Canadian Svein Tuft, riding for Australian team Orica-GreenEdge, enjoyed a birthday to remember as the Giro d’Italia got under way in Belfast on Friday.
Tuft celebrated his 37th birthday by leading Orica-GreenEdge over the line at the end of the first stage of the prestigious event.
And since the Australian squad was the fastest of the twenty-two teams, completing the 21.7km course in 24 minutes, 42 seconds, it was Tuft who became the first wearer of the race leader’s pink jersey.
Photo: AFP
“It’s an amazing day that starts with a lot of stress and ends with this,” Tuft said. “It’s a crazy way to spend your birthday, but what a treat. I can’t thank my team enough for giving me this opportunity.”
Tuft admitted that his team planned for him to cross the line first, so that he would wear the “Maglia Rosa” should they win.
“They gave me the gift,” he said. “It was really a birthday present. This team is selfless that way, but I feel very fortunate to be given this gift on my birthday.”
Photo: AFP
He added that it was not just in recognition of his birthday, but also “for the last few years’ real dedication to this event.”
Tuft, a time trial specialist, was a member of the Orica team that won the team time trial in last year’s Tour de France, a race he eventually finished as lanterne rouge, last man.
While Tuft was on a high, there was a disaster for home favorite Dan Martin.
The Irishman, a stage winner in last year’s Tour de France, crashed heavily when his wheel appeared to slide on a wet manhole cover, bringing down four of his Garmin-Sharp teammates.
It was Martin’s second cruel disappointment in a month, after a crash on the final corner of Liege-Bastogne-Liege late last month ended his chances of defending the title.
His fall in Belfast saw him taken to hospital with a suspected broken collar-bone, ending his Giro just fifteen minutes after it started.
Orica’s win continued their good record in this discipline after their close victory in the team time trial at last year’s Tour de France.
Their win in Belfast was a lot more comfortable and convincing, but the Australian squad was blessed with some good fortune.
They were the second team to start from the Belfast Waterfront as a strong wind swirled and dark clouds threatened rain.
The rain began to fall halfway through their ride and became heavier as the 20 remaining teams headed out on a course that looped out of the city to Stormont Castle before returning to the waterfront.
The poor weather, which didn’t deter crowds described by Tuft as “truly impressive, the entire course was lined four or five deep,” meant that some of the favorites’ teams were cautious and lost time, including those of two of the pre-race favorites, Nairo Quintana of Colombia and Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain, whose Movistar and Katusha teams lost 55 seconds and 1 minute, 33 seconds respectively.
Tuft acknowledged the difficult conditions.
“The wind was never coming from one area, it was always blustery so it made for quite a difficult time as a nine-man group on narrow corners,” Tuft said.
“It makes for quite a dangerous course. You can never overlap wheels. As we saw with Garmin, you have one mistake and you really pay,” he said.
The rain eased for the final few teams, including BMC, with Australia’s 2011 Tour de France winner, Cadel Evans.
They rode strongly to finish third just seven seconds slower than Orica.
Belgium’s Omega Pharma-QuickStep team was second, five seconds down, and there was better news for the other great Irish hope, Nicolas Roche, whose Tinkoff-Saxo team was fourth, 23 seconds behind the winners.
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
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS