Colombia’s Nairo Quintana regained the Vuelta a Espana leader’s red jersey with a stunning ascent to win Monday’s 10th stage.
Chris Froome battled back after being dropped early in the 12.2km special category climb to the end of the 188.7km ride from Lugones to Lagos de Covadonga to finish third on the stage and move up to third in the general classification, 58 seconds behind Quintana.
Alejandro Valverde, in second, is just one second ahead of Froome in the general classification.
Photo: EPA
Quintana crossed the line in a time of 4 hours, 50 minutes, 31 seconds ahead of the Netherlands’ Robert Gesink, who finished 24 seconds back, and just a second ahead of Froome.
“A day like this gives me great confidence to continue,” Quintana told a Spanish TV station. “We have a deserved day’s rest, then we will prepare well and continue on the same road.”
Three-time Vuelta winner Alberto Contador suffered another damaging blow to his chances of a record fourth win on home soil as he finished 1 minute, 5 seconds behind Quintana to fall nearly three minutes adrift in fifth overall.
Overnight leader David de la Cruz slipped to seventh in the general classification.
Froome’s chances of becoming the first man in 38 years to win the Tour de France and Tour of Spain in the same year looked to be fading as he slipped behind his rivals, falling nearly a minute behind Quintana at one point.
However, Froome surged through the chasing pack over the final 5km, passing Contador and Valverde on his way to limiting the damage from Quintana.
Quintana insists Froome’s superior time-trial ability means he remains the favorite, with a 37km race against the clock to come on stage 19.
“He continues to be very close given what is to come,” Quintana said, adding that he would only be comfortable with a three-minute lead ahead of the time trial.
“We have to look to continue what we have done until now to distance ourselves from him, because if he stays at this time he is still the favorite,” he said.
Quintana had failed to challenge Froome’s procession to a third Tour de France win last month, but looks in much better shape having skipped the Olympics to concentrate on landing the second Grand Tour title of his career.
The Movistar rider made his first move, along with Contador, 7km from the end. However, Contador could not keep up with Quintana’s acceleration when he kicked for home 3.5km from the finish.
Gesink was alone at the front of the race at that stage as the sole survivor from a 16-man breakaway.
He was quickly pulled in by Quintana, who surged to victory to add 10 bonus seconds to the time he made on the day over the chasing pack.
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