Jhonatan Narvaez of Ecuador held on to his overnight lead on general classification to win the Tour Down Under cycle race yesterday as Australian sprint star Sam Welsford won the final stage for his third stage win of the tour.
A crash about 1.4km from the finish of the 90km sixth stage split the peloton, but Narvaez avoided trouble to maintain his nine second advantage over Spain’s Javier Romo for the first World Tour stage race title of his career.
Narvaez is the first rider from Ecuador to win the Tour Down Under, in the 25th edition of the race. The Ecuadorian finished runner-up last year.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Yesterday, the 27-year-old came into the final stage with a nine second lead and was well protected by his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates.
Narvaez transferred during the winter to the UAE Team and had an outstanding start to the year, claiming the tour leader’s jersey from Romo (Movistar) when he won Saturday’s fifth stage in a thrilling climb up Willunga Hill.
The Ecuadorian national champion finished on the podium in three out of the six stages in the first World Tour event of the season.
Welsford was set up for the stage win by his Bora Hansgrohe lead-out man Danny van Poppel and the Australian Olympic track cycling gold medalist crossed the line ahead of French sprinter Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), who had won stage four.
Yesterday’s final stage featured 20 laps through parkland near central Adelaide in South Australia state.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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