French rider strong at Tour

As their country prepares to celebrate Bastille Day, Julian Alaphilippe and Thibaut Pinot were in the mood for fireworks a day in advance at the Tour de France.

Carrying the hopes of a country that has not seen a homegrown Tour winner in 34 years, the French pair emerged as the big winners on Saturday of the leg-punishing Stage 8 in Massif Central which saw Geraint Thomas crash and lose ground in the defense of his title.

After five hours of exhaustion on the saddle across seven short but punishing climbs, Alaphilippe claimed back the yellow jersey with one of his trademarks attacks, while Pinot asserted himself as a strong contender for the final victory by gaining time on Thomas and co.

A spectacular rider with an aggressive style, Alaphilippe is, however, limited in mountains and has no real hope of keeping the jersey to the end. But Pinot is in the form of his life. He can compete with the best above 2,000 meters, an asset giving him hope he can succeed cycling great Bernard Hinault, the last Frenchman to win the Tour in 1985.

NBA

Anthony Davis’ year of uncertainty finally felt finished when he stood in the Los Angeles Lakers’ training complex and proudly held up his new gold jersey while LeBron James looked on approvingly.

After months of upheaval around his departure from New Orleans, the superstar forward is looking forward to years of success and stability on the West Coast.

Sure, Davis knows the Lakers are rarely stable, and championships are the only success this franchise understands.

The six-time all-star can’t wait for the challenge of winning big in the Hollywood spotlight.

“The most difficult part for me was just not knowing,” Davis said. “When it was announced that I was being traded, I don’t want to say it was a relief, (but) it was something that I’d thought about for a long time. Obviously it was tough to leave the city I’d been playing in for seven years, but I think it was best for me.”

AUTO RACING

By only six milliseconds - 0.006 seconds - Lewis Hamilton was left in an unusual position: Missing out on pole for the British Grand Prix.

The pause was a lot longer when the Formula One leader was later surprised to be asked why “people question your Britishness” in the postqualifying news conference.

Look around Silverstone at the flags and banners and there is little doubt who the home crowd of more than 100,000 wants to win on Sunday.

But after being outpaced by Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton will not start from the front of the grid at the British GP for the first time since 2014.

IndyCar: Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud will start from the pole for the IndyCar race through the streets of Toronto.

Pagenaud has been on a tear around Exhibition Place all weekend as his Team Penske Chevrolet has been consistently fast and he paced Saturday morning’s final practice on the 11-Turn, 1.786-mile street course. Then he took pole in qualifying, edging out reigning series champion Scott Dixon for the top starting spot in Sunday’s race.

From Journal Sentinel wire reports