Spain's Igor Anton pulled on the leader's yellow jersey after climbing to victory in Sunday's second stage of the Tour of Switzerland to the ski station of Flumserberg.
The Euskaltel rider crossed the line six seconds ahead of Luxembourg’s Kim Kirchen of High Road, Italy’s Damiano Cunego and CSC’s Frank Schleck following the 197km run that finished in rain and freezing conditions at 1,400m altitude.
Anton stuck with the favorites on the tough 10km final climb, pulling ahead on the steep final slope with an 18 percent gradient.
PHOTO: AFP
Germany’s Jens Voigt tried to break away preparing the way for an attack by Luxembourg’s Schleck some 4km from the line.
But Schleck could not maintain the pace, allowing Switzerland’s Oliver Zaugg to break through before Spanish climber Anton snuck through ahead of the favorites.
■ DAUPHINE LIBERE
AP, GRENOBLE, FRANCE
Alejandro Valverde won the Dauphine Libere cycling race on Sunday, putting the Spanish rider among the favorites for next month’s Tour de France.
Kazakh rider Dmitriy Fofonov won the seventh and final stage — a 128km ride from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Grenoble that featured three big climbs and a downhill finish.
Valverde, of Caisse d’Epargne, again demonstrated his strong form two months after winning the Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Valverde finished with a total time of 27 hours, 39 minutes, edging Australia’s Cadel Evans by 39 seconds. Levi Leipheimer of the US was third, 1 minute, 24 seconds back.
Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday exited at the BWF World Tour Finals in China, losing in the semi-finals to China’s world No. 1 Shi Yuqi. Shi, who was named the BWF Men’s Singles Player of the Year, had a 9-4 record against Chou going into the match. He extended that record to 9-5 with a 21-14, 21-18 victory. Chou advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals on Friday by upsetting top-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a must-win match at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. The 16-21, 21-18, 21-15 victory saw Chou secure his second semi-finals appearance at the tournament, despite his relatively older
India’s chess star Gukesh Dommaraju returned to a hero’s welcome in his home city yesterday after becoming the youngest world champion aged only 18. Hundreds of fans crowded the arrivals area of Chennai International Airport, cheering alongside banks of television cameras as Gukesh made his way out of the airport after victory in taking the World Chess Championship title. “It means a lot to bring back the trophy to India,” Gukesh told reporters, with garlands of flowers draped around his neck, brandishing the glittering trophy in his hand. “I can see the support and what it means to India, I
Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest chess world champion on Thursday after beating the defending champion Ding Liren of China in the final match of their series in Singapore. Dommaraju, 18, secured 7.5 points against 6.5 of his Chinese rival in the contest, surpassing the achievement of Russia’s Garry Kasparov, who won the title at the age of 22. The Indian teen prodigy has long been considered a rising star in the chess world after he became a chess grandmaster at 12. He had entered the match as the youngest-ever challenger to the world crown after winning the Candidates tournament earlier
China yesterday jailed former English Premier League star and China men’s national coach Li Tie for 20 years for bribery, snaring one of the country’s greatest soccer figures in a sweeping government crackdown on corruption in sport. Chinese President Xi Jinping has waged an unrelenting campaign against deep-seated official corruption since coming to power more than a decade ago. Anti-graft authorities took aim at the sport industry in 2022 and have announced a string of convictions for former soccer administrators this week. In the highest-profile case to date, a court in Hubei Province yesterday said that Li had been sentenced to “fixed-term imprisonment
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