Slovakian prodigy Peter Sagan snatched his second victory in the highly competitive Paris-Nice race with a late burst of speed to prevail in the fifth stage on Friday.
The 20-year-old Liquigas rider, in his first season in cycling’s elite, attacked the peloton with France’s Christophe Le Mevel less than 2km from the finish and held on to beat Italian Mirco Lorenzetto by two seconds.
Sagan perfectly held off the favorites’ chase in the final stretch, a short 400m ascent.
PHOTO: AFP
Spain’s Alejandro Valverde took third place to bag a four-second time bonus and narrow the gap on overall leader Alberto Contador to 20 seconds.
The twice Tour de France champion finished safe in the favorites’ group, although his Astana team had a rough day in southern France.
They never controlled the stage, but Contador stayed vigilant and went over to Sagan to congratulate him after the finish.
It had briefly looked like an upset was on the cards when Reine Taaramae took advantage of a counterattack after Leonardo Duque broke away on his own and the Estonian champion slipped into a group of four that built an 80-second lead.
Taaramae prompted the bunch to react, with Astana leaving the Caisse d’Epargne and Lampre squads to lead the chase.
It was game over for the fugitives 22km from the line, but the bunch split in two when the AG2R La Mondiale team tried to catch the big guns off guard with a sudden acceleration shortly afterwards. The decisive burst, however, came from Sagan.
■TIRRENO-ADRIATICO
AP, MONSUMMANO TERME, ITALY
Daniele Bennati won the third stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race to overtake Linus Gerdemann for the overall lead.
The Italian, who rides for Liquigas, broke from the pack in a sprint finish to cross the line first on Friday. Compatriot Alessandro Petacchi was second and Austria’s Bernhard Eisel finished third.
Bennati finished the 159km stage from San Miniato in 3 hours, 54 minutes and 9 seconds, with Petacchi and Eisel coming home with the same time. Bennati’s cumulative time is 11 hours, 44 minutes and 23 seconds.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS