Cavendish sprints to victory in Japan

Canadian Piccoli wins Tour of Southland

Johnny Sauter, driver of the #21 ISMConnect Chevrolet, practices for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series JAG Metals 350 Driving Hurricane Harvey Relief at Texas Motor Speedway on Nov 2, in Fort Worth, Texas.

(AFP)

Bell finished third, and is second behind Sauter in the playoff standings.

Two of the playoff drivers made critical mistakes in the race.

John Hunter Nemecheck was leading with 13 laps to go, but ran out of gas and was required to pit. He was then given a penalty for speeding out of the pit road

SAITAMA, Japan, Nov 4, (AFP): Britain’s Mark Cavendish produced a blistering late surge to win the Tour de France’s Saitama Criterium on Saturday, overshadowing crowd favourite Chris Froome in a sprint finish.

The Olympic medallist and 30-time Tour de France stage winner pipped Japanese riders Fumiyuki Beppu and Yusuke Hatanaka to claim victory in the fifth

and ended up finishing 19th.

Meanwhile, Kurt Busch went faster than anyone has ever gone in NASCAR Cup qualifying on a 1-1/2-mile track. While out of championship contention and uncertain who he will drive for next season, he is still trying to win

edition of the criterium, held just north of Tokyo.

Froome, who captured his fourth Tour de France title this year, had no response as Cavendish broke away from a peloton that also included Marcel Kittel and Greg van Avermaet to win the 19-lap race over a 3-km course. Meanwhile, Canada’s James Piccoli won the Tour of Southland Saturday, becoming only the fourth

races.

The top five all surpassed the previous qualifying record at the track, Tony Stewart’s 200.111 mph before the fall race three years ago.

Hamlin qualified at 200.617 mph, with the others going over 200 mph on

overseas rider to win New Zealand’s premier cycling race in its 61-year-history.

The 26-year-old Montreal native finished second in the 13 kilometer (8 miles) individual time trial Saturday morning, then defended his 35 second overall lead in the 77 kms (48 miles) final stage in the afternoon.

Piccoli claimed the tour leader’s yellow jersey after the fifth stage from Invercargill to Gore on Friday.

the high-banked track being Harvick (200.372 mph), Erik Jones (200.326 mph) and Kyle Busch (200.252 mph). Hamlin, Harvick and Kyle Busch, the only driver locked into a title shot at Homestead, are all championship contenders.