Colombia’s Nairo Quintana showed why he is touted as cycling’s next big thing by winning the Giro d’Italia on Sunday to follow up his runner-up finish in last year’s Tour de France in style.
The 24-year-old climbing specialist of Movistar won two stages and finished with a 2 minute, 58 second advantage over fellow Colombian Rigoberto Uran for his first Grand Tour victory.
“It’s really emotional,” Quintana said. “I didn’t think there would be so many Colombians here today [Sunday]. It was incredible seeing how much support and how many banners there were.”
Photo: EPA
One such banner held aloft during the podium celebration bore the Colombian flag along with the message: “The Giro is ours. Gracias muchachos [Thanks, guys].”
Astana rider Fabio Aru, a 23-year-old Italian also tipped as a future top rider, came third overall, 4:04 back.
Quintana took the pink jersey after winning the grueling 16th stage over the Gavia and Stelvio climbs, then also took the 19th leg, which was a mountain time trial.
Photo: EPA
Quintana finished second to Briton Chris Froome in last year’s Tour and said that while he is not planning to enter the race this year, he wants to win it next year.
Slovenia’s Luca Mezgec won the final stage in a mass sprint. The Giant-Shimano rider clocked 4 hours, 23 minutes, 58 seconds over the mostly flat 172km leg from Gemona del Friuli to Trieste, Italy.
Giacomo Nizzolo of Italy finished second and Tyler Farrar of the US was third, both with the same time as Mezgec.
Dressed in pink, Quintana finished in the middle of the peloton and pumped his fist as he crossed the line, then hugged his teammates when he got off his bike.
During the playing of the Colombian anthem, Quintana held his pink-clad baby daughter, Mariana.
Quintana is the first Colombian to win the race and, with Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Uran, complete a sweep of the top two spots. Another Colombian, Julian Arredondo, won the mountains classification.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos went to the winner’s hometown of Combita to watch the final stage with dozens of friends of the cyclist, who was raised by a family of peasant farmers.
Dressed in pink in a nod to the leader’s jersey, Santos said Quintana’s victory was an inspiration to millions of Colombians.
“I feel like the entire country is supporting me,” Quintana said numerous times during the race.
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
GUNNING FOR A WIN: The victory sending Arsenal to the final for the first time in six years was cathartic for a team who had lost their previous four semi-finals Arsenal on Tuesday reached the League Cup final for the first time in eight years as Kai Havertz sealed a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg. Mikel Arteta’s side had put themselves in pole position in the first leg and Havertz came off the bench to finish the 4-2 aggregate victory in the closing moments at the Emirates Stadium. It was a cathartic triumph for the Gunners, who had lost their previous four semi-finals in last year’s UEFA Champions League and League Cup, the 2022 League Cup and the 2021 UEFA Europa League. In their first final for six years,
SUPERSTAR DELIVERS: Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to propel the Spurs to a 135-123 victory over the Dallas Mavericks The Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday shook off the early exit of injured star Luka Doncic, rallying without him in the second half for a 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Austin Reaves, again coming off the bench in his second game back from a 19-game injury absence, scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, drilling a pair of back-to-back three-pointers to give the Lakers their first lead of the game early in the final frame. “Losing Luka, you know nothing’s going to be easy after that because he does so much for us, but we bonded together,” said
France head coach Fabien Galthie on Thursday lauded his team’s attacking performance after their dazzling 36-14 victory over Ireland in their Six Nations opener. A brace of tries from Louis Bielley-Biarrey and one from mercurial flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert helped France storm into a 29-0 lead before taking their foot off the gas and allowing Ireland back into the match, before winger Theo Attissogbe put some gloss on the victory late on. “In an attacking sense, with the ball, the team played with great accuracy,” Galthie said. “It was one of the most accurate attacking performances in a long time, despite the weather
RSS