Ineos duo set to duel at Tour de France
Thomas, Bernal favourites to pull away from pack
Team Ineos is already poised for a Tour de France triumph before the race even enters the high mountains after a brutal display of strength on the eve of the first rest day.
It had looked like it would be a tight battle between defending champion Geraint Thomas, his teammate Egan Bernal and in-form Thibaut Pinot, but the Frenchman was thrown off course by a gust of crosswind in Monday’s 10th stage.
Although the hardest part of the race is yet to come, the Ineos duo of Thomas and Bernal are second and third overall with yellow jersey holder Julian Alaphilippe of France not considered a threat for the title.
Thomas leads Bernal by four seconds and Pinot, who was 19 seconds ahead on Monday morning, is spending the rest day reflecting on a positioning error that caught him on the wrong end of a split.
He is now 11th, 1:21 behind Thomas, and it was a sobering moment for the French fans hoping for a first homegrown champion since Bernard Hinault in 1985.
Paris St. Germain has signed French defender Abdou Diallo on a five-year deal from German side Borussia Dortmund, the French champions said on Tuesday.
No financial details were disclosed, but media reports said the fee was worth about US$35.98 million.
“It is a great honour to be involved with such a prestigious club as Paris Saint-germain. I have always said that the Parisian project was very attractive,” the 23-yearold said in a statement on the club’s website.
Diallo joined Dortmund last season from Mainz 05 and went on to make 38 total appearances for the German side, which finished runner-up in the Bundesliga behind champions Bayern Munich.
Two Russian boxers serving doping suspensions have competed while banned, Reuters has found, highlighting inconsistencies in the country’s efforts to reform its anti-doping practices.
Competition records show Russian amateur boxers Islam Dashaev and Alena Tokarchuk fought in official tournaments last year despite bans announced by Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA, which is banned under international anti-doping rules.
These lapses in the enforcement of their bans suggest Russia, which says it has moved past its doping scandals, has yet to create an anti-doping culture in which all dopers are sidelined. RUSADA said it had been unaware of the cases and said, after Reuters asked about them, that it would investigate.
“We do not know the reasons why these suspended athletes took part in competitions that were held under the Russian Boxing Federation’s jurisdiction and with its support,” RUSADA deputy director general Margarita Pakhnotskaya said.
“The fact such athletes participated in competitions is alarming.”
Reuters was unable to reach the two boxers for comment.
Georgia freshman quarterback D’wan Mathis is on the mend from May brain surgery to remove a cyst, coach Kirby Smart said Tuesday at SEC Media Days in Hoover, Ala.
“D’wan is back in classes, he’s back in workouts, he’s doing a really good job for us,” Smart said.
Mathis took part in spring drills and in the G-day spring game, but then told team medical staff he was experiencing headaches.
Georgia medical director Ron Courson recognized the symptoms and got Mathis to the hospital, where an MRI showed fluid around his brain. He had surgery on May 23.
“We thank God for Ron Courson’s expertise and his medical team, because without them I don’t think all of this would have been possible for D’wan,” Terence Mathis, the quarterback’s father, told Dawgnation earlier this month. “I believe Georgia saved my son’s life.”
Doctors have given Mathis the go-ahead to run and lift weights, but he hasn’t been cleared for contact.