Aru beats Froome in first mountain stage of Tour
CHAMPAGNEY, FRANCE » After losing two of its biggest stars in one horror crash, the Tour de France needed a pick-me-up.
Italy’s Fabio Aru answered the call.
On the first mountain climb of this 104th Tour, after the lower altitudes where Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan were forced out of the race — the first with a broken shoulder, the second disqualified — Aru showed Wednesday he could be the man to beat by leaving three-time champion Chris Froome in his wake.
Making up for the bitterness in May of missing his home grand tour, the Giro d’Italia, Aru zoomed away from Froome and other top riders yearning to ride into Paris in the yellow jersey on July 23. The punishing climb to the Planches des Belles Filles ski station in eastern France’s Vosges mountains was made to look like a mere speed bump.
Froome played down Aru’s show of strength in winning Stage 5, noting there are still 16 more days of racing to go. But 32-year-old veteran also acknowledged making a rookie’s mistake. “This is going to be the hardest-fought battle I’ve had,” he said. “We definitely cannot give Fabio that kind of space again.”
NHL: Oilers sign McDavid to $100M deal
EDMONTON, ALBERTA » The Edmonton Oilers paid a huge price to lock up superstar captain Connor McDavid.
But it could have been even higher. The Oilers said the team and McDavid have agreed to an eight-year, $100 million extension.
That makes the 20-yearold league MVP the highest-paid player in the NHL on an annual basis ($12.5 million per season), but it’s about $750,000 a year less than what reports last week figured he would be getting.
“It easily could have been a lot higher in value and shorter in term,” Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli said. NEW YORK » The Rangers re-signed restricted freeagent forward Jesper Fast and signed free-agent center David Desharnais.
Fast, who won his second straight Players’ Player Award for team play this past season, got a three-year contract worth $1.85 million annually. Desharnais, 30, has played in 453 games over parts of eight seasons with Montreal and Edmonton, with 81 goals and 173 assists.
Golf: McIlroy takes break from social media
PORTSTEWART, NORTHERN IRELAND » Rory McIlroy is taking a break from social media after getting embroiled in a Twitter spat with fellow golfer Steve Elkington.
After McIlroy missed the cut by four shots at the U.S. Open last month, Elkington, a former U.S. PGA champion, tweeted that the Northern Irishman was “bored” of playing golf because he had plenty of money in the bank.
Four-time major winner McIlroy sent a tweet in response, before posting a screenshot of his Wikipedia entry which lists some of his achievements in the game.
“I sort of regret sending it at the end,” McIlroy said Wednesday, “but I actually gave my wife, Erica, my phone and my Twitter and told her, ‘Change my password to something else and don’t tell me what it is.’
NFL: Cowboys’ Wilson arrested
FRISCO, TEXAS » Dallas Cowboys linebacker Damien Wilson has been arrested on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he was accused of backing his truck into a woman and threatening a man with a rifle during a dispute with some tailgaters.
Frisco police said Wilson was arrested Tuesday outside of Toyota Stadium during the city’s Fourth of July celebration.