Spain’s Juan Jose Lobato del Valle swooped in the last 50m to win the second stage of the Tour Down Under in the South Australian town of Stirling yesterday.
Lobato del Valle came from 10th place in the closing stages to fly past South African Daryl Impey (Orica GreenEdge) at the end of the long uphill finish and win in 3 hours, 42 minutes, 24 seconds.
His Movistar teammate Gorka Izaguirre Insausti was third, just ahead of Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin).
“It was a very difficult finish for me, but I managed to come through towards the end, and it’s a good win for the team,” Lobato del Valle said. “We always come to this race with a great team, we like to ride well here and it’s important for us to do well in the Tour Down Under.”
Australia’s Jack Bobridge rode in with the peloton to maintain his hold on the ochre leader’s jersey after a day’s racing in perfect conditions on the testing course around the Adelaide Hills.
From the inner-city Adelaide start, the race stayed together until Cameron Meyer (Orica GreenEDGE) and Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal) broke clear after 18km. They were soon joined by Campbell Flakemore (BMC), with the trio opening a lead of almost four minutes by the 62km mark.
However, unlike on Tuesday when the peloton mistimed the chase and let the breakaway stay clear until the finish, this time the main teams were taking no chances.
The chase was organized by IAM and Team Sky, and steadily reeled in the leaders, catching them at the end of the second of two 20km laps around the countryside surrounding Stirling.
Calvin Watson (Trek Factory Racing) and Danilo Wyss (BMC) broke clear at the start of the last lap and stayed away for 10km, but they were caught at the bottom of the long uphill finishing stretch into Stirling.
IAM tried to set the race up for sprinter Heinrich Hessler, but most of the running was taken up by Garmin-Cannondale for Nathan Haas.
With an average speed of 43.5kph over the last climb into Stirling, the peloton was soon broken apart, but main general classification contenders Cadel Evans and Richie Porte managed to hang on.
Haas launched his bid for glory 400m out, but he was caught by Impey, who looked certain to take the win until Lobato del Valle’s late surge.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
AGING WELL: Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, 22, was sent packing after being dispatched by world No. 97, Laura Siegemund, the second-oldest player in the draw at 36 Novak Djokovic yesterday created a slice of Grand Slam history on his way into the Australian Open third round, but last year’s women’s finalist Zheng Qinwen was knocked out in the biggest shock so far. Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, in-form Coco Gauff, two-time Melbourne winner Naomi Osaka and a rampant Carlos Alcaraz were all victors on a rainy day four. Play was suspended on the outside courts for a couple of hours in the early evening because of the wet weather. That led to the rescheduling of a women’s doubles match between wild-cards Tsao Chia-yi of Taiwan and Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech and 11th
RSS