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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

Defector

Patrick Redford

ALPE D'HUEZ, FRANCE - JULY 24: A general view of the peloton compete climbing to the Alpe d'Huez (1835m) while fans cheers during the 113th Tour de France 2026, Stage 19 a 127.9km stage from Gap to Alpe d'Huez 1835m / #UCIWT / on July 24, 2026 in Alpe d'Huez, France. (Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)

Cycling

A Day In The Chaos Of Cycling’s Most Legendary Arena

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

a grainy still image of jimothy the raccoon with an abnormally short spine running across a lawn

Creaturefector

Is Jimothy OK? A Creature Investigation

Maitreyi Anantharaman

Sophie Cunningham announces a round in a lightweight fight during the UFC 329 event at T-Mobile Arena on July 11, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

WNBA

Sophie Cunningham Is About As Edgy As A Beach Ball

The images show two adult orcas feeding on the ocean sunfish,

Orcas Are Kerploding Sunfish Into A Thousand Pieces

Giri Nathan

A dad sits in the grass at a park with his shirt off listening to music on headphones and reading the paper while his baby sleeps next to him

Minor Dilemmas

What’s Going To Happen To The Rest Of My Life After I Become A Parent?

SAINT-GERVAIS MONT-BLANC, FRANCE - JULY 16: A fan stands roadside under an umbrella as he waits for the peloton of cyclists during the stage fifteen of the 110th Tour de France 2023 from Les Gets les Portes du Soleil to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blan on July 16, 2023, France. It is estimated that between twelve and fifteen million fans will line the 3,404 km of French roads to witness the 110th edition of the Tour de France in person. As a symbol of French unity and identity, the world's most famous cycling race has stitched a human landscape across the geography of France since 1903. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

A Mathematically Rigorous Guide To The Uncs Of The Tour de France

Natalie Weiner

Interviews

Colson Whitehead Talks About Embracing Change, Pulling Off A Heist, And Finding A Good Coffee Table

Owen Lewis is a former Defector intern and has written for The Guardian, The Second Serve, The Athletic, n+1, Texas Monthly, Air Mail, and other publications.

Owen Lewis

Tennis

Tennis.com Lived And Died With The Internet

Billy Haisley

Lionel Messi watches players of Spain receiving the medals following the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final match between Spain and Argentina

Soccer

What Messi Means

This photograph taken on July 5, 2024, shows anti-doping testing kit materials displayed at the International Testing Agency (ITA) testing facility inside a truck at the finish line of the 7th stage of the 111th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 25,3 km individual time trial between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Gevrey-Chambertin. The overall leader yellow jersey rider and stage winner are systematically summoned to be tested for doping after the day's stage, along with any rider selected by ITA based on performance or intelligence from the organisation's investigative department. A chaperon escorts the rider to the facility where a supervised urine sample is collected for testing. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)

Intensified Doping Investigations At Tour de France Threaten Cycling’s Delicate Balance

Israel Daramola

Arts And Culture

For Better Or Worse, ‘The Odyssey’ Is Peak Christopher Nolan

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a long-time soccer writer, currently contributing to The Guardian and elsewhere. He is the author of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722130/the-long-game-by-leander-schaerlaeckens/">The Long Game: U.S. Men&#8217;s Soccer and its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts</a>. He teaches journalism and sports communication at Marist University. He will cover his fourth World Cup in 2026.

A photo of the author Leander Schaerlaeckens taken by Asha Fuller.

Leander Schaerlaeckens

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts next to FIFA President Gianni Infantino after presenting the FIFA World Cup Winner's Trophy to Spain in the World Cup Final. Trump's kind of leaning like there's a very heavy wind.

FIFA Got What It Came For

LE LIORAN, FRANCE - JULY 14: Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark and Team Visma | Lease a Bike - Polka dot Mountain Jersey competes during the 113th Tour de France 2026, Stage 10 a 166.6km stage from Aurillac to Le Lioran 1240m / #UCIWT / on July 14, 2026 in Le Lioran, France. (Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)

Jonas Vingegaard Felled Yet Again By The Cruelty Of His Sport

Ray Ratto

U.S. President Donald Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino look on after presenting the FIFA World Cup Winner's Trophy to Spain during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final match between Spain and Argentina at New York New Jersey Stadium on July 19, 2026 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

A Hater’s Coda To The World Cup

Albert Burneko

People stand at the scene of an ICE shooting that killed a man on July 13, 2026.

Politics

ICE Brings The Occupation Home

Alexandra Tey is a writer, photographer, and birdwatcher living in Queens, New York.

Alexandra Tey

view from behind the catcher on a park ballfield as a pitch comes in and a hitter swings

The Great Outdoors

Trans Girl Baseball Makes Me A Better Woman

This photomicrograph of a fresh stool sample, which had been prepared using a 10% formalin solution, and stained with modified acid-fast stain, revealed the presence of four Cyclospora cayetanensis oocysts in the field of view.

Science

Why The Explosive Diarrhea Parasite Is Way Worse Than Regular Diarrhea Parasites

Italian cyclist Fausto Coppi takes a nap next to his yellow jersey as the Tour de France cyclists had a day off 05 July 1952 in the mountain resort of L'Alpe d'Huez. Coppi had become the overall leader, the day before, after winning the stage from Lausanne (Switzerland) to L'Alpe d'Huez. Coppi never relinquished the lead and went on to capture his second Tour de France after winning in 1949. (Photo by STAFF / AFP) (Photo by STAFF/AFP via Getty Images)

How Cycling Solved Sleep

An Interview With Three Italian Backpackers Who Crossed The Pyrenees And Accidentally Ran Into The Tour de France

Dave McKenna

A National Guard officer walks through an emptied out area of The Great American State Fair

Trump’s State Fair Was Ass In All The Ways I’d Been Warned 

Patty, an Asian elephant kept in captivity at the Bronx Zoo stands in her enclosure alone after being separated from the zoo's other remaining elephant

The Other Elephant

The Tour de France’s Infernal Present Portends Its Impossible Future

Is It Mitch McConnell Or Your Own Sense Of Possibility That Has Been Dead For Weeks?

Sohini Desai

Unlike The Defendants, One Of The Prairieland Judges Is Part Of An Organized Cell Of Extremists

Columnist. Author of many <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drew-Magary/e/B001JS8R52/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1">fine works of literature</a>, including Point B. Handsomest man in the world.