsangYong is launching a new sports utility vehicle from under £13,000 that promises value for money motoring for drivers who believe in watching their pennies.

Cumberbatch was at the Shanghai Motor Show for the unveiling of the MG GS It will go on sale in Britain late next year.

It's been an electric week for motoring. A fleet of 100 electric vehicles was ferrying VIPs at the UEFA Champions League in Berlin last Sunday where Spain's FC Barcelona triumphed over Juventus.

The festival will feature cars from yesteryear, today and tomorrow. Since 1993 automotive extravaganza has become the nation's motor show. All major car makers brass will be attending.

Amazing to think that Toyota is celebrating its 50th anniversary of sales in Britain.

The technology has been built into the Michigan-based car manufacturer's Sync systems and is powered by software built by Nuance.

Charge up your flux capacitors! We're going back to the future with Tesla Motors' unveiling of its gull-winged, all-electric sports utility vehicle.

Eyes will turn East this month for the Tokyo Motor Show, where cars that will soon be on sale in Britain share space with some of the most outlandish designs on the planet.

Sure, there’s good work in evidence but it’s all so derivative, so Audi, so VW, so keep it safe, so keep it in the family. Its crisp sharp lines doing nothing more than echoing those of the Audi A3 and VW Polo.