Lennard Kamna on Sunday completed a trilogy of Grand Tour stage wins in a breakaway victory as he took the ninth stage of the Vuelta a Espana.
The German Bora-Hansgrohe rider was strongest on the summit finish and added a Vuelta triumph to stage wins in the 2020 Tour de France and last year’s Giro d’Italia.
Bad conditions at the end of the race led the organizers to take general classification times 2.05km from the finish and Primoz Roglic burst through, snatching a couple of seconds on reigning champion Remco Evenepoel and teammate Jonas Vingegaard.
Photo: AFP
Belgian rider Evenepoel could not stay with him, meaning it was a good end to the first full week of the race for Slovenian Roglic, who won stage eight on Saturday.
His Jumbo-Visma team enjoyed a super Saturday with the three-time Vuelta winner’s victory, while Sepp Kuss took the red jersey and the American held on to it on Sunday in a wind-battered run.
“It was a nervous day, super windy, but I came through really well,” Kuss said. “It was really slippery and really muddy, so I think they made a good decision [to take early times].”
The Dutch team set the pace at the start of stage nine, 184.5km from Cartagena to Collado de la Cruz, breaking away with seven of their eight riders while Soudal Quick-Step’s Evenepoel and a few others stuck with them.
The peloton caught them before a new attack sprang, not featuring any of the main general classification contenders.
The break, featuring Kamna, created a gap that at one point stretched over eight minutes on the peloton, which split in a wind-hit section.
Lenny Martinez and Wout Poels, who started the stage in the general classification top 10, were caught in the back split, behind more than 20 riders in the front split.
Eventually the chase group caught up and the peloton reformed with about 50km to go, reeling in the break to about four minutes.
However, they refused to be caught and swelled the gap to more than five minutes entering the final 15km, approaching the category 2 summit finish of Alto Caravaca de la Cruz.
Kamna kicked on with Matteo Sobrero in pursuit, dropping the rest of the break, but the German held him off with ease.
“I’m super happy about it, I’ve worked really hard the last couple of months,” Kamna said. “I tried to make it through the echelons as quick as possible without spending too much energy. At the end it was tricky with the climb always going up and down.”
OFFENSE SHINES: First baseman Pan Chie-kai hit a solo homer in the fifth inning as all 10 batters Taiwan used contributed at least one hit toward their team total of 14 One day after their first shutout loss at the WBSC Premier12, Taiwan yesterday bounced back with a commanding 8-2 victory over the US, keeping their hopes for a spot in tomorrow’s final alive. The win in the Super Round marked Taiwan’s first triumph over the US at a top-tier international baseball tournament since 2003. Their previous win over the US was at the 2003 Baseball World Cup, with only one win in the previous 10 matchups since 1999. Yesterday’s game was tightly contested through the first six innings, with the margin never exceeding two runs. However, the tide turned in the top of
“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
RSS