Taco van der Hoorn, who was thinking of quitting cycling a few months ago, on Monday delivered a dramatic first Grand Tour win as he held off a chasing pack to take the third stage of the Giro d’Italia in Canale, Italy.
“Five months ago, I considered quitting cycling because I didn’t have a contract,” the 27-year-old Dutchman said. “Today I win a stage of the Giro. I can’t believe it.”
“After the finish I was thinking: ‘Is this real?” the Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux rider said on the podium.
Photo: AFP
The victory backed up the judgement of Van der Hoorn’s team, which is competing in its first major tour since Intermarche became the principal sponsor.
“Van der Hoorn likes to race against the clock, against the wind and against the peloton,” his biography on the team Web site says.
Asked about his goals for the rest of the race, Van der Hoorn said: “First I have to celebrate. This a dream come true. I have to celebrate it.”
Italian Davide Cimolai of Israel Start-Up Nation won the sprint for second, four seconds behind Van der Hoorn.
The stage had only a small effect on the overall standings as Filippo Ganna of Ineos Grenadiers increased his lead by three seconds to 16 seconds.
Edoardo Affini, an Italian with Team Jumbo-Visma who started the day closest to Ganna, was dropped on the climbs, allowing his Norwegian teammate Tobias Foss to inherit second place.
Behind them are two Deceuninck-Quick-Step riders, Belgian Remco Evenepoel and Portuguese Joao Almeida, both 20 seconds off the lead.
“I saw that Remco has fantastic legs,” Ganna said. “It will be difficult for me to defend the pink jersey.”
Ganna and the other favorites, including former Grand Tour winners Simon Yates of Team BikeExchange and Ineos’ Egan Bernal, finished safely in the main pack.
Van der Hoorn was part of a break that escaped the main pack 5km into the 190km stage. The breakaway disintegrated on the short sharp hills in the second half of the stage in the vineyards near Alba. With the pack closing on the two survivors, Van der Hoorn and Swiss rider Simon Pellaud of Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec kept riding.
“I didn’t believe when we had one minute with 25km,” Van der Hoorn said. “I just think that 0.5 per cent, it’s enough chance and I just take it.”
He was helped by a disorganized pursuit as the leading teams in the peloton waited for their rivals to do the work and close the gap.
“For me it was so surreal that I was there in front and the peloton was not coming back at me. I didn’t believe it,” Van der Hoorn said.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was