Britain’s Geraint Thomas claimed his maiden Paris-Nice on Sunday after a nerve-tingling seventh and final stage won by Belgium’s Tim Wellens.
Team Sky’s Thomas, who only took the race leader’s maillot jaune off Australian Michael Matthews of Orica-GreenEdge on Saturday, finished a mere four seconds ahead of two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador of Spain.
It was one of the closest finishes in the history of the event.
Photo: EPA
The 29-year-old Welshman’s biggest career victory was Team Sky’s fourth in five editions of the Paris-Nice.
Lotto-Soudal’s Wellens took the final day honors after fending off breakaway partners Contador of Tinkoff and Australian Richie Porte of BMC Racing Team in a sprint for the line.
Thomas crossed in the peloton five seconds adrift.
Contador, 15 seconds behind at the start of the 134km ride, launched a number of attacks, the first 50km from the end.
The Spaniard made a decisive move on the Col d’Eze, 17km out. Pursued by Thomas he appeared to have done enough to make up his deficit on the Welshman, who was struggling up the climb, but Thomas, helped by his Colombian teammate Sergio Henao, made up ground in the entrance to the Cote d’Azur city of Nice to hold on to the maillot jaune.
“When Alberto [Contador] went on the Cote de Peille I stuck with my team and felt good, strong and in control, but when he went again halfway up the Col d’Eze my legs just gave way. It was horrible and I thought: ‘This is going to be all over,’” Thomas said. “I got dropped from the chase group and thought I was going to struggle to even get on the podium. Thankfully, Sergio stayed with me.”
Contador was frustrated.
“I wanted another outcome, I don’t like finishing second. I came to the Paris-Nice to win,” the Spaniard said. “Geraint Thomas controlled it well, he’s got a very strong team, but we can succeed in beating them. On the plus side, I feel good and it’s encouraging for the Tour of Catalonia.”
Thomas becomes the third British rider to win the Paris-Nice after Tom Simpson in 1967 and Bradley Wiggins in 2012.
The winning margin was the second-tightest, only shaded by the three seconds Davide Rebellin had up his sleeve over his fellow Italian Rinaldo Nocentini in 2008.
“It’s incredible to have won Paris-Nice and hard to believe, to be honest,” Thomas said. “Contador is one of the best stage racers ever and Richie won nearly every race he did last year, so to beat those two — I can’t really believe it. I came here trying to win and do the best I could, but to actually do it is amazing. It’s the biggest win of my career, for sure, and I’m over the moon.”
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB