British sprint sensation Mark Cavendish took the leader’s jersey on the first day of the Vuelta a Espana after powering his HTC-Columbia team to victory in the team time trial on Saturday.
The US team stormed over the 13km course in the floodlight streets of Seville in 14 minutes, 6 seconds, in a race that broke new ground by beginning at 10pm.
They were 10 seconds ahead of the Liquigas team that includes Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali, one of the favorites for this year’s title.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Danish outfit Saxo Bank, which stars Luxembourg’s Andy and Frank Schleck and Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara, were third, 12 seconds behind the winners.
Fourth was Italy’s Lampre-Farnese and fifth US team Garmin-Transitions.
Cavendish, making his debut in Spain, takes the leader’s jersey, which this year is red rather than the traditional gold. Joining him on the podium were the Slovak twins Peter and Martin Velits.
The 25-year-old Isle of Man rider already has a remarkable string of stage wins in major Tours that includes 15 victories in the Tour de France over the past three years.
He will have another chance to show off his skills on the second stage, which covers a relatively flat 173.7km course from Alcala de Guadaira to Marbella and which should favor a group finish, but the course overall, which includes six summit finishes in eight mountain stages, is expected to favor the climbers.
Many believe the event could be won or lost on the penultimate stage, a 168.8km course that ends atop the 2,250m Bola del Mundo in the Guadarrama mountain rang northwest of Madrid.
The event has been left wide open by the absence of three-time Tour de France winner Spaniard Alberto Contador, who skipped his home Tour, which he won in 2008, after a hard-fought victory in France last month and last year’s winner Alejandro Valverde, who is serving a suspension for doping.
Top contenders now include Russian Denis Menchov, a two-time Vuelta winner, the Schleck brothers and 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre of Spain.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
Italian defender Marco Curto has been banned for 10 matches for racially abusing South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan while playing for Como 1907 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a pre-season friendly in July. Curto, who is on loan from Como to Serie B club Cesena, would serve half of the punishment immediately with the other half suspended for two years. “The player Marco Curto was found responsible for discriminatory behavior and sanctioned with a 10-match suspension,” a FIFA spokesperson said. “The player is ordered to render community services and undergo training and education with an organization approved by FIFA.” Wolves said the club would
RSS