Pogacar dominates field in Giro time trial
It looks as though nobody will stop Tadej Pogacar from winning the Giro d'Italia on his debut, despite there being two weeks left of the Italian grand tour.
Pogacar blew everyone away on the seventh stage on Friday in winning the lengthy individual time trial, and strengthened his grip on the pink jersey.
The Slovenian star extended his overall lead to 2:36 over Daniel Martinez, and 2:46 over Geraint Thomas, who had been second at the start of the day, 46 seconds behind Pogacar. Two-time Tour de France winner Pogacar is attempting the Giro Tour double this year.
Time-trial specialist Filippo Ganna seemed on course for the victory and the Italian was practically celebrating in the leader's chair when Pogacar trailed him by 47 seconds at the start of the final six-kilometre climb to Perugia.
But Pogacar flew up the fourth-category climb to beat Ganna by 17 seconds, much to everyone's astonishment. A disappointed Ganna reportedly turned down interview requests as he walked away immediately after the stage ended. The stage was the first of only two time trials at this Giro and, at 41 km, was the longest at the Italian grand tour in nine years.
The Giro hits the high mountains on Saturday's eighth stage, which has been given a five-star rating for maximum difficulty. The race ends in Rome on May 26.
Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle was fined US$35,000 by the NBA on Friday for criticizing the officials and “questioning the integrity of the league” with his pleas for fairness for small-market teams.
Carlisle made his comments after the Pacers' 130-121 loss to the New York Knicks on Wednesday. He was called for two technical fouls and ejected late in the game as Indiana now trails the Eastern Conference semifinal 2-0.
Carlisle complained about a number of missed calls, which the Pacers subsequently sent to the league for review, and implied a bias in favour of New York.
“Small-market teams deserve an equal shot,” he said. “They deserve a fair shot, no matter where they are playing.”
On Thursday, the Pacers sent 78 plays they believed were officiated incorrectly from the first two games to the NBA office for review, a person with knowledge of the action said Thursday. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the Pacers nor the league publicly confirmed the plays were actually sent. Carlisle had said the Pacers identified 29 plays they felt were wrong in Game 1 — referees had already acknowledged one of them on a kicked ball violation they said was called incorrectly — and 49 more in Game 2. The series shifted to Indianapolis for Game 3 on Friday night.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag offered a defence of their worst season in decades Friday and argued the soccer club's owners will be sympathetic at the end of the campaign.
United plays host to title-chasing Arsenal on Sunday and sits outside the automatic European places after being routed 4-0 at Crystal Palace. Ten Hag's team faces Manchester City in the FA Cup final but even a victory on May 25 at Wembley Stadium might not save his job. Dutch countryman Louis van Gaal won the 2016 FA Cup and was fired two days later.