Colombian Santiago Buitrago on Wednesday won the first mountain stage of Paris-Nice after an exhilarating finish in the Beaujolais wine-growing region that went down to the final kilometer.
The 183km fourth stage from Chalon-sur-Saone to Mont Brouilly, France, featured six category 2 climbs and a category 1 in the shape of the 7.3 percent Col du Fut d’Avenas, 20km before the finish line.
“I really did not expect this... To win a World Tour race here in France is exceptional for me,” Buitrago said. “I had good legs and a good breakaway companion with [Luke] Plapp, who helped me into the finale. I’m also well placed in the GC [general classification], so it’s great.”
Photo: AFP
Going pedal to pedal with Plapp of Team Jayco AlUla, Team Bahrain’s Buitrago claimed the imposing 3km final ascent of Mont Brouilly to take his first ever Paris-Nice stage victory.
Mathieu Burgaudeau and Christian Scaroni broke away from the leading pack on the ascent of Col de Durbize, with just over 50km left to race, before the Italian showed the Frenchman a clean set of wheels to streak out on his own as the summit approached.
Scaroni sat out just in front until the stage’s daunting Col du Fut d’Avenas climb at the 161km mark, where Buitrago and Plapp attacked to take the lead.
The pair battled it out neck-and-neck over the stage’s final 20km until the Colombian found a final burst on the last ascent to leave his Australian competitor behind and claim the win.
Despite coming second, Plapp claimed the overall leader’s jersey from Brandon McNulty, who dropped to third just behind stage-winner Buitrago.
Remco Evenepoel of Soudal Quick-Step, one of the favorites to win the race, attacked twice in the final kilometer to finish fourth in the stage and move up to fifth in the general classification.
Evenepoel went head-to-head with rival Primoz Roglic in the stage’s intermediate sprint and the Belgian emerged victorious, picking up six seconds to the Slovenian’s four.
Egan Bernal of Ineos Grenadiers and Bora–Hansgrohe’s Roglic finished fifth and seventh respectively on the day.
Former Tour de France and Giro d’Italia winner Bernal is sixth overall, 40 seconds behind Plapp, with Roglic another 30 seconds back in 15th place.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to