Pavel Tonkov rolled back the years to win the 17th stage of the Giro d'Italia in the Dolomite mountains on Thursday.
The 35-year-old Russian, winner of the 1996 Giro, dominated on the 153km run from Brunico to Fondo Sarnonico, attacking alone on the Passo della Mendola to win by two minutes and 15 seconds from Italy's Alessandro Bertolini.
The leading contenders for the overall classification finished together, 2:49 behind Tonkov, to leave Damiano Cunego of Italy still out in front.
Tonkov's victory was marred by an offensive gesture as he crossed the finish line -- costing him a fine of 200 Swiss francs. The usually quiet Russian explained that it was a message to those who had written him off.
"I made the gesture because everybody thinks I'm old and can't win, but it's not true," he said.
"Not many people had faith in me after I had some serious back problems last year, but I've proved them wrong with this win and I'm really happy, but only for myself."
Winner
Tonkov, who rides for Vini Caldirola, has won seven stages at the Giro during his career. As well as his overall victory in 1996 he also finished second in 1997 and 1998.
"My best years are behind me and perhaps I didn't do as well as I could but there is not a lot I can do about it," he said.
"I think I can be an asset to cycling because I can teach younger riders how to do well in the long hard races like the Giro. But not many teams give the riders the respect they deserve.
"I have to thank the Vini Caldirola team because they gave me a chance and I'm glad to have paid them back with this win."
Cunego retained his one minute 14 second lead over Ukraine's Serhiy Honchar, but his day did not go to plan.
A mechanical problem in a key moment of the race forced him to change bikes and he had to chase hard to catch back up to the main field.
"I had a problem at the very moment someone attacked," said the Saeco rider. "I had to stop and change bikes and then had to chase, so I was a bit angry.
"There was never any real danger to my overall lead but it was an important lesson for the two decisive mountain stages. It's easy to lose time if something goes wrong during the race but you have to stay cool, not panic and think things through before reacting."
Yesterday's 118km eighteenth stage from Cles to Bormio 2000 is relatively short but includes three major climbs: The Passo del Tonale, the 2,618m Passo di Gavia -- the highest climb of the 2004 Giro -- and the 9.8km climb to the finish at Bormio.
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
Arminia Bielefeld on Tuesday pulled off a major upset in the DFB-Pokal by defeating defending champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-1 in their semi-final. The third-division team came from behind after Jonathan Tah gave the visitors a 17th-minute lead. Marius Worl replied three minutes later and Maximilian Groser scored Bielefeld’s second goal just before the break. The home team looked more likely to add to that tally as the Leverkusen players looked jaded. “I’m just proud of this team,” Bielefeld coach Mitch Kniat said as most of the fans the small stadium sang around him. “No one will sleep in the city tonight.” Patrik Schick went
THREES KINGS: The Celtics claimed a piece of league history by setting a new record for the number of threes in a season, ending their game with 1,370 Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun on Friday combined for 65 points as the Houston Rockets halted Oklahoma City’s 11-game winning streak with a statement 125-111 victory. In a potential Western Conference finals preview, the Rockets produced a dominant all-round performance to jolt the top-seeded Thunder’s all-conquering preparations for the post-season. Green finished with 34 points from 11-of-24 shooting, while Turkish big man Sengun made 31 points as second-placed Houston improved to 51-27. Oklahoma City grabbed the lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter, but Houston soon knocked the Thunder out of their stride with a physical approach to move into the
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have shown the team do not need star power to win trophies and with the French Ligue 1 title won with six games to spare, the French champions would look to finish the season without losing, manager Luis Enrique said on Saturday. A 1-0 victory over Angers SCO at the Parc des Princes helped PSG win their fourth straight Ligue 1 title and a record-extending 13th overall. PSG can still break Nantes’ 30-year-old record of 32 games unbeaten. Although Nantes lost one game en route to the title, no French club has ever gone an entire league
RSS