Neuville pips Ogier to win Rally of Italy
Belgian now 27 pts clear of reigning champion
ROME, June 10, (RTRS): Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville extended his lead in the World Rally Championship after beating M-Sport Ford rival Sebastien Ogier by a fraction of a second in a nail-biting finale in Sardinia on Sunday.
The Belgian went into the final 6.96km stage of the Italian event with eight tenths to make up on the reigning champion, who had started the day 3.9 seconds clear, and emerged triumphant with an advantage of 0.7.
The winning margin, after 313.46km of competitive stages over the dusty, rocky tracks of the Mediterranean island, was the third smallest in the 45-year history of the world championship.
Finnish driver Espekka Lappi finished third for Toyota, his first podium of the season, while New Zealander Hayden Paddon was fourth for Hyundai.
The results remained provisional, with France’s five-times world champion the greatest success of his professional career, topping even his Paris-Nice victory in 2016.
He follows in the footsteps of compatriots Bradley Wiggins, who won the race twice, and three-time winner Chris Froome.
Thomas took overall honours by 1min from Yates with Bardet 1min 47sec back in this tune-up for the Tour de France, which gets under way on July 7.
Yates, of Mitchelton-Scott, pulled clear of Spanish rider Dani Navarro 50m from the line at the finish to the 136km closing day’s ride to the ski resort of Le Bettex.
As for Thomas, his final day was blighted by two punctures.
After catching up with the main leaders with 30km remaining, he crossed the line a handful of seconds off the pace without ever being in danger of losing possession of the yellow jersey.
Thomas would normally expect to be a domestique for four-time champion Froome at the Tour but victory at the Criterium against potential Tour contenders, coupled with the uncertainty surrounding Froome’s adverse analytical finding from a drug test last year, means the Welshman could yet be riding for his own glory next month.
In Lausanne, triple world champion Peter Sagan won the second stage of
Race winner Britain’s Geraint Thomas, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey (center), stage winner and overall second-placed Great Britain’s Adam Yates (left), and third-placed France’s Romain Bardet (center), pose on the podium after the seventh and last stage of the 70th edition of the Criterium du Dauphine cycling race between Moutiers and Saint-Gervais
Mont-Blanc on June 10. (AFP)
the Tour de Suisse on Sunday as Stefan Kung extended his overall lead.
Sagan edged a sprint finish at the end of the 155km street circuit stage around Frauenfeld, with Colombian Fernando Gaviria second and Nathan Haas of Australia third.
Kung had started the day in the leader’s jersey after his BMC team won Saturday’s opening stage team time-trial but he extended his advantage by taking bonus seconds in an intermediate sprint during the stage.
He now leads BMC team-mates Greg Van Avermaet, the Olympic champion, and Richie Porte, the Australian contender for overall victory, by three seconds.
The victory was Sagan’s fifth this year but first since he triumphed at the prestigious one-day cobbled classic Paris-Roubaix in April. It was also his 16th stage win at the Tour de Suisse.
Monday’s third stage is a hilly 182km from Oberstammheim to Gansingen.
The race finishes next Sunday with an individual time-trial following three days of mountain stages.
Belgian driver Thierry Neuville and compatriot co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul race their Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC during the Micky’s Jumps at Monte Lerno, on the third day of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship in Sardinia on June 9, near Pattada village, Sardinia. (AFP)