Alaphilippe wins the stage, Van Avermaet keeps Tour lead
LE GRAND-BORNAND, FRANCE » Julian Alaphilippe claimed the first mountain leg of this Tour de France on Tuesday, while Greg Van Avermaet kept the overall lead for a seventh consecutive day.
Alaphilippe, a French rider for Quick-Step, won the 98.5-mile ride from Lake Annecy that included climbs over four major Alpine passes before a descent to Le Grand-Bornand in around 41/2 hours.
Olympic champion Van Avermaet got into an early breakaway and held on to increase his lead over Geraint Thomas, a Sky teammate of defending champion Chris Froome, to 2 minutes, 22 seconds.
Alejandro Valverde of Movistar moved into third overall at 3:10 off the pace. Jakob Fuglsang of Astana was next at 3:12.
Froome is 3:21 behind Van Avermaet after recovering from a punctured tire atop the second of the stage’s ascents, finishing with Thomas and most of the top contenders.
Alaphilippe got his first Tour win after he attacked on the third ascent up the category-one Col de Romme and increased his lead over the Col de la Colombiere before the final downhill finish.
He crossed the line more than a minute ahead of Jon Izaguirre in second. That gave him extra time to soak up the applause from the French fans for the country’s first winner in this race, two days after France won the World Cup.
“I have no words. To get a victory at the Tour de France was a dream for me,” Alaphillipe said. “Everything went through my head, all the work, my family.”
FFA cool on Bolt’s A-League bid
SYDNEY » Football Federation Australia has responded cautiously to reports Usain Bolt hopes to play for the Central Coast Mariners in the A-League.
Reports on Tuesday said the 31-year-old Bolt, an eight-time Olympic sprint gold medalist, has agreed to trial with the Mariners next month and may receive a one-season A-League contract if he impresses.
However, in order to make a deal possible the FFA would have to top any salary offered to Bolt from its $3 million fund to attract “marquee” players. The Mariners owner reportedly has offered to meet 70 percent of Bolt’s salary but the FFA’s contribution might still be around $900,000.
In a statement late Tuesday, the FFA said, “While Usain Bolt is one of the most famous athletes on the planet, he’s not a professional footballer.
“If the trial goes ahead and Central Coast Mariners decided it stacks up and they want to offer him a contract, then we will have a discussion with them around that and what might be possible.”
Joshua can’t escape talk of Wilder
NEW YORK » Anthony Joshua was welcomed by applause on the stage. He stood front and center, promoting his Sept. 22 bout against Alexander Povetkin (34-1, 24 KOs).
Even there, he couldn’t escape talk of the heavyweight he isn’t fighting. Someone in the crowd jumped at the opportunity and shouted, “AJ, we want Wilder!”
“Let them train to be a fighter and fight (Deontay) Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs),” Joshua told AP. “It’s easy talking about it. It’s another thing doing.”
But with his hands on his hips, Joshua (21-0, 20 knockouts) looked in the direction of the outburst and stoically mouthed, “Same.”
Meanwhile, Povetkin was standing off to the side. Povetkin and Joshua were both in the West Village on Tuesday for the launch party of DAZN, a global sports streaming service. Its first event is their fight.