Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen won the sixth stage of the Tour de France on Friday -- his third stage victory in this race -- while Tom Boonen of Belgium kept the overall lead.
McEwen consolidated his lead in the green-jersey competition for sprinters by winning the final dash to the line in the 189km race through Normandy. He has won 11 stages in nine Tours.
The Davitamon-Lotto cyclist clocked 4 hours, 10 minutes, 17 seconds for the stage from Lisieux to Vitre, in northwest Brittany, at an average speed of 45.3kph.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Italian rider Daniele Bennati -- who still felt pain in his left thigh after a crash during Thursday's stage -- was second, with Boonen third. They clocked the same time as McEwen, whose win vaulted him to second in the overall standings, 12 seconds behind Boonen.
Boonen, the Quickstep star still winless in this Tour, was to wear the race leader's yellow jersey for a fourth straight day yesterday in the first long time trial.
That race against the clock should provide the first solid indication of the favorites in a field stripped of its stars by a doping scandal before the three-week race began on July 1.
Scamps rob policemen
Two Luxembourg policemen on Tour de France duty had their guns and uniforms stolen from a hotel in Strasbourg, a police source from the little land-locked country revealed on Friday.
The two officers were staying in a hotel in Lingolsheim, just outside Strasbourg, which they left unattended just before the race's start last Sunday.
Two minors, well known to police in the area, have been caught but they had already sold one of the guns, as well as a camera stolen at the same time.
However, an investigation was launched and the buyers, two men, have also been apprehended and appeared before magistrates on Friday, as did the two minors.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB