Slovakia’s Peter Sagan continued his impressive run of form by sprinting to victory in the third stage of the Tour de Suisse on Monday.
Sagan, who rides for Liquigas, won the opening stage time trial on Saturday ahead of Swiss specialist Fabian Cancellara of RadioShack to take the leader’s jersey.
Despite handing the lead over to Portugal’s Rui Costa on Sunday, the versatile Slovakian moved back into the limelight after leaving a bunch of top-notch sprinters in his wake at the end of the 194.7km ride from Martigny-Ville to Aarberg.
Photo: EPA
Australian Baden Cooke of Orica-GreenEdge was a close second, with Briton Ben Swift of Sky third. American Tyler Farrar of Garmin finished eighth, with Spanish speedster Jose Joaquin Rojas of Movistar in 10th.
STAGE WINS
Sagan, who won five stages on the Tour of California last month and has had a handful of top five finishes in major one-day classics this season, now has four stage wins in the Tour de Suisse in two years.
In the general classification, meanwhile, there were few changes, with Movistar rider Rui Costa still leading Luxembourg’s Frank Schleck by eight seconds overall.
HINCAPIE TO RETIRE
AFP, PARIS
George Hincapie of the US, who is set to break the record for Tour de France participations later this month, plans to retire later this summer, his BMC team announced on Monday.
Hincapie, who jointly holds the Tour de France record of 16 participations with Dutch rider Joop Zoetemelk, also competed in a record-equaling 17 Paris-Roubaix races and finished runner-up in 2005.
“This is definitely not a decision that has been easy,” said Hincapie, who will also compete in his last race in the US in August.
The New Yorker, who turns 39 later this month, is the only rider to have accompanied compatriot Lance Armstrong on his seven Tour de France wins from 1999 to 2005. Last year, he also helped Australian Cadel Evans win the race.
“I came to the conclusion that I want to go out while I can still contribute and make a difference,” the five-time Olympian said.
He added that he hopes to stay involved with the BMC team and the sport in some capacity.
“I don’t want to get completely out of cycling, but also know that I’m still feeling strong and healthy, and ready to make a contribution to the team these last two months. I’m 100 percent motivated to help Cadel win another Tour,” he said.
Hincapie turned professional in 1994 and won three US national road racing titles. He also won the Gand-Wevelgem in 2001 and the GP West-France in Plouay in 2005. He won a stage of the Tour de France in 2005 and wore the yellow jersey for a day in 2006, helping Spaniard Alberto Contador to victory the following year.
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