Tony Martin powered Omega Pharma-Quick Step to their second consecutive title in the team time trial as the UCI Road World Championships began on Sunday.
Omega edged Orica GreenEDGE by a minuscule 0.81 seconds over the 57km route from Montecatini Terme to Florence, Italy, clocking 1 hour, 4 minutes and 16.81 seconds.
Team Sky, featuring this year’s Tour de France winner Chris Froome, but without last year’s Tour champion Bradley Wiggins, finished third, 22.55 seconds behind.
For Omega, the victory was a measure of revenge for a one-second loss to Orica in a team time trial at this year’s Tour.
“We know how it feels like to lose at the very last minute,” Omega team director Tom Steels said.
Germany’s Martin, who has won the individual time trial at the worlds for the past two years, led a team that included Sylvain Chavanel of France, Michal Kwiatkowski of Poland, Niki Terpstra of the Netherlands, Kristof Vandewalle of Belgium and Peter Velits of Slovakia.
Omega trailed Orica at one checkpoint.
“Hearing that Orica overtook us worked like a wake-up call,” Martin said.
BMC Racing Team, with US standouts Taylor Phinney and Tejay van Garderen, finished fourth, while RadioShack-Leopard Trek, with Switzerland star Fabian Cancellara, came in fifth.
There was also a successful title defense in the women’s event, with Team Specialized-lululemon from the US winning again.
Lisa Brennauer and Trixi Worack of Germany; Katie Colclough of Britain; Carmen Small and Evelyn Stevens of the US; and Eleonora van Dijk of the Netherlands clocked 51 minutes, 10.69 seconds along the 43km route from Pistoia to Florence.
Dutch team Rabobank-Liv/giant, featuring Olympic and two-time road world champion Marianne Vos, finished a distant second at 1 minute, 11.09 seconds behind, while Orica-AIS of Australia were third, 1:33.83 back.
The championships conclude on Sunday next week.
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time at the end of normal time as ugly scenes broke out in the stands. However, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved the weak attempted “Panenka” chip by the Real Madrid winger, who was clearly distracted by the long delay that followed the penalty award.
James Harden on Friday scored 31 points and came up big in overtime to help the Los Angeles Clippers erase a double-digit deficit on the way to a 121-117 NBA victory over the Toronto Raptors. Harden scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Clippers pushed their wining steak to five games despite the absence of star Kawhi Leonard with a sprained right ankle. The Clippers trailed by 11 entering the fourth quarter, but Harden drilled a pair of free-throws with 1:24 left in regulation to tie it and after misses from both teams, they went to
Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg on Wednesday was ruled out for the second half of their 118-109 loss to the Denver Nuggets after the No. 1 pick sprained his left ankle in the first half. Flagg was called for a foul while defending against Peyton Watson and turned the ankle as he fell to the floor with 6 minutes, 1 second left in the second quarter. Flagg limped to the bench and continued to the locker room, but returned for the final 2 minutes, 35 seconds before the break. The 19-year-old did not come out for the second half before the announcement that
Yassine Bounou on Wednesday saved two penalties, while Youssef en-Nesyri netted the decisive spot-kick as hosts Morocco secured a 4-2 shoot-out victory over Nigeria following a 0-0 draw in a tense Africa Cup of Nations semi-final in Rabat. Morocco, seeking their first continental title in 50 years, are to face 2021 winners Senegal in Sunday’s decider in Rabat, while Nigeria take on Egypt in the third-place playoff tomorrow. The 120 minutes before the shoot-out had few clear-cut chances for either side, but it was Morocco who created more opportunities, although they were denied by some fine saves from Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali. Nigeria
RSS