Cycling livened up the sporting weekend with the victories of the eternally unlucky Belgian Wout van Aert on Parix-Roubaix and that of the French prodigy Paul Seixas on the Tour of the Basque Country. In rugby, Les Bleues got off to a perfect start to the Six Nations Tournament, while in tennis, Jannik Sinner regained the throne of world number 1 by winning against Carlos Alcaraz in Monte-Carlo.
Published on: 04/13/2026 - 11:31 Modified on: 04/13/2026 - 12:55
The sporting events that you shouldn't miss during the weekend: here is the France 24 sports recap.
Parix-Roubaix: Wout van Aert, the coronation in front of Pogacar
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) won his first Paris-Roubaix on Sunday April 12 by frustrating Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in the sprint, who still stumbles on the "Hell of the North", the last cycling Monument missing from his record.
The 31-year-old Belgian won his second Monument – the five most prestigious one-day races – after Milan-San Remo 2020 and returns to the Paris-Roubaix podium after his second and third places, respectively in 2022 and 2023.
Read alsoCycling: Wout van Aert wins his first Paris-Roubaix ahead of Tadej Pogacar
Five-time winner of the Tour of Lombardy, triple crowned in Liège-Bastogne-Liège as well as the Tour of Flanders and victorious in Milan-San Remo last month, Tadej Pogacar took second place on the Roubaix velodrome for the second consecutive year. The 27-year-old Slovenian will have to wait another year to try to join the Belgians Eddy Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck and Rik Van Looy, the only winners of the five Monuments during their career. Belgian Jasper Stuyven (Soudal-Quick Step) finished third ahead of outgoing three-time winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech).
Not spared from hard knocks during his career, Wout van Aert triumphed over his first Flandrian Monument. He is making his return in great form since the start of the spring classics, during which he notably finished third in Milan-San Remo, second in Across Flanders and fourth in the Tour of Flanders last Sunday.
In the seventh edition of the women's race, the German Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) won her first Paris-Roubaix ahead of the Dutch Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) and the French title holder Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike).
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Paul Seixas, the advent of the little prince of French cycling
Paul Seixas, 19, won the Tour of the Basque Country on Saturday in Bergara, becoming the first Frenchman since Christophe Moreau in 2007 to win a stage race at World Tour level, cycling's top division.
Winner of three stages this week, the prodigy of the Decathlon CMA CGM team won the general classification with a 2 min 30 sec lead over the German Florian Lipowitz at the end of the sixth and final stage won in pouring rain by the American Andrew August (Ineos). The Norwegian Tobias Johannessen completes the podium, taking advantage of Primoz Roglic's failure, to climb to third place overall.
Read alsoCycling: prodigy Paul Seixas, first Frenchman since 2007 to win a stage race
With this sixth success after only fourteen months in the professional peloton, Seixas confirms his immense talent which promises him the greatest conquests, including in the Tour de France. By succeeding Laurent Jalabert, the last French winner in 1999, on the Tour du Pays Basque list, the Lyonnais also becomes the youngest rider to win a World Tour stage race.
He wipes out Tadej Pogacar, who won the Tour of California at the age of 20 in 2019. His repeated performances awaken the greatest hopes in a country weaned from victory in the Tour de France since Bernard Hinault in 1985.
Six Nations Tournament: Les Bleues start with a victory against Italy
The French women's XV opened the Six Nations Tournament with a big victory against Italy 40-7, and six tries to one, Saturday at the Stade des Alpes in Grenoble, after a messy first half.
With their new coach François Ratier, the Blues finally won quite easily, thanks in particular to the power of their pack. But they stammered in their rugby for a long time, six months after their disappointing fourth place at the 2025 World Cup in England.
Read alsoSix Nations: Les Bleues open the Tournament by correcting Italy
Monte-Carlo: Sinner dethrones Alcaraz
A month and a half before Roland-Garros (May 24-June 7), Jannik Sinner showed that he was already in great shape on clay by winning the Monte-Carlo Masters 1000 on Sunday against Carlos Alcaraz, whom he dethroned from his place as world number 1.
The 24-year-old Italian won 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 in 2 hours 15 minutes against the defending champion for their first confrontation this year, winning the 27th title of his career and the first in a big tournament on clay.
Since his elimination in the semi-final of the Australian Open, Sinner has been unstoppable: he has had a 17th success since he achieved the "Sunshine Double" by winning the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells (California) and Miami (Florida). The series even goes up to 22 victories in a row in tournaments in this category thanks to its title in Paris last fall.
It was after his Parisian coronation that he took back the place of world number 1 from Alcaraz before giving it back to him a few days later at the opening of the Turin Masters in mid-November, where the Italian beat him in the final. They hadn't faced each other since.
France: the race for Europe tighter than ever
Losc strolled on Sunday in Toulouse (4-0) and regained third place in Ligue 1 but OL finally won, against Lorient (2-0), thanks to the entry of the Brazilian Endrick, relaunching themselves in the race for Europe.
With a masterful collective game, the Lille team made their mark in the afternoon in Toulouse and (re)climbed onto the podium. With 53 points, they are now ahead of OM by one point (52), OL by two points (51), Rennes by three points (50) and Monaco by four (49).
