TAO USES HIS HART & SOUL
TAO GEOGHEGAN HART moved into a strong position to win the Giro d’Italia after claiming his second stage win in Sestriere.
The Londoner pipped his closest rival Jai Hindley over the line and will start today’s final individual time trial with the same time as his Australian rival.
Hindley did just enough to take the race leader’s Maglia Rosa from his Team Sunweb team-mate Wilco Kelderman, who had started the day with a 12-second lead but fell away on the penultimate lap.
Pushed along by his Ineos Grenadiers team-mate Rohan Dennis, who had relentlessly worked to split the leading contenders, Geoghegan Hart repelled a series of attempted breaks by Hindley before bursting over the line to claim the 10-second winner’s bonus.
The British rider, who outperformed Hindley by more than a minute in the previous time trial on stage 14, is now favourite to become the latest and arguably most unlikely British winner of a grand tour.
He said: “I’m very happy for myself, for my team and for the Giro.
“The time trial will be a matter of legs, the route is short, I hope to have a good day and a bit of luck, then we will see.”
Hindley, acutely aware of his relative limitations in the time trial, repeatedly tried to break clear of Geoghegan Hart to establish an advantage, only to be denied.
Hindley said: “Incredible, I have no words. From an early age I dreamed of wearing the Maglia Rosa, it’s a huge honour for me and I still don’t believe it. I’ll give my best in ITT.”
Geoghegan Hart, 25, will start as the unlikely favourite to win the Giro over the 15.7km course from Cernusco sul Naviglio to Milan.
GOLF
ROSS McGOWAN and Laurie Canter pulled clear of the field heading into today’s Italian Open final round.
A flurry of late birdies saw the English pair take a three-shot lead over South African Dean Burmester at Chervo Golf Club. With only one top-10 finish in the last four years, McGowan, 38, said: “I’m not getting any younger so it would be quite handy to win one nice and early.”
MOTOGP
ZOE BURNS
BY
JAPAN’S Takaaki Nakagami wants a first MotoGP win today after a pole at Aragon.
The LCR Honda IDEMITSU pilot became the first Japanese polesitter since Makoto Tamada in 2004.
Nakagami – fifth in the championship – said: “It’s an amazing feeling.”