Bernal new leader of Tour de France
In an instant, the most exciting Tour de France in decades became bizarre and got a new leader — Egan Bernal of Colombia — who looks all but certain to hold the yellow jersey to Paris on Sunday.
A hailstorm threw the race into chaos, forcing organizers to cut short a stage in the high Alps because riders were speeding toward a road that had become covered with ice and giant puddles and cut in half by a rockslide.
Unable to reach the planned finish, riders had their placings decided on their time at the top of the highest mountain pass of this Tour — the Iseran — which leading riders, but not all, had just scaled when the race was stopped.
And just like that, Bernal found himself in the yellow jersey. He flew away from Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe, who had held the race lead for a total of 14 days.
Mi Hyang Lee surged to a four-under 67 to take a oneshot lead into the weekend at the LPGA’s Evian Championship in France . ... Wes Short Jr. shot his second straight three-under 67 to take a oneshot lead over Scott Dunlap after two rounds of the Senior British Open . ... Matthew Fitzpatrick shot a six-under 64 in the FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis, Tenn., to take a two-stroke lead at the World Golf Championships event . ... Tom Hoge topped the Barracuda Championship leaderboard with 21 points when second-round play in Reno, Nev., was suspended because of lightning and rain . ... Rose Zhang of Irvine and Briana Chacon of Whittier lost in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship in Stevens Points, Wis.
Dain Blanton, who won an Olympic gold medal for the U.S. in beach volleyball in 2000, was named coach of the USC women’s team after three years as an assistant. Blanton replaces Anna Collier, the only coach in the program’s eightyear history, who retired last month . ... Ranked No. 22, USC commits Delaynie Maple, 17, and Megan Kraft, 16, swept their matches at the AVP Hermosa Beach Open and advanced to Saturday’s winner elimination rounds.
The Clippers brought back center Johnathan Motley ona two-way contract and are adding two others — guards Derrick Walton Jr. and James Palmer — to their training camp roster, according to a person with knowledge of the situation but not authorized to speak publicly. — Andrew Greif Connecticut will pay a $17million exit fee to the American Athletic Conference to depart after the upcoming academic year and join the Big East next July. The football program will become an independent in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Top-seeded Dominic Thiem was upset by Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals of the Hamburg (Germany) European Open, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) . ... Top-seeded Kiki Bertens reached the semifinals of the Palermo (Sicily) Ladies Open.
Two Americans set world records at the championships in Gwangju, South Korea: Caeleb Dressel broke Michael Phelps’ record in the 100 butterfly and 17-year-old Regan Smith bested Misty Franklin’s mark in the 200 backstroke.
A third world record fell at the hands of Anton Chupkov of Russia in the 200 breaststroke. American Simone Manuel won the 100-meter freestyle for her second straight championship.
Christian Coleman cruised to the men’s 100-meter title at the U.S. championships in Des Moines, Iowa, in a final that Justin Gatlin elected to sit out.
The New York Rangers resigned restricted free-agent forward Pavel Buchnevich to a two-year, $6.5-million contract.