Joaquim Rodriguez says he is confident he can win the Tour de France King of the Mountains competition after reclaiming the polka-dot jersey on Saturday.
The Spaniard was third at the Grand Boucle last year, but came to this Tour short of form after suffering crashes during the Spring Classics and the Giro d’Italia.
He had not raced since pulling out of May’s Giro and spent the first week at the Tour just trying to hang on at the back of the peloton.
However, since the race reached the mountains, he has been on a mission to pick up points in the polka-dot jersey competition.
After getting into Saturday’s breakaway, he gained 35 points and took back the jersey he lost to race leader Vincenzo Nibali on Friday.
“I don’t have much else to do, I had to go with the breakaway because I can’t do anything in the overall standings,” the 35-year-old Katusha climber said. “The only thing I can do is pick up [mountain] points. I went from a long way out and I think I swept up a lot of points today.”
Rodriguez is in 55th place overall.
He had held the jersey since getting in the breakaway on Monday’s 10th stage from Mulhouse to La Planche des Belles Filles.
He was 1km from winning that stage when Nibali overhauled him, and the Italian took the jersey off him on Friday when he won that summit finish too.
Rodriguez only just took it back as Rafal Majka moved level on points with him after winning Saturday’s 14th stage, with Nibali just two points behind that following his second-place finish on Saturday.
Now Rodriguez is looking to the Pyrenees to pick up the points he needs to be on the Paris podium in white with red dots.
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