Jasper Philipsen won his third stage of the Tour de France in Bordeaux on Friday, overtaking a bitterly disappointed Mark Cavendish in a last-gasp effort after a see-saw struggle to the line.
The 38-year-old Cavendish appeared to be about to bag a record-breaking 35th career stage win on the Tour de France when he took the lead, but Philipsen then burst back past him to win by a bike length at the line.
Cavendish later said that he had had a technical issue in the finale.
Photo: AFP
“I’m bitterly disappointed there, like majorly disappointed,” Cavendish said. “When I stood up to sprint it slipped a couple of gears so I sat down, then it slipped back and I stood up again and the same thing happened.”
Already dressed in the sprint points green jersey, Philipsen raised three fingers in celebration.
Behind the Belgian and Cavendish came Biniam Girmay in third.
The Eritrean was left waving a hand in remonstration after being cut off by the winner, who veered slightly in the high-speed finale when leaping into action as he noticed Cavendish surge ahead.
Philipsen was graceful in victory, praising Cavendish as an all-time great.
“Cavendish was really fast and I would have loved to see him win,” Philipsen said.
“When he shot past me I thought, that’s incredible, he’s going to get his 35th win. So I was happy that I managed to catch him and go past him. [Cavendish] is the greatest sprinter off all time,” he said.
Philipsen has won all three stages that ended in bunch sprints, and on the 2km long home straight his teammate Mathieu van der Poel again led the Belgian into pole position.
Huge crowds braved the baking heat along the banks of the Garonne river in Bordeaux believing they would witness a vintage Cavendish set an all-time record of 35 stage wins.
The last time the Tour de France ended in downtown Bordeaux was 2010, when Cavendish was in his prime, and where he produced his trademark victory roar when he won that stage.
On Friday’s seventh stage of this Tour they instead witnessed Cavendish’s clever bid denied at the death as he crossed the line cursing.
In the overall standings, defending champion Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark retained the leader’s yellow jersey ahead of Slovenia’s two-time champion Tadej Pogacar.
Yesterday’s eighth stage was to be another flattish affair with a 200km race from Libourne to Limoges.
“Please love us. Please cheer us on. We have been working hard. Do not give up on us.” Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien’s heartfelt plea echoed across the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s (WBSC) Premier12 tournament after a historic victory. Rather than boasting, Chen was making an earnest appeal after leading Taiwan to a 4-0 victory over Japan to claim their first major international baseball title at the senior level. Chen’s decisive three-run homer in the fifth inning and his Premier12 leading .632 batting average secured him the Premier12’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) title. He was also named one of the tournament’s outstanding defensive players
WELL-AGED: Although the youngest team in the tournament, Taiwan featured several veteran stars, including Sunday’s home-run hero Chen Chieh-hsien “I will never forget today,” veteran Taiwanese pitcher Chen Kuan-yu said after Taiwan on Sunday night blanked Japan to secure their first ever gold in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s (WBSC) Premier12 championship. Chen, who at 34 is the oldest member on the team, said Taiwan “made every difficult step to come to today’s victory. I will never forget today.” Taiwan made history when they won their first gold medal of the Premier12 tournament, beating Japan in a 4-0 shutout victory in the final at the Tokyo Dome. It was a jaw-dropping victory for many baseball commentators who went into the game with
Nikola Jokic on Saturday scored 34 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to spark the Denver Nuggets over the Los Angeles Lakers 127-102, continuing their dominance of the NBA rivalry, while Scotty Pippen Jr scored a career-best 30 points to lead the Memphis Grizzlies past the Chicago Bulls, 142-131. The Nuggets won for the 13th time in the past 14 contests against the Lakers, including ousting the Lakers in the playoffs the past two seasons. Serbian star Jokic failed to achieve his sixth consecutive triple-double, managing only eight assists, but his effort was plenty as Michael Porter Jr added 24 points and 11
Major League Baseball (MLB) star Shohei Ohtani wants his former interpreter to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of baseball cards he says were fraudulently bought using his money. The Los Angeles Dodgers star is also requesting Ippei Mizuhara, who previously pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing nearly US$17 million from the unsuspecting athlete, return signed collectible baseball cards depicting Ohtani that were in Mizuhara’s “unauthorized and wrongful possession,” court documents filed on Tuesday said. The legal filing alleges Mizuhara accessed Ohtani’s bank account beginning in about November 2021, changing his security protocols so that he
RSS