Hulking Italian sprinter Jonathan Milan on Monday surged away from the pack to win the second stage of the Criterium de Dauphine in Issoire, France, to take the overall lead from Tadej Pogacar.
The 1.93m, 87kg Milan had to battle to keep up on a hilly 204.6km run through central France from Premilhat. When the pack hit the home straight, he rocketed away from his rivals to collect a 10-second victory bonus and the yellow jersey.
“That was really tough,” Milan said. “I was dropped at one point, and I was really on the limit, but I have to say thanks to my teammates, because they brought me back and guided me until the last meters.”
Photo: AFP
Briton Fred Wright was second and Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel was third.
Pogacar and his main rivals for overall victory, both in the Criterium and the Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, rolled home safely in the main pack just behind Milan. Pogacar, who collected a 10-second bonus on Sunday, has the same overall time as Milan, but braked hard in the final meters to surrender places and hand the Italian the tiebreak edge and the daily media responsibilities that go with the yellow jersey.
The eight-day race, with four hilly stages, a time trial and three final days in the Alps, has attracted 154 riders from 22 teams.
It offers Tour de France contenders a chance to hone their form and gain a psychological edge before the main event starts on July 5. Pogacar, who won his third Tour de France last year ending Vingegaard’s two-year reign, had struck the first blow the previous day, edging the Dane to take the opening stage and the overall lead.
On Monday, support riders for Pogacar’s Team UAE and Vingegaard’s Visma spent much of the stage jostling for position at the front of the pack. The stage was briefly animated when local boy Romain Bardet, riding the final race of his 14-year professional career, launched an attack on the last small climb just before a corner where his fan club was waiting with a banner.
Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday fought through a second-set slump to post a roller-coaster 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Damir Dzumhur in his opening match at the Cincinnati Open. The Spaniard, playing his first tournament since losing to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final, raced through the first set, but completely lost his way in the second, dropping his serve twice against the 33-year-old Bosnian. Alcaraz regained his intensity and cut down his errors in the third set as a seventh ace took him to a match point that was converted when Dzumhur fired wide. “It was just a roller coaster,” said the second
Taiwan’s men’s basketball team on Monday clinched a spot in the FIBA Asia Cup quarter-finals with a 78-64 win over Jordan in Saudi Arabia, securing their best finish in the tournament since placing fourth in 2013. The win was sweet revenge for Taiwan, who were denied a quarter-final spot by Jordan at the same stage of the previous Asia Cup in 2022 after blowing a nine-point lead in the final minute and losing 97-96 on a half-court buzzer-beater. “History is part of the journey,” Taiwan head coach Gianluca Tucci said when asked about the 2022 collapse of the team, who he did
Defending champions Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday led the way into the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals, with Carlos Alcaraz hot on their heels after a straight-sets victory of his own. Sinner shrugged off a mid-match weather delay lasting nearly three hours as he advanced 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) over Adrian Mannarino. Alcaraz, the second seed who has reached the final in his past six tournaments, hammered Italian lucky loser Luca Nardi 6-1, 6-4. After sweeping the opening set in 28 minutes, Alcaraz hit a speed bump, dropping his serve to trail 2-4. He promptly regained the break, then fought through a marathon ninth game
NEXT ROUND: World No. 1s Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka opened their title defenses with straight-sets wins, while Iga Swiatek and Taylor Fritz also advanced Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka got their title defenses off to smooth starts as they powered into the third round of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Saturday. The men’s and women’s top seeds, each ranked No. 1 in the world, were both competing for the first time since Wimbledon, where Sinner lifted the title and Sabalenka bowed out in the women’s semi-finals. Sinner crushed Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan 6-1, 6-1 in steamy afternoon weather, while Sabalenka beat 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 6-1 under the lights of the night session. Sabalenka needed 54 minutes and a service break in the final game
RSS