Home rider Vincenzo Nibali won the Tirreno-Adriatico race for the second year running after finishing 12th in Tuesday’s seventh and final stage.
Britain’s Chris Froome and Alberto Contador of Spain, likely contenders for the Tour de France title later in the year, finished second and third respectively.
The last 9.2km stage, a flat ride, was won by world time-trial champion Tony Martin of Germany.
“This second Tirreno win is very important, not just because it is my first win of the 2013 season,” said Nibali, who was third behind winner Bradley Wiggins and second-placed Froome in last year’s Tour de France.
“It’s also important because of the riders I’ve managed to beat, like Contador and Froome,” the 28-year-old Astana rider said after winning one of the highest-quality Tirreno races for several years. “In the final time trial I had a good margin, so I didn’t want to take any risks on a few of the wet corners.”
After losing ground to Froome on Friday and Saturday, Nibali turned the tables in spectacular style during Monday’s rain-soaked short climbs and perilous descents at Port Sant’Elpidio.
“I had to make my move at exactly the right time yesterday,” the Italian said. “In the Tour de France last year, Sky laid down the law with a great team, but there weren’t any stages like yesterday’s or any hard, rainy days.”
Second behind Martin on the final dash along the windswept Adriatic coastline was Italy’s Adriano Malori. Andrey Amador of Costa Rica was third.
Meanwhile, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has reiterated its call for the blood bags confiscated from Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes to be handed over to them for inspection.
Fuentes is on trial in Madrid accused of endangering public health by performing blood transfusions on a number of high-profile cyclists.
However, very few of Fuentes’ clients have ever been named publicly and WADA is keen to find out which athletes were involved.
“The blood bags ought to be given to WADA or another competent national body involved in the case to work out their original destination,” a lawyer acting on WADA’s behalf said.
In a significant development, the RFEC also reduced their desired sentence for three of Fuentes’ four co-accused should they be found guilty.
The federation deem Fuentes’ sister Yolanda, Manolo Saiz and Vicente Belda to be less culpable than Fuentes and Jose Ignacio Labarta, and would like to see them receive a jail sentence of just a year and one day, rather than the two years asked for by other prosecutors.
However, WADA asked for a two-year jail term and a professional ban of eight years and three months for all those involved.
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