Mikel Landa of Spain broke away from the pack and sustained his lead as he climbed to win the fifth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country on Friday, while Sergio Henao of Colombia retained the overall leader’s jersey.
The locally born Astana rider who crossed the line in 4 hours, 6 minutes and 1 second, finished three seconds in front of Tim Wellens of Belgium, with Tom Danielson of the US third, 16 seconds behind.
“It’s the greatest victory of my career,” Landa said. “I know the Tour de France is the most important race in the world, but for me this race is like the Tour.”
Photo: EPA
“Today was a day to survive,” Landa said, adding that he had been recovering from a virus infection and was not sure if he would be able to compete on Friday.
Landa said Astana teammate Rein Taaramae of Estonia had been very strong throughout the stage, “but I finished it off.”
Joaquin Rodriguez of Spain is second overall behind Henao, while Simon Yates of Britain is third overall after a mountainous 155.5km ride from Eibar to Aia that included a Category 1 ascent up the Alto de Urraki peak.
After the climb — roughly halfway through the stage — Landa began his charge as he led a breakaway group that contained up to 30 riders, including Rein Taaramae, who finished fourth, 28 seconds behind.
Then, with 6.5km to go, the race split into three bunches, with Landa leading the breakaway group from the chasing pack by over a minute, while the peloton followed further back.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite