German rider Marcus Burghardt of the BMC team collected his second win of the Tour of Switzerland when he won the seventh stage between Savognin and Wetzikon on Friday.
Burghardt, who took the fifth stage on Wednesday, finished on his own some 55 seconds ahead of Oscar Freire, Greg van Avermaet and Manuel Quinziato, three of 15 riders who took off in a morning breakaway.
Dutchman Robert Gesink of Rabobank, who finished in the peloton five minutes behind, keeps the leader’s yellow jersey. He is 29 seconds ahead of Spaniard Rigoberto Uran and 36 seconds in front of the Switzerland’s Steve Morabito.
PHOTO: EPA
Burghardt, a stage winner in the Tour de France two years ago, was part of a group that broke away 62km into the race.
In the wind and rain they made good progress over the next 80km, opening up a five-minute lead over the peloton, before Burghardt broke decisively for home 60km from the finish.
“It wasn’t my idea to attack from so far out,” he said. “I tried to move things along a bit, but nobody reacted and suddenly I found myself out in front on my own.”
The chasing group chased him hard and Burghardt, who has lived in Switzerland for the last three years, admitted that he “suffered a lot in the last few kilometers,” but he kept up the pace and crossed the line waving a German flag that he had taken from a spectator.
Spain’s Freire of Rabobank came in second, just over a minute behind the German. Belgium’s Van Avermaet of Omega Pharma-Lotto finished in third place.
“At the start it was hard work because there was a lot of movement,” said Gesink, who maintained his position atop the general classification. “Once the front group had escaped, it was pretty quiet because we could control the race. At the start the weather was quite nice, but then a lot of people were complaining about how cold it was, but my teammates weren’t cold because they were working.”
Uran of Caisse d’Espagne and Morabito of BMC are the closest to Gesink, but the Dutchman said American Lance Armstrong of RadioShack, 55 seconds back in seventh, is the biggest threat to the yellow jersey.
“Armstrong is the most dangerous, but before the time-trial there is a stage tomorrow with 2,500m difference in altitude. So first I must defend the yellow jersey,” he said.
Armstrong, in his last race before launching his effort to snatch an eighth Tour de France title, was content with his performance.
“I am feeling good, even if there was rain and it was cold,” the 38-year-old said.
The eighth stage sees the peloton travel the 172km between Wetzikon and Liestal. It ends with a time-trial on Sunday.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but