Vincenzo Nibali pulled on the race leader’s pink jersey at the Giro d’Italia after leading his Liquigas team to victory in the fourth-stage time trial over 33km on Wednesday.
Liquigas powered over the undulating course from Savigliano to Cuneo in the Piedmont region to finish ahead of Bradley Wiggins’ Team Sky, 13 seconds back, with HTC-Columbia finishing third, 21 seconds back.
“Pulling on the pink jersey is a dream come true,” said Nibali, a 25-year-old Sicilian who finished an impressive seventh overall in last year’s Tour de France. “I want to dedicate it to the whole team, who really put in a huge effort.”
Having been among the late starters who faced adverse wind and rain on the course, overnight leader Alexandre Vinokourov was forced to give up the jersey after his Astana team lost composure in the closing kilometers, the Kazakh losing 38 seconds to end up sixth in the overall standings, 33 seconds adrift.
Despite the crucial mountains stages still to come, Vinokourov, who returned to competition last year following a two-year ban for blood doping, is hoping to strike early.
“I had hoped to take some more time off the climbers,” said Vinokourov, the winner last month of the hilly one-day classic Liege-Bastogne-Liege. “The weather conditions didn’t do us any favors.”
While failing to distance rivals, such as 2008 Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre of Spain, who had his Cervelo team to thank for helping limit his losses to only 38 seconds, Vinokourov did pull away from race contender Cadel Evans.
Evans’ BMC team started disastrously, fatally losing two of their team early on and finishing way down the standings, 1 minute, 21 seconds behind Liquigas to leave the Australian, the reigning world champion and a two-time Tour de France runner-up, a massive 1 minute, 59 seconds behind Nibali before any mountains stages.
Liquigas’ official team leader is former race champion Ivan Basso, who served a two-year ban between 2007 and last year for admitting his intention to dope.
Despite seeing Nibali take all the glory, Basso — second overall, 13 seconds adrift — will be more than happy at a result that leaves his team with several strategic options.
Sicilian all-rounder Nibali was only called up for the race at the last minute after Franco Pellizotti was accused of doping and he was keen to calm any speculation over whether he, or Basso, would now spearhead the team’s victory bid.
“We each have our specific role in the race, that was defined before the start and we will respect that,” he said. “He [Basso] has prepared specifically for the Giro, he’s very ambitious and is in great form. So me having the jersey doesn’t change anything.”
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
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