Britain’s Bradley Wiggins tightened his grip on the Criterium du Dauphine after Colombia’s Nairo Quintana won the sixth and penultimate stage in Morzine, France, on Saturday.
Wiggins went into this mountainous 167.5km run leading the general classification by 38 seconds from Germany’s Tony Martin.
However, after crossing the line in fourth behind Quintana, Cadel Evans and Daniel Moreno, the Team Sky star extended his lead going into yesterday’s final stage with a 1 minute, 20 second cushion over his teammate, Australian Michael Rogers.
Evans, the defending Tour de France champion, attacked twice in a bid to close his gap: the first time over the the top of the Col de Joux-Plane, the sixth and last climb, and then again at the finish to finish second on the stage behind Quintana.
He is now third overall at 1:36, but had been hoping for more.
“I was hoping for a little bit of a chance for the stage [win],” said Evans, who won the opening stage on Monday last week from a three-man sprint. “But I also heard Tony Martin was dropped on the Joux-Plane and I wanted to maintain the gap on him.”
The 22-year-old Quintana made his decisive move 5km from the summit finish, reeling in leader Brice Feillu 2km from the line.
Of the stage winner, Movistar’s sporting director Yvon Ledanois said: “He’s a pure climber, but he also knows how to do other things.”
Wiggins, ably aided by his teammates, now looks poised to defend his Dauphine title.
“When Cadel attacked, he took a small lead, but I didn’t want to take any risks. It’s not a problem to give him 25 or 30 seconds,” the Olympic track champion said.
Yesterday’s closing seventh stage is a 124.5km ride between here and Chatel.
With yesterday’s closing stage less difficult than the sixth stage, the feeling is that Evans — a four-time runner-up — has lost his chance.
“It’s a short stage, but it can be nervous with an arrival at the top, but not as long of a climb as the final one today,” BMC sports director John Lelangue said.
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barça secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barça a 2-0 win over
RSS