Italian Elia Viviani of Cannondale Pro Cycling outsprinted Belgium’s Gianni Meersman and Tony Gallopin of France to win the second stage of the Criterium du Dauphine after 191km from Chatel to Oyonnax, France, on Monday.
Canadian David Veilleux of Europcar, the winner of the first stage, retained the overall leader’s jersey.
It was the 24-year-old Viviani’s first win this season and it came after he twice finished second to sprint king Mark Cavendish at last month’s Giro d’Italia.
Photo: AFP
With few top sprinters at the hilly, week-long stage race, which serves as a key buildup to the Tour de France later this month, Viviani imposed himself easily in the sprint finish, helped by the fact that the peloton was reduced in size due to a lumpy final 60km, which had removed French champion Nacer Bouhanni and Norwegian counterpart Thor Hushovd from the reckoning.
It was his participation in the Giro that Viviani believes gave him the edge over his rivals.
“The distance was an advantage. Coming from the Giro, I had more reserves than the others,” said one of the new generation of Italian sprinters, hoping to fill the void left by greats Mario Cipollini and Alessandro Pettachi.
Photo: AFP
“I came to the Dauphine for two reasons, firstly so the team would have a leader as the others are riding the Tour of Switzerland and also to have the chance of winning, which I had yet to do this season,” Viviani said. “At the Giro I was twice second behind Mark Cavendish, who was in great form. It was difficult to beat him, but after the Giro I recovered well and remained concentrated.”
On a stage including six categorized climbs, although none too taxing, a four-man breakaway tried their luck, but Veilleux’s Europcar team never let them get too far down the road as they worked hard to keep hold of the leader’s jersey.
“My teammates did a great job, I owe them one. We let a four-man break get away and we managed it well,” said the Canadian, who did not expect to hold onto his lead for more than another 24 hours. “We hope to keep the jersey tomorrow [Tuesday], but Wednesday’s time trial, we’ll see.”
In the finale, Cofidis teammates Rudy Molard of France and Estonian Rein Taaramae both had a solo crack for home, as did Juan Antonio Flecha, but none could make it stick on a speedy finish to the stage.
Yesterday’s third stage saw the riders tackle a 167km course from Amberieu-en-Bugey to Tarare, France.
SANTAMBROGIO DOPING
AP, AIGLE, Switzerland
Giro d’Italia stage winner Mauro Santambrogio tested positive for EPO in a sample given on the opening day of the race last month, cycling’s governing body announced on Monday.
Santambrogio joined his Vini Fantini-Selle Italia teammate and fellow Italian Danilo di Luca in failing doping tests involving the banned blood-boosting hormone in connection with the country’s signature race.
“At this point I should quit cycling because you really can’t trust the riders,” Vini Fantini team director Luca Scinto said at the Italian cycling federation, where he was attending a hearing on the Di Luca case. “If I had [Santambrogio] within my hands now I would hit him. At this point we’re all finished. I had spoken to Santambrogio before the Giro and I told him that there were some rumors going around about him. A lot of people were saying he’s riding too fast, but he was explicit and guaranteed me he was clean, and said that he was offended by my request for an explanation. ‘Luca, it’s just envy,’ he told me and I always defended him.”
The International Cycling Union (UCI) said it had provisionally suspended the 28-year-old Santambrogio and asked the Italian cycling federation to prosecute a disciplinary case.
“I can only say that I’m incredulous about what happened and I will ask for a ‘B’ test as soon as possible,” Santambrogio told ANSA news agency.
Santambrogio faces being stripped of his victory in the tough and mountainous stage 14 and his ninth-placed finish overall.
“Evidently, some cyclists haven’t understood and still hope to ruin things at the cost of everyone else,” Italian cycling federation president Renato di Rocco said. “It happened to be that today we were having hearings on the Di Luca case, so the news of his teammate will prompt us to widen and deepen our inquiry.”
Di Rocco added that the federation could also sue for damages to protect the image of Italian cycling.
The UCI said Santambrogio tested positive in a urine sample given on May 4, the first stage of the three-week race.
On May 18, he rode through treacherous weather conditions into Bardonecchia to beat eventual overall winner Vicenzo Nibali for the stage win. It was the biggest success of Santambrogio’s career.
Two days before Nibali completed his victory, 2007 Giro winner Di Luca was also announced to have tested positive for EPO in a sample given days before the race.
Di Luca was pulled from the Giro and fired by the Vini Fantini team. The 37-year-old rider faces a lifetime ban for a third offense.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
Batting great Virat Kohli yesterday announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket, just days before India name their squad for a tour to England. Kohli, who scored 9,230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85, posted his decision on Instagram five days after India captain Rohit Sharma called time on his own Test career. Since making his debut in 2011, Kohli struck 30 hundreds and 31 fifties with a highest score of 254 not out, mainly batting at number four in the order. “It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket,” the
RSS