France’s David Moncoutie, riding for the Cofidis team, on Saturday won the 13th stage of the Tour of Spain, a 172km ride from Berja to Sierra Nevada.
Controversial Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde, of the Caisse D’Epargne team, remains in the overall lead as he bids to win the race after missing out on the Tour de France because he has been banned for two years by the Italian authorities after being linked to the Puerto doping scandal and the race went through Italy this year.
Valverde tops the standings by 27 seconds from Dutch rider Robert Gesink, of the Rabobank team, 1minute, 2 seconds in front of Italy’s Ivan Basso, of Liquigas, and 1 minute, 23 seconds ahead of Australia’s Cadel Evans of Silence-Lotto.
Valverde, who contests the findings of the Italians, was delighted with the day’s work, especially at increasing his overall lead on Evans, who is desperate to redeem himself after an underwhelming performance in this year’s Tour de France.
“Today [Saturday], we have taken a huge step by taking more time off Evans, who is a time-trial specialist and can hurt me more than anyone else in terms of the overall victory,” Valverde said.
Moncoutie finished alone having attacked 3km from the finish. He was 52 seconds ahead of Spain’s Ezequiel Mosquera, of the Xacobeo team, while Valverde was 1minute, 16 seconds behind.
Moncoutie confessed that he had to stay focused the whole way to the line.
“I had to make a huge effort to keep going on my own because I thought throughout the stage and especially in the final parts of the stage that Damiano Cunego could come up and beat me,” the Frenchman said.
The race took its toll on Saturday, with 10 riders pulling out, including Belgian star Tom Boonen and Spain’s Oscar Freire, who announced he was to retire from the sport next year.
Champagne corks often pop and loud, boisterous cheers are usually heard around Constitution Dock when the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honors winner finishes in the Tasmanian state capital. There were no such celebrations this year when the defending champions on board LawConnect won the race in the early hours of yesterday morning, as it came about 24 hours after two sailors died on separate boats in sail boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the race. LawConnect, a 100-foot super maxi skippered by Australian tech millionaire Christian Beck, sailed up the River Derwent at just after 2:30am.
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
Chess great Magnus Carlsen on Friday quit the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in New York after governing body FIDE barred the Norwegian from participating in a round at the tournament for wearing jeans. FIDE said in a statement that its dress code regulations were designed to “ensure professionalism and fairness for all participants.” It issued Carlsen a US$200 fine and gave him an opportunity to change into the correct attire, which the world No. 1 rejected, it said. Carlsen said he had a lunch meeting before the round and had to change quickly. “I put on a shirt, jacket and honestly like
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