Peter Sagan of Slovakia won the fourth stage of the Tour de Pologne on Wednesday to take the overall lead in the race.
The Liquigas team cyclist finished the 176.9km hilly ride from Oswiecim to Cieszyn in 4 hours, 21 minutes, 15 seconds with a bonus of 10 seconds.
Coming in three seconds later were Ireland’s Daniel Martin with the Garmin-Cervelo team and Marco Marcato of Italy with Vacansoleil-DCM.
Photo: EPA
Sagan took the race lead from Marcel Kittel of Germany, who won the first three stages, but dropped out of contention on Wednesday.
Yesterday’s stage was a 201.5km ride starting and finishing in the Zakopane mountain resort.
The race covers 1,113km across seven stages.
Tour Down Under
Reuters, ADELAIDE, Australia
Australian cycling, already celebrating its first Tour de France winner in Cadel Evans, has received another boost with the news that the license for the Tour Down Under has been extended until 2015.
The race was the first outside Europe to join the governing UCI’s pro tour schedule in 2008 and the next edition will again open the new season in January.
“The huge wave of popularity generated by Cadel Evans’ historic win at the Tour de France this summer has created an unprecedented momentum for our sport in Australia, which has contributed to the impressive growth of this event,” UCI chief Pat McQuaid said in a statement.
Evans, who became the first Australian to win road cycling’s biggest prize last month, will be paraded through the center of Melbourne on Aug. 12, but is unlikely to take part in the Tour Down Under next year.
Olympic Cycling
AFP, BUENOS AIRES
Italy’s former Olympic cycling champion Attilio Pavesi has died aged 100 in a retirement home in Buenos Aires, his family announced on Wednesday.
Born on Oct. 10, 1910, Pavesi was the oldest surviving Olympic champion, having won gold medals in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, in the individual road race as well as the team road race. The 11th child in a family from the Northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, Pavesi moved to Argentina at the start of World War II where he organized cycling races.
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