Bloodied home rider Sam Welsford yesterday fought back from an early crash to thrillingly win his second straight stage of the Tour Down Under.
It was the Australian’s fifth career stage win at the season-opening UCI World Tour race and yet again he owed much to his Dutch lead-out rider Danny van Poppel and his other Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammates to position him for the final push.
Welsford, with his ochre leader’s jersey ripped on his bloodied right shoulder and his cycle shorts shredded from the fall, surged past Van Poppel to take the 128.8km stage in Tanunda Township in South Australia’s Barossa wine district.
Photo: AFP
It was a more convincing win for Welsford than his tight victory on Tuesday over Germany’s Arne Marit of Intermarche-Wanty and Frenchman Bryan Coquard of Cofidis.
Welsford takes a 14-second lead over Marit and British Team Visma rider Matthew Brennan into today’s 147.5km third stage.
“I lost some bark [skin] off in the first five kilometers of the race, that was less than ideal, it was a pretty hard day out there,” Welsford said. “On the last time up the climb I was on my limit, but I had the boys around the whole time, we kept calm, we knew it was a long, hard finish.”
Welsford, who won three stages in last year’s Tour Down Under, praised the selfless work of his teammate Van Poppel to again present him the opportunity to finish it off.
“He put me back on after the climb and I was happy to finish it off for him alone,” he said. “We knew if we got back on to the peloton we would be in with a sniff, and I said to the boys: ‘Get me back on and I’m going to win this bloody thing.’”
It was a hair-raising sprint into Tanunda with Welsford bumping shoulders with rival riders to get himself into position behind Van Poppel.
The second stage was the last chance for the sprinters until Sunday’s sixth and final stage. From today it is more conducive for the climbers and the general classification contenders.
Fergus Browning of ARA Australia increased his lead in the King of the Mountain to 26 points after forming part of an early three-rider breakaway.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS