Alexandre Geniez of France on Monday held off an attack by the title favorites on a brutal final climb to win the third stage of the Vuelta a Espana.
Geniez completed the hilly 176.4km ride along the Atlantic coast finishing at the Mirador de Ezaro summit in 4 hours, 28 minutes, 36 seconds. The FDJ rider collapsed to the ground after recording his second career win on the Spanish grand tour, needing several minutes to rest before stepping onto the podium.
Geniez compared the short, but very steep ascent to a “little Alpe d’Huez,” one of the classic mountain climbs of the Tour de France.
Photo: EPA
“I worked very hard to arrive to the Vuelta in good shape,” he said. “The group didn’t increase its pace until late, and by then they couldn’t do anything.”
Ruben Fernandez crossed 21 seconds later and took the overall lead. He claimed the red jersey after leading a late charge by Movistar that shook up the times among the contenders and dropped Alberto Contador even further off the lead.
Alejandro Valverde was third, just ahead of Tour de France champion Chris Froome and fellow race rivals Esteban Chaves and Nairo Quintana.
Valverde, the 2009 Vuelta winner, moved into second overall at seven seconds behind Fernandez. Froome is 11 seconds back, followed by Chaves and Quintana at 17.
Three-time Vuelta winner Contador could not stay with that bunch on the final ascent, which had a gradient that reached 30 percent.
After losing more ground, Contador was to start yesterday’s stage 1 minute, 31 seconds off the lead.
“It wasn’t a good day, but like I have said before, the Vuelta is far from over,” Contador said. “I am not satisfied, but I feel that my conditioning will improve over the coming days.”
Fernandez looked like he had the legs to catch Geniez, but the Spaniard let up momentarily when it appeared Quintana and Valverde could not keep up. When Movistar released him from pulling his leaders up the ascent, it was too late to catch Geniez.
“The idea was to work for Nairo and Alejandro, but at the end they told me to go for it,” Fernandez said.
Warren Barguil became the first rider to withdraw from the race, quitting because of a sinus infection.
Astana’s Miguel Angel Lopez crashed near the end of the stage. Lopez was named the team leader after Fabio Aru, winner of last year’s Vuelta, did not return for this edition.
Yesterday’s stage was to remain in the hilly northwestern coast, with a 163.5km ride from Betanzos to a summit finish at San Andres de Teixido.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
Italian defender Marco Curto has been banned for 10 matches for racially abusing South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan while playing for Como 1907 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a pre-season friendly in July. Curto, who is on loan from Como to Serie B club Cesena, would serve half of the punishment immediately with the other half suspended for two years. “The player Marco Curto was found responsible for discriminatory behavior and sanctioned with a 10-match suspension,” a FIFA spokesperson said. “The player is ordered to render community services and undergo training and education with an organization approved by FIFA.” Wolves said the club would
RSS