Three spectators were seriously injured on Sunday when a motorcycle crashed into fans watching the Paris-Roubaix cycling race, which was won by Belgian rider Tom Boonen for the third time.
Three people were taken by helicopter to hospitals in Lille and Valenciennes for further scans, two for abdominal injuries and a woman who was briefly knocked unconscious, said Philippe Sudres, a spokesman for race organizer Amaury Sport Organization.
“Doctors do not think their [lives] are in danger, but we have to wait for the results,” Sudres said.
About a dozen others needed medical treatment, Sudres said, adding the motorcycle belonged to race organizers to provide regular time checks for riders.
Boonen successfully broke away from the pack about 16km from the end. He beat Filippo Pozzato of Italy by 47 seconds. Thor Hushovd of Norway was third, 1:17 behind Boonen.
“With all the crashes today, it was very hard,” Boonen said. “It took time for the last break to take shape.”
Last year, Boonen beat former champion Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland in a sprint finish. He also won in 2005. This time, Boonen had to change his bike after a puncture but he did not lose much time.
“I did not feel too well at that stage but in the finale, the others looked even worse while I kept the momentum,” Boonen said. “The last hour was very hard with the crashes and the fight with Pozzato. It was a battle between great riders.”
Known as L’Enfer du Nord (The Hell of the North), Paris-Roubaix is among the toughest classics in cycling. This year’s race was more than 52.9km of punishing cobblestones in a 259km trek up to the northern French town of Roubaix.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS