FROOME HELPS VIVIANI TO ROMANDIE WIN
Italian sprinter Elia Viviani missed the cut for Sky’s Giro d’italia line-up on Friday but bounced back by winning stage three of the Tour of Romandie in Switzerland.
As the poor weather of recent days cleared Viviani was helped out in his win in the 187km run around Payerne by Sky leader and three time Tour de France winner Chris Froome, who led out the sprint team and is favourite to emerge as overall winner come Sunday.
After he snatched the overall lead in the prologue on Tuesday another Italian, Fabio Felline, maintained that lead again Friday ahead of Germany’s Maximilian Schachmann and Spain’s Jesus Herrada.
Saturday’s race features four challenging mountain climbs and a summit finish but the final stage is an all-decisive go-forbust individual time trial around Lausanne and Lake Geneva.
RAPTORS BEAT BUCKS IN SIX GAMES TO ADVANCE
Demar Derozan delivered 32 points as the Toronto Raptors rebounded after blowing a 25-point second half lead to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks 92-89 to reach the second round of the NBA playoffs.
The Raptors used a 9-0 surge late in the fourth quarter at Milwaukee’s Bradley Center arena to win the first-round Eastern Conference series by eliminating the Bucks in six games.
Toronto advances to face the second-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round, a rematch of last season’s East finals.
Derozan led the way for Toronto on Thursday. He made 12-of-24 from the field, including a thunderous dunk with 48 seconds to play. Kyle Lowry added 13 points for the Raptors.
PARIS TO HOST EURO ATHLETICS IN 2020
Paris will host the European Athletics Championships in 2020, shortly after the conclusion of the Tokyo Olympic Games, European Athletics confirmed.
The 26th edition of the tournament will take place at the Charlety Stadium here from August
BAYERN BOSS BACKS UNDER-FIRE ANCELOTTI
Munich chairman Karl-heinz Rummenigge insists the German giants are backing head coach Carlo Ancelotti despite their Champions League and German Cup exits in a little over a week.
FIFA SEEKS BAN FOR EX-CARIBBEAN CHIEF
FIFA’S ethics watchdog said Friday it was seeking a fouryear ban against the former Caribbean