Germany’s Liane Lippert on Monday mastered the slippery conditions and a puncture to sprint to victory in the second stage of the Women’s Tour de France just ahead of Belgian race leader Lotte Kopecky.
Lippert profited from many of her rivals falling on the wet roads of the Cantal region including Dutchwoman Eva van Agt, who sustained a concussion after crashing against a security barrier while leading, 4km from the line.
Movistar Team’s Lippert pipped Kopecky on the line, timing 4 hours, 13 minutes, 43 seconds after the 151km run from Clermont-Ferrand to Mauriac in the Auvergne region of southcentral France.
Photo: AFP
“It was a very intense day from the start and ultimately chaotic, but I was well placed by my team,” said Lippert, who was “relieved to have avoided falls.”
As a track specialist, Kopecky demonstrated her skills in slippery conditions, particularly in the last hour of racing and even survived a puncture in the final straight.
“I lacked grip in the last meters. I understood why when I discovered after the line that my rear wheel was flat,” she said.
Dutch riders Yara Kastelijn, Anouska Koster and Van Agt made a break with 40km to go, but were caught in the final bends of a chaotic finale.
Defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten, the Dutch race favorite, took a tumble on the Plaines climb, the main difficulty of the day 46km before the line.
Kopecky leads Lippert by 49 seconds in the overall standings with Van Vleuten slipping to nearly a minute behind the leader.
TOOTHLESS: Bologna never looked like finding a way back, and Antonio Conte and his substitutes were waiting to celebrate long before the final whistle SSC Napoli on Monday lifted the Italian Supercoppa with a 2-0 win over Bologna in Riyadh, David Neres netting both goals to earn the league champions a deserved victory over the toothless Coppa Italia winners. Neres opened the scoring with a stunning strike from distance six minutes before halftime and found the net again in the 57th minute when Bologna were caught trying to play out of defense. “We came here as champions of Italy, we wanted this trophy and we showed it with a great performance,” Napoli forward Matteo Politano told Mediaset. “We could have scored a few more goals, but
Backup quarterback Luke Weaver on Wednesday night threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Nick Cenacle with 10 seconds left, as the University of Hawaii rallied for a 35-31 comeback victory over the University of California, Berkeley in a thrilling Hawaii Bowl. Weaver entered the game after Micah Alejado took a hard hit on the previous play. With the Rainbow Warriors (9-4) in range for a tying field goal, coach Timmy Chang took a shot at the end zone, and Cenacle got between two defensive backs and made the contested catch. “How amazing is that?” Chang said. “It’s a program that is built
Fulham on Monday climbed away from the English Premier League relegation zone and left Nottingham Forest mired in the fight for survival after Raul Jimenez’s penalty sealed a 1-0 win. Marco Silva’s side started the day just two points above fourth-bottom Forest, but Jimenez’s first-half goal at Craven Cottage moved them 10 points clear of the bottom three. While Fulham’s relegation fears were eased heading into the Christmas schedule, Forest are just five points ahead of third-bottom West Ham United in the scrap to avoid crashing into the Championship. Forest had won six of their previous eight games in all competitions, with a
An astounding 20 wickets fell on a frantic first day of the fourth Ashes Test yesterday, with Australia all out for 152 before storming back to dismiss England for 110 and leave the clash on a knife-edge. England skipper Ben Stokes won a key toss on a green track and his quicks feasted after sending in the hosts under overcast skies in front of 94,199 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was the biggest cricket crowd ever at the cavernous arena, exceeding the 93,013 who watched the 2015 World Cup final, and they witnessed the home side collapse with Josh Tongue
RSS