Richard Carapaz was on the brink of winning the Giro d’Italia on Saturday after he retained the overall leader’s pink jersey in the penultimate stage in the Dolomites.
The Ecuadorian comfortably held off two-time champion Vincenzo Nibali in the 194km ride from Feltre as the 20th stage was won by Spaniard Pello Bilbao.
It was a chaotic ride throughout, with Colombian Miguel Angel Lopez, who holds the white jersey for the best under-25 rider, lashing out at a fan after tangling with him in the final few kilometers.
The Team Astana rider could face an exclusion from the race, which was to end in Verona yesterday with a 17km individual time trial.
Lopez was one of the attackers of the day, but the top guns held firm, with the exception of Slovenian Primoz Roglic, who was dropped in the final climb up to Monte Avena.
As a result, the Team Jumbo-Visma rider slipped from third to fourth overall to the benefit of Spain’s Mikel Landa, Carapaz’s lieutenant at Team Movistar.
Overall, Carapaz leads Nibali by 1 minute, 54 seconds and Landa by 2:53, with Roglic 3:16 off the pace after being handed a 10-second penalty for accepting a push from a spectator.
Sensing Roglic’s weakness and trying to make the most of his last chance for unsettling Carapaz, Nibali, one of two active riders with titles in all three grand tours, gave everything in the last 4km.
However, the duo of Carapaz and Landa proved too difficult to shake off, while Bilbao sprinted to victory on the day ahead of Landa.
“We’ve tried to win the stage with Mikel Landa as well as myself to retain the Maglia Rosa, but we’ve missed out by very little,” Carapaz said. “However, we’re happy with how it went today. I believe 1:54 over Nibali is enough, although anything can happen in a final time trial.”
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