New Zealand’s Greg Henderson overpowered his rivals to win the Paris to Nice second leg on Monday, almost one year after claiming his maiden stage victory in the race.
The sprinters held sway after a windy 199km ride through the flat plains of the Beauce, a 5 hour journey in northern France marred by several minor crashes.
After a long break by Frenchmen Yoann Offredo, Maxime Bouet and Tony Gallopin, the peloton regrouped 30km from the line and Henderson edged out Australian Matthew Goss and Russian Denis Galimzyanov, who was celebrating his 24th birthday, for a carbon copy of his win last year in nearby Contres.
Photo: AFP
“It’s always fantastic here. It’s an amazing race, it’s the biggest race for me, it’s the Everest,” the New Zealander told reporters. “I was just sitting there waiting. It was a really long sprint and I was lucky to hold my speed to the line.”
Second-placed Henderson trails overall leader Thomas De Gendt of Belgium by 4 seconds heading into yesterday’s 202.5km stage to the Burgundy wine city of Nuits St Georges.
“I’m not too sure, I’ll have a go tomorrow. It will be full support for [Sky teammates] Brad Wiggins and Mick Rogers from now on,” Henderson said.
Photo: Reuters
The 34-year-old Kiwi, who is married to 2005 pursuit world champion Katie Mactier, said his victory was in honor of the -victims of the recent Christchurch earthquake.
“I asked all my teammates to sign my [overall points] green jersey and we’ll auction it for the victims,” Henderson added.
Luxembourg’s Frank Schleck and German Tony Martin were involved in minor crashes on Monday, while Australian Heinrich Haussler fell in a roadside ditch but clawed his way back into the bunch and eventually finished fourth in the same time as the stage winner.
“It was crazy today, so nervy,” Henderson said. “Everyone was scared of the wind breaking the peloton to pieces. There were like 10 crashes ... and it was just a matter of staying at the front as much as possible.”
Forty kilometers from the finish at Amilly, escapees Bouet and Gallopin were stopped at a railway crossing and caught by the peloton.
They were allowed to restart with the same gap they had when the race was halted, only to be reined in a few kilometers down the road.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS