Sorenstam leads LPGA event

Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam was back on top of an LPGA Tour leaderboard Wednesday, teaming with Madelene Sagstrom in the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational in Midland, Mich.

Sorenstam and Sagstrom shot a 5-under 65 in alternate-shot play at Midland Country Club for a share of the first-round lead with Pauline Roussin and Dewi Weber.

Sorenstam and Sagstrom, played alongside Lexi Thompson and Brittany Altomare, with the Americans shooting 71.

Sorenstam, 51, is making her second LPGA Tour start of the season and only her third since retiring after the 2008 season.

Dane passes champion at Tour de France

The first big mountain stage shook things up at the Tour de France as defending champion Tadej Pogacar wilted toward the end of Wednesday’s 11th stage and lost the yellow jersey.

Jonas Vingegaard and his team, Jumbo-Visma, were the big winners on the stage as the Danish rider claimed the famed jersey from Pogacar, the two-time defending champion who had been the dominant rider but cracked in the final ascent on Wednesday and fell more than 2 minutes behind.

Vingegaard and his teammates put on an impressive collective display throughout the day, with clever tactics early in the race and multiple attacks that ultimately unsettled Pogacar.

Vingegaard moved away from Pogacar in the brutal climb to the top of the Col du Granon to enjoy a winning finish to an epic day in the Alps. The 152-kilometer stage featured two other monster ascents, the daunting Col du Telegraphe and Col du Galibier.

It was Vingegaard’s first stage win at cycling’s biggest race. The Danish rider was runner-up last year in the general classification behind Pogacar.

“When I attacked I felt he was going to crack,” Vingegaard said. “This time I wanted victory. And I succeeded, and now I have the yellow jersey to keep on fighting all the way to Paris.”

Vingegaard was first at the summit, 59 seconds ahead of Nairo Quintana, with Romain Bardet in third place, 1:10 behind. Geraint Thomas, the 2018 Tour winner, was fourth, 1:38 behind.

After 11 stages, Vingegaard leads Bardet by 2 minutes, 16 seconds. Pogacar moved down to third, 2:22 back.

With his teammate Primoz Roglic, Vingegaard relentlessly attacked Pogacar in the thin air. But every time they tried to isolate the leader from the UAE-Emirates team on the Galibier — the highest point of this year’s route at 2,642 meters above sea level — the Slovenian rider responded.

Pogacar even smiled at TV cameras at the foot of the punishing final climb. Guided by teammate Rafal Majka, Pogacar rode at the front of the main contenders group but the JumboVisma riders’ attrition work finally paid off.

“On the Galibier, over the top, he was very strong,” Vingegaard said. “I was insecure whether he was going full gas or not. Then I thought that, if I didn’t try all out, I was never gonna win. And of course a second place is nice, but I did it last year already.”

When Vingegaard attacked again with 5 kilometers to go, Pogacar just couldn’t respond.

ACFC game postponed due to COVID-19

Angel City Football Club’s game Friday at North Carolina was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols. The game will now be played Sept. 14. Angel City will return to action July 30 at Banc of California Stadium against OL Reign.

• French senators said the chaos outside the national stadium that marred the Champions League soccer final was due to a series of mistakes by police and officials — and not the actions of previously blamed Liverpool fans — with “malfunction at every stage” before, during and after the game.

The senators made a series of recommendations to fix problems ahead of the Rugby World Cup next year and the 2024 Olympics that France will host. The findings of a report into the May 28 final were released after the fiasco drew worldwide attention to heavy-handed policing and raised questions about how France manages security at big events.

Laurent Lafon, the head of one of the Senate commissions involved in the fact-finding mission, urged French authorities to draw lessons from the multiple incidents.

Since the final, where kickoff was delayed by more than 30 minutes, French senators have quizzed supporters and officials. Introducing their findings, Lafon blamed a general lack of coordination and authority, saying there was “malfunction at every stage” of the final.

UEFA has also started gathering evidence about issues that marred one of the world’s biggest games in sports. Real Madrid went on to beat Liverpool 1-0 in the final.

Lafon also apologized to Liverpool and Real Madrid fans, saying they were victims and not responsible for the events as French authorities had initially suggested.

France’s interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, initially maintained that the presence of up to 40,000 supporters — allegedly mainly Liverpool fans — without tickets or with forged tickets led to the incidents that marred the event. But only 2,471 forged tickets were identified at the Stade de France.

Darmanin also said that dispersing the crowd that had amassed near the stadium’s fences with tear gas was the only way to prevent people getting crushed.

Many supporters also complained about thefts and assaults after the match as they left the stadium.

Francois-Noel Buffet, the president of the Senate’s law commission, said fans’ security was not sufficiently ensured, noting that police forces struggled to put an end to the petty crime that took place around the stadium. He said this should have been foreseen and better handled.

Senators also criticized the decision by the police prefecture to set up a prefiltering system of fans designed to prevent terror attacks in combination with ticket checks by stewards. Buffet said this had unintentionally created a bottleneck, and should not be repeated in the future.

Lafon also criticized the ticketing system by UEFA and said paper tickets were easily forged.

The Paris police chief, Didier Lallement, previously justified the pepper spraying of fans, many with families, amid the chaos. Lafon said Lallement had a clear responsibility in the failure, and Buffet recommended more clarity over when the use of tear gas was justified.

Champion wrestler leaves Oklahoma St.

A.J. Ferrari, an NCAA champion with Oklahoma State who suffered seasonending head and leg injuries in a vehicle collision this past season, is no longer with the program.

The school announced his departure but did not provide details. But court records in Payne County, Okla., show that a judge granted a woman a protective order against Ferrari last week.

Ferrari was the 2021 NCAA champion in the 197-pound weight class.

In January, Ferrari and Oklahoma State runner Isai Rodriguez were returning to Stillwater following an appearance at a youth wrestling practice in nearby Cushing. Ferrari tried to pass three cars while cresting a hill in a no-passing zone, according to the state patrol, and his 2019 Dodge Durango collided with another vehicle, left the road, rolled and landed in a ditch.

Patriots trade Harry

The New England Patriots traded the wide receiver N’Keal Harry, a 2019 firstround pick, to Chicago for a seventh-round pick in 2024.