Frenchman Arnaud Demare on Tuesday clinched a long-range, high-speed bunch sprint to win stage 10 of the Giro d’Italia on the cobbled streets of Modena.
The 27-year-old Groupama-FDJ sprinter timed his move to perfection as Italy’s Elia Viviani came second and early pacesetter Caleb Ewan finished fourth after a 60kph crash on the home straight took out German sprinter Pascal Ackermann.
Winner of two stages at this Giro and wearer of the sprint points jersey, Ackermann got back in the saddle and trundled across the line with the left side of his outfit in tatters, showing painful-looking grazes.
Ackermann still retained a slight advantage over Demare in the sprint points ranking and both riders intend, unlike many others, to finish the Giro in the hope of winning the cyclamen jersey.
For Demare, this was a first-ever Giro win, but the 27-year-old has been consistently in the mix on bunch sprints this year and in 2016 won the Milan-San Remo classic.
“We got it right today,” FDJ sports director Frederic Guesdon said after the race. “We had a good chat with him [Demare] on the rest day and got him in the right mood.”
Demare said that he had never let himself become downhearted watching others win.
“We came to the Giro for this. I really wanted a stage win and I got it in the end,” a delighted Demare said.
“I have been very good, but missed out for one reason or another,” he said. “The team never lost confidence in me either.”
“I had a good look at the final kilometer ahead of the start at Bologna [which is 20km away] and decided to take the wide side,” he added.
Italy’s Valerio Conti of UAE Team Emirates once again maintained his overall lead atop the general classification standings.
“I hope nothing bad happened to my teammate Simone Consonni in the crash,” Conti said at the winning post. “I have been well protected by my team the whole day. I thank them for giving me one more day in the maglia rosa.”
Yesterday’s 221km of racing was to be the final flat stage for the sprinters before the Giro heads to mountainous terrain.
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
A soccer jersey carrying a national map including disputed Western Sahara has become a hot commodity in Morocco after a diplomatic dispute with Algeria. Retailers said RS Berkane jerseys have been flying off the shelves after a Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup match against Algerian club USM Alger was canceled last month over the jerseys. “We are overwhelmed by the influx of messages and requests,” said Brahim Rabii, representative of the official RS Berkane jersey distributor. Algeria broke off diplomatic relations with Morocco in 2021, partly over the issue of Western Sahara. The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco, but claimed