US veteran George Hincapie emerged from a six-rider group on Wednesday to win the crash-marred second stage of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, while young compatriot Tejay Van Garderen became the third race leader in three days.
The 38-year-old Hincapie, a 15-time Tour de France finisher, completed the rainy 210km leg from Gunnison to Aspen in five hours, 26 minutes, 10 seconds.
Van Garderen finished second in the stage that concluded in steady rain. He began the day in sixth position, seven seconds behind Levi Leipheimer. The 23-year-old Van Garderen, the team leader of the US HTC-Highroad squad, leads Hincapie by 16 seconds with four stages left in the inaugural race.
PHOTO: AFP
Garmin-Cervelo’s Tom Danielson was third in the stage to move into third overall, 22 seconds back.
“No disrespect to Levi, but he’s not the strongest on the descents,” said Van Garderen, the Tour de France rider who won a time trial stage in the Tour of Utah last week. “But it’s one of my strengths. Our team is not the strongest on paper, but with a rider in the race lead, riders become very motivated.”
Hincapie competes for the -California-based BMC team and was a key teammate of Cadel Evans last month in the Australian’s Tour de France victory. Hincapie had not won a race since claiming the national road title in 2009.
“It has been a while,” Hincapie said. “We had four guys at the top of the climb to help Cadel come back, so I thought I might as well take a chance. It worked out perfectly.”
Tour of Utah winner Leipheimer finished ninth in the stage and dropped to fourth overall, 34 seconds back.
Evans finished seventh in the stage, 45 seconds behind Hincapie, and is sixth overall.
Italy’s Daniele Callegarin, Canadian Andrew Randell and American Sergio Hernandez were transported to a hospital in Gunnison after an eight-rider crash as the field approached the first of two ascents over 3,660m in the stage.
Callegarin, who rides for the US-based Team Type 1 squad, sustained a concussion, two broken hands, severe facial injuries and several other injuries, according to a team spokesperson.
Randell and Hernandez were released, according to the team’s physician, who was at the hospital with the riders.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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