Lopez wins toughest Tour stage, Roglic keeps yellow jersey
Colombian rider Miguel Angel Lopez won the toughest mountain stage of this year’s Tour de France, while race leader Primoz Roglic added a few crucial seconds to his advantage over rival Tadej Pogacar.
Roglic finished 15 seconds behind Lopez in second place, while Pogacar trudged over the line 30 seconds behind Lopez in third.
The 105.4-mile trek’s final ascent to the Meribel ski station was the high point of this year’s race at 7.559 feet, winding up a Loze pass never before ridden and with tortuous gradients of 24%.
Defending champion Egan Bernal pulled out before Wednesday’s stage. The Colombian had been struggling since Friday’s stage in the Jura mountains, where he dropped more than seven minutes on the main contenders.
Most LSU players have had, recovered from virus, coach says
Most of LSU’S football players have contracted and recovered from COVID-19, coach Ed Orgeron said Tuesday, leaving the coaching staff hopeful those players will remain eligible to play the bulk of the season before they have to be tested again.
Orgeron made those comments while discussing how he would plan for the possibility of seemingly healthy starters or regulars suddenly being deemed ineligible to suit up for the defending national champions because of a positive COVID-19 test.
The coach explained that because players who have recovered from COVID-19 do not have to be tested again for 90 days under Southeastern Conference protocols, he figures he won’t likely have to worry about those who’ve come back from the virus suddenly being ruled out again because of it.
Former IAAF head Diack sentenced to two years in prison
Former track federation president Lamine Diack was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for corruption during his nearly 16-year tenure at the IAAF, including a scheme that allowed Russian athletes who paid millions in hush money to keep competing when they should have been suspended for doping.
The guilty verdict in a Paris court represented a spectacular fall from grace for the 87-year-old Diack, who was the powerful head of the IAAF from 19992015 and mixed with world leaders and was influential in the world of Olympic sports. The court also sentenced Diack to another two years of suspended jail time and fined him $590,000.
His lawyers said they will appeal, which will keep Diack out of jail for now. Diack did not comment as he walked out of court.
One of Diack’s lawyers, Simon Ndiaye, called the verdict “unjust and inhuman” and said the court made his client a “scapegoat.”
Diack was found guilty of multiple corruption charges and of breach of trust but acquitted of a money laundering charge.
Djokovic wins first match since being defaulted from US Open
Novak Djokovic behaved better Wednesday in his first match since being defaulted from the U.S. Open.
The top-ranked Serb was mostly courteous with the chair umpire and had no interaction with the line judges during a 6-3, 6-2 win over local wildcard entry Salvatore Caruso in his opening match at the Italian Open in Rome.
The performance came in sharp contrast to the scene in New York 10 days ago, when Djokovic was disqualified for unintentionally hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball.
Indycar headed to Nashville for urban street course event
Indycar plans to return to Nashville next year on an urban street course that will be a three-day festival of sound and speed that organizers hope rivals the storied Long Beach Grand Prix.
The Music City Grand Prix is scheduled for Aug. 6-8 on a temporary circuit. The 2.17-mile course will race across the Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge into downtown Nashville and back.
The 11-turn course will cross the Cumberland River, making it a rare racing event that crosses a body of water. It is the first new street course added to the Indycar schedule since 2013 and returns the series to the city to Nashville for the first time since 2008. IndyCar raced at Nashville Super Speedway from 2001 to 2008.
Organizers have promised live music, food and other entertainment. The hope is to build it into an event that can compete with the crown jewel Long Beach event, which began in 1975 and was the longest running major street race held in North America. It was canceled this year because of the pandemic.
From wire reports