Spain’s three-time world champion Oscar Freire of Rabobank won the 11th stage of the Tour of Spain on Wednesday, a 178km ride from Calahorra to Burgos, as Egoi Martinez of Euskaltel retained the overall lead.
Martinez leads US racer Levi Leipheimer by 11 seconds and has a 32-second lead over favorite and last year’s Tour de France champion Alberto Contador.
Freire just edged out Belgian Tom Boonen on the line in a sprint battle for the finish on a day when the return of retired seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong to the sport was the talk of the peloton.
PHOTO: EPA
Freire, preparing hard for the world championships in Italy later this month, was pleased his form appears to have appeared just at the right time.
“Today was the first day I really felt good and I took advantage of that. Yesterday, I just wasn’t in the groove. It was a good sprint, but I kept on Boonen’s wheel and I proved to be the stronger,” Freire said.
But he added that he believed where the worlds were concerned he would still have to keep a close eye on two-time defending world champion Paolo Bettini, who took the sixth stage in the Vuelta.
“He’ll be a tough one to beat,” the Spaniard said.
Wednesday’s stage was one of transition coming off the mountains with just one third-category climb 40km out from the line, and thus made for the sprinters.
Freire and co attacked the finish with gusto, reigning in early escapees Serafin Martinez, Andriy Grivko and Jose Antonio Lopez Gil, who had earlier established a seven-minute lead after breaking away around the 33km mark.
The news that Armstrong will soon be back in the saddle dominated conversations on the margins of the race and reporters made sure they tracked down Astana manager Belgian Johan Bruyneel, the former director of Armstrong’s US Postal and Discovery Channel teams.
At the finish line Bruyneel repeated comments to Spanish television that he did not see Armstrong riding for another team other than Astana, while expressing doubts as to the veteran’s ability to compete at the top following a three-year absence.
“Contador is currently the best and Armstrong was the best — but after three years’ absence he will have to show he can return to the level of Contador. Three years is a long time,” Bruyneel said.
Olympic road champion Samuel Sanchez, on the other hand, said that Armstrong’s return was “good news for cycling,” and he added he thought the American “is well capable of winning the Tour [de France] again.”
Freire agreed.
“Age is not an impediment — he is a stubborn racer and when he gets it into his head he has the force of personality to do it,” he said of the Texan.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set