Olympique de Marseille, for its part, defeated bottom-place Metz (3-1) on Friday evening at the Vélodrome.
With six days remaining, the race for third place and more broadly for the qualifying places in the Champions League and the Europa League is therefore tighter than ever.
Germany: record broken for Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich improved the record for goals in a Bundesliga season on Saturday thanks to their victory in Hamburg against Sankt Pauli (5-0), and is approaching a 35th German championship title after Dortmund's defeat against Leverkusen (1-0).
Five days before the end of the season, Bayern have increased their lead over Borussia Dortmund to 12 points (76 against 64), and can still hope to equal the record for points in a season (91 during Munich's coronation in 2012/13) if they win all their matches.
To once again win the Schale, the trophy awarded to the crowned team in the Bundesliga, Vincent Kompany's men still need four points to definitively protect themselves from BVB.
Three points should even be enough, because Bayern has a goal difference much greater than that of Dortmund (+78 against +31).
The decision could come as early as next week. If Dortmund does not win at Hoffenheim next Saturday, the Munich residents will have a first title shot at home against Stuttgart the next day.
Italy: stunning, Inter Milan take a big step towards the title
Inter Milan, led by Marcus Thuram, took a big step towards the 21st Italian championship title in its history on Sunday by winning in Como 4-3 after being led 2-0.
The 32nd day may have decided the outcome of the 2025-26 Serie A season, with the stunning victory of Inter, the draw earlier in the afternoon for Naples, upset at Parma (1-1), and the rout of AC Milan (3-0) at home on Saturday against Udinese.
With six days remaining, a maximum of 18 points to pocket, Inter (75 points) are now nine points ahead of Naples (second, 66 points) and have a total of twelve more than AC Milan (third, 63 points).
With three home matches to play and four matches against poorly ranked or relegated sides, the Nerazzurri have everything in hand to succeed Naples and pocket a third scudetto in five years after 2021 and 2024.
England: Manchester City restarts the title race
Manhandled before half-time, unleashed afterwards, Manchester City and their passer Rayan Cherki pounded Chelsea (3-0) on Sunday and put enormous pressure on the leader Arsenal, whom they host next weekend in a "final" for the title.
At the other end of the ranking, there was no Roberto De Zerbi effect for Tottenham, beaten 1-0 at Sunderland for the Italian coach's first and in relegation position with six games remaining.
There is suspense at every level in the Premier League, but it is the battle between Arsenal (first, 70 points) and Manchester City (second, 64 points) that becomes the main attraction as the finish line approaches.
The leader opened the window on Saturday by losing 2-1 against Bournemouth, at home, and his runner-up rushed in with the help of Cherki, decisive passer for Nico O'Reilly (51st) and Marc Guéhi (57th).
“Are you looking, Arsenal?” sang the visiting supporters at Stamford Bridge after the third goal by Jérémy Doku (68th).
Spain: Barça gets closer to the title
An invincibility which continues and a title which stretches its arms: wide winner of the derby against Espanyol (4-1) on Saturday, FC Barcelona took advantage of the draw against Real Madrid the day before to move closer to a 29th title in La Liga.
Three days before his "remontada" mission in the quarter-final return of the Champions League against Atlético Madrid, the reigning Spanish champion took a giant step towards retaining his crown thanks to a double from Spanish striker Ferran Torres (9th, 25th) and two other goals scored at the end of the match, one by the Catalan prodigy Lamine Yamal, previously a double decisive passer (87th), the other by the Englishman Marcus Rashford (89th).
This 16th victory in 16 home matches in the league this season allows Barça (first, 79 points) to increase its lead at the top of La Liga, nine points more than Real, who probably said goodbye to the title on Friday by conceding the draw (1-1) against Girona.
Arrested on January 18, during the final of the African Cup of Nations, 18 Senegalese supporters are still waiting to know their fate. Sentenced at first instance for hooliganism to prison terms ranging from three months to one year, they must appear again in Rabat on Monday for an appeal trial requested by the Moroccan prosecutor's office. Report by our correspondent, Élimane Ndao.
Read alsoIn Senegal, the long wait for the families of Senegalese supporters detained in Morocco
Marie-Louise Eta, first woman to lead a Big Five first division team
At 34, Marie-Louise Eta made European football history: chosen by Union Berlin in order to keep the club in the Bundesliga, she became the first woman named at the head of a first division team in the continental top 5.
It was through a press release published on the night of Saturday to Sunday that Union Berlin thanked its coach Steffen Baumgart and instructed Marie-Louise Eta to succeed him for the last five matches of the season.
A press release in the anonymity of the night but with strong historical significance, because for the first time, a club playing in one of the five biggest European championships (Germany, England, Spain, France, Italy) entrusts the reins of its men's team to a woman.
Marie-Louise Eta will have the mission of ensuring the maintenance of Union Berlin in the Bundesliga, with a first match inevitably eagerly awaited next Saturday at home against Wolfsburg, who are also struggling not to go down.
"I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this difficult task. One of the strengths of the Union has always been, and remains, the ability to stick together in this kind of situation. And, of course, I am convinced that we will obtain the decisive points with the team", slipped Eta, quoted in the Union Berlin press release.
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