Germany’s Gerald Ciolek sprinted to his first stage win in a major tour on Sunday’s second day of the Tour of Spain.
The 22-year-old Milram rider powered across the finish line in Emmen less than a wheel’s width ahead of Italy’s Fabio Sabatini and Britain’s Roger Hammond.
“My form’s been good since the Tour de France, but a win has been missing so it’s great it’s finally arrived,” Ciolek told reporters. “It was windy and the final sprint wasn’t straightforward so I started my final acceleration early. It was close, but just enough for me to come through and get the win.”
Ciolek, a former German national champion and under-23 world champion, said he would now raise his sights.
“Now I’ve got a stage, maybe I can go for the leader’s jersey for a few days. I’ll certainly give it 100 percent,” he said.
Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara kept the overall lead, eight seconds ahead of Ciolek and nine seconds up on Belgian Tom Boonen.
“I didn’t expect to hold on to the lead today, I thought a sprinter like Boonen would get it, so this is a nice bonus,” the stage one winner told reporters. “Tomorrow we’ll try and defend the lead again. The team did a good job today working on the front and this is the reward.”
Referring to the huge crowds of Dutch cycling fans who lined the stage route, waving Spanish flags and banners, Cancellara said: “Bringing the race here was an experiment but it’s worked.”
Five breakaways livened up the 203km stage that looped through the northern Netherlands from Assen to Emmen.
Spain’s Francisco Martinez and David Garcia, Tom Leezer and Lieuwe Westra of the Netherlands and Germany’s Dominik Roels broke away as soon as the starter’s flag dropped. Westra was the last to be caught.
After four stages in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, the race moves to Spain tomorrow and finishes in Madrid on Sept. 20.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Belgian partner Elise Mertens on Monday notched up their first win in the doubles group stage of the WTA Finals in Riyadh to keep their semi-final hopes alive, while Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova were aiming to record their first victory after press time last night. Third seeds Hsieh and Mertens came back from a disheartening opening-day loss to Australia’s Ellen Perez and Nicole Melichar-Martinez to defeat top seeds Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the women’s doubles world No. 3 and 4 respectively. The 6-1, 6-3 victory at King Saud University Indoor Arena
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
Atalanta BC brought Serie A leaders SSC Napoli down to earth with a bump with a 3-0 victory on Sunday as Ademola Lookman grabbed two goals. Napoli were hoping to open up a substantial lead at the top before, but Atalanta stunned the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium as they decisively ended the home side’s unbeaten run that stretched back to Aug. 18. Inter then closed the gap with a 1-0 victory over Venezia to end the weekend just a point behind Napoli. Lookman pounced first in the 10th minute when Marten de Roon’s header fell for the London-born Nigerian international