CYCLING
Gallopin wins Paris-Nice leg
Tony Gallopin took command of the Paris-Nice with a solo success on Nice’s celebrated Promenade des Anglais in Saturday’s sixth and penultimate stage. The French hope went into the closing time-trial with a 35-second lead over Australia’s Richie Porte, and 37 seconds over the former holder of the yellow jersey, Polish rival Michal Kwiatkowski. Gallopin seized control of the 180.5km ride from Vente a full 30km from the finish. He was followed across the line by a group led by Slovenian Simon Spilak and Portugal’s Rui Costa. The race concluded yesterday with a 9.6km time-trial on the Col d’Eze.
MOTORCYCLING
Eslick claims Daytona 200
Danny Eslick won the Daytona 200 for the second straight year with a last-lap pass of Josh Herrin in the final turn at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday. Eslick’s win made him the 12th driver to win the race in consecutive years. The last was Mat Mladin in 2000-2001. Eslick pitted for fuel on the 54th lap while leading, but retained the lead coming out of the pits. Herrin then closed in quickly and when the final lap began, his Yamaha was within a second of Eslick’s Suzuki. In the high-banked turns, Herrin grabbed control. When the riders emerged from the course’s chicane, Herrin had a seemingly secure advantage. However, Eslick tucked in and drafted off Herrin’s bike, then nudged by him on the outside coming out of the final turn and held on to win.
SOCCER
Olympic hosts to be decided
Sao Paulo officials say the city might not participate in the Olympic soccer tournament because of the high costs involved in the competition. Officials say they are analyzing the list of requirements for the tournament to see if it will be possible to participate. Brazilian Sports Secretary Celso Jatene told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper the city is “not guaranteed” as a host. Sao Paulo was pre-selected by local organizers as one of the six football cities for next year’s Olympic Games, along with Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Salvador and Manaus. FIFA has the final say on the host cities. FIFA’s Organising Committee for the Olympic Football Tournaments are scheduled to meet in Zurich next week to discuss the issue. The governing body hinted Manaus might be dropped because it is too far from Rio.
GOLF
Lead shared in Tshwane
Six players were tied for the lead on Saturday heading into the final round of the Tshwane Open in South Africa. Adrian Otaegui of Spain had a two-shot lead overnight, but shot a two-over 72 and was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Englishman David Horsey, South Africans George Coetzee, Trevor Fisher Jr and Wallie Coetsee, and Scotland’s Craig Lee. They were all on nine-under 201. Lee made the biggest move with his 66 at the Pretoria Country Club. Two other South Africans, Ockie Strydom and Erik van Rooyen, were a shot behind at the final event of a three-tournament swing for the European Tour in South Africa.
ATHLETICS
Bolt cruises in Kingston
Jamaican Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt cruised to victory in his first individual race of the season, clocking 46.37 seconds over 400m at the GC Foster Classic in Kingston on Saturday. Bolt used the race as part of his build-up for the upcoming season, where he plans to defend his 100m and 200m sprint titles at the IAFF World Championships in Beijing in August.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later