Spain's Igor Anton pulled on the leader's yellow jersey after climbing to victory in Sunday's second stage of the Tour of Switzerland to the ski station of Flumserberg.
The Euskaltel rider crossed the line six seconds ahead of Luxembourg’s Kim Kirchen of High Road, Italy’s Damiano Cunego and CSC’s Frank Schleck following the 197km run that finished in rain and freezing conditions at 1,400m altitude.
Anton stuck with the favorites on the tough 10km final climb, pulling ahead on the steep final slope with an 18 percent gradient.
PHOTO: AFP
Germany’s Jens Voigt tried to break away preparing the way for an attack by Luxembourg’s Schleck some 4km from the line.
But Schleck could not maintain the pace, allowing Switzerland’s Oliver Zaugg to break through before Spanish climber Anton snuck through ahead of the favorites.
■ DAUPHINE LIBERE
AP, GRENOBLE, FRANCE
Alejandro Valverde won the Dauphine Libere cycling race on Sunday, putting the Spanish rider among the favorites for next month’s Tour de France.
Kazakh rider Dmitriy Fofonov won the seventh and final stage — a 128km ride from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Grenoble that featured three big climbs and a downhill finish.
Valverde, of Caisse d’Epargne, again demonstrated his strong form two months after winning the Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Valverde finished with a total time of 27 hours, 39 minutes, edging Australia’s Cadel Evans by 39 seconds. Levi Leipheimer of the US was third, 1 minute, 24 seconds back.
The Rakuten Monkeys on Sunday downed the CTBC Brothers 2-1, handing the hosts their second consecutive loss in the best-of-seven CPBL Taiwan Series at the Taipei Dome. Monkeys’ ace starter Pedro Fernandez of the Dominican Republic dominated on the mound, cruising through six scoreless innings before giving up a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning. He gave up only three hits and walked two batters in a 93-pitch outing, giving his Taoyuan-based team an edge. Offensively, the Monkeys’ leadoff batter Lin Li hit Brothers starter Brandon Leibrandt’s pitch over the center-field wall in the game’s first at-bat,
Barcelona star Lamine Yamal would be motivated by criticism ahead of the Clasico, Barcelona assistant coach Marcus Sorg said yesterday. Teenage winger Yamal has been in the spotlight in the Spanish capital after joking that Real Madrid “steal” and “complain” during an appearance on a social media stream. Champions Barca face Real Madrid today in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu, looking for a fifth consecutive win over their rivals. “Lamine is a top player and I think [the criticism] will be motivating for him,” Sorg told a news conference. “I hope we all see him tomorrow [give] the best performance.” The 18-year-old Spain
Rafael Leao on Sunday shot AC Milan to the top of Serie A with a brace in a 2-1 win over ACF Fiorentina who were enraged by the “scandalous” awarding of the penalty that decided the game. Portugal winger Leao pushed Milan one point ahead of local rivals Inter, SSC Napoli and AS Roma with a coolly taken spot-kick, given for what looked like a soft foul on Santiago Gimenez by Fabiano Parisi, with four minutes remaining. That goal capped a fine first league start of the season for Leao and came after he drew the hosts level with a brilliantly struck
‘A HISTORIC moment’: ‘I think we all need to take a step back and appreciate Leo Messi is playing in Major League Soccer,’ league commissioner Don Garber said Lionel Messi raised the Golden Boot. He then got Inter Miami started with his head. The Argentine opened the scoring with a diving header in the first half, then capped the scoring in the 96th minute as Inter Miami opened the MLS playoffs with a 3-1 win over Nashville SC in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference best-of-three first-round series on Friday night. Messi and Ian Fray had the assists on Tadeo Allende’s second-half tally for Inter Miami, who now get two chances to advance out of the first round for the first time in Messi’s two-and-a-half-year tenure with the team. Game
RSS