Richard Carapaz on Sunday regained the overall leader’s red jersey from Primoz Roglic in the Vuelta a Espana, opening up a 10-second advantage after stage 12 up the punishing Alto de l’Angliru, as Hugh Carthy pulled off a heroic solo victory.
Briton Carthy pulled clear of Aleksandr Vlasov and Enric Mas in the final kilometer just as the climb began to ease and accelerated toward the finish line to claim his first stage win at a Grand Tour.
Carthy crossed the line 16 seconds ahead of the Russian and the Spaniard, who came second and third, while Carapaz also finished 16 seconds down in fourth, but missed out on bonus seconds by failing to get on the podium.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“It’s a dream come true to win any professional race, but to win in a Grand Tour on a mythical climb, it doesn’t get any better than that,” Carthy said.
Ecuador’s Carapaz pulled off a series of attacks on Roglic over the final 2km and the Slovenian dug deep at first, before running out of energy as the gap widened, but he managed to limit the damage once the brutal climb lessened toward the summit.
“I’m very happy to wear the red jersey again. It’s a good thing for me, for the team, and for everything we’ve been doing,” Carapaz said. “I remembered it [the climb] from 2017, but it was incredible. I tried in the end, Mas and Carthy also went for it, and I continued with my pace and that gave me a 10-second advantage.”
Yesterday was the second rest day, with the action resuming today with an individual time trial.
Roglic will be extra keen to get a good result today after losing this year’s Tour de France in a time trial on the penultimate day.
The Slovenian, who has won three stages, including beating the sprinters to win stage 10, tried to look on the bright side after surrendering the lead.
“It was too hard a climb for a sprinter,” he said in jest. “I didn’t have the best day, but at the end it’s OK, I’m happy with it. Now we go on with the time trial on Tuesday. It definitely will be a really hard one. I will do my best and we will see after Tuesday.”
The national cricket body (CTCSA) yesterday presented plans to develop the sport in Taiwan, with hints that an Asian Games bid might be on the horizon. At a luncheon at the Orient Luxury Hotel in Chiayi City, CTCSA chairman Lu Jia-hong presented plans the association has to build cricket grounds in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township. The CTCSA said that the assistance of expat teams in Taiwan was crucial to its plans. Taiwan has upward of 13 cricket clubs, but only one dedicated ground — the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District. Lu said that the association is focused on gaining Asian Cricket Council
‘HUGE MISTAKE’: Boris Johnson pledged to support any effort to stop the breakaway league, while UEFA’s president said that the teams involved still had time to back out FIFA president Gianni Infantino yesterday said that breakaway European Super League clubs cannot be “half in, half out” of the established soccer system, while Real Madrid president Florentino Perez insisted he is trying to “save football” with the move. European soccer’s governing body UEFA has threatened to ban the 12 clubs, who include Manchester United and Real Madrid, from domestic and international competition, with Infantino adding his voice to the backlash. “We strongly disapprove ... if some go their own way then they must live with the consequences of their choice, either you are in, or you are out. You cannot be
TEAM ‘RESET’: Although it remains to be seen if Messi’s seventh Copa del Rey will be his last with Barca, the win has helped the team find its footing amid uncertainty Lionel Messi on Saturday scored twice, including a stunning solo goal, as Barcelona blew away Athletic Bilbao to win the Copa del Rey, consigning their opponents to a second final defeat in two weeks. The cup was won and lost in a whirlwind 12 minutes in Seville, which saw Barca score four times to clinch an emphatic 4-0 victory, with Messi at his devastating best. It remains to be seen if his seventh Copa del Rey triumph is the last trophy Messi lifts in Barcelona colors, but if this was to be a final flourish, the 33-year-old crafted a fitting farewell. “It’s very
‘CYNICAL PROJECT’: La Liga president Javier Tebas compared the 12 clubs to drunks leaving a bar at 5am ‘intoxicated with selfishness and a lack of solidarity’ Twelve of Europe’s most powerful clubs yesterday announced the launch of a breakaway European Super League (ESL) in a potentially seismic shift in the way soccer is run, but faced accusations of greed and cynicism. Six English Premier League teams — Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur — are involved, alongside Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Inter and AC Milan. The ESL said the founding clubs had agreed to create a “new midweek competition,” but would continue to “compete in their respective national leagues.” It said it hoped the inaugural edition would start “as soon as practicable.” Three more
RSS