He’s back! Alaphilippe takes emotional win at Tour de France

NICE, France (AP) — Julian Alaphilippe is back making a splash at the Tour de France and once again wearing the iconic yellow jersey.

The French showman, who more than any other helped turn the 2019 edition into a thriller, again showered the Tour with his class and guile Sunday, poaching victory on Stage 2 in the picture-postcard Mediterranean city of Nice and taking the overall race lead.

A final burst of acceleration timed with precision enabled Alaphilippe to shake two pursuers and hold off the main pack of riders furiously gaining ground on the finishing straight.

Deprived of wins since his feats that enchanted French fans last summer, Alaphilippe kissed his finger and raised it to the sky as he crossed the line, a tribute to his father who died in June.

“I promised myself that I’d win for him,” Alaphilippe said.

“I hadn’t won a single race this year yet. But I’ve always remained serious with my training despite the difficult moments I went through. I dedicate this victory to my father.”

The stage win, his fifth in four Tours, will anchor his status as a darling of French cycling fans, conquered by his thrilling riding at last year’s edition, when he held the race lead for 14 days.

He is now back in yellow, thanks to time bonuses picked up for winning the stage and on the final climb of the arduous day of riding through mountains north of Nice.

Alaphilippe is playing down any hope of winning the overall title in Paris in three weeks, but he intends to cling onto the coveted jersey for as long as he can.

“The yellow jersey has to be respected,” he said. “I will defend it with honor.”

Alaphilippe had identified Stage 2 with its hill-climbs before the finish as particularly suited to his punchy, aggressive style. He and his Deceuninck-Quick Step team executed their plan like clockwork.

With teammate Bob Jungels leading the way on the final climb, up to the Quatre Chemins pass on the outskirts of Nice, Alaphilippe first positioned himself in his slipstream. He then raced off with a sharp acceleration on a right-hand bend, quickly opening a gap. He was chased down by Swiss rider Marc Hirschi and Briton Adam Yates, setting up a three-way fight for the stage victory.

Speeding into central Nice, past huge yachts parked in its harbor and along the stunning seafront overlooking the Mediterranean’s azure waters, they collaborated in a strong headwind to keep the chasing pack at bay.

Alaphilippe adjusted his helmet and tightened his shoes as the trio then played a waiting game to see which of them would be first to place the final winning burst of speed. Alaphilippe outfoxed his pursuers with his acceleration, holding off Hirschi’s late charge. Yates was third.

“I asked my team to make the race hard,” Alaphilippe said. “There weren’t many riders left in the last climb. I gave it all. I had nothing to lose. This is the victory that I was missing. The yellow jersey is the icing on the cake.”

Afterward, slumped by the roadside, he burst into tears. One of his teammates, Dries Devenyns, was awed by the manner of the win.

“I stopped on the side of the road to watch the last 500 meters on a spectator’s smartphone,” he said. “I shouted when he won. He already did two weeks in yellow last year, we have it again, we are going to protect it as much as we can.”

Overall, Alaphilippe has a four-second lead over Yates, with Hirschi in third place three seconds further back ahead of Monday’s hilly Stage 3 from Nice to Sisteron.

Associated Press

Walking, cycling to work could significantly lower risk of heart disease and stroke

Leaving the car at home to walk or cycle to work could help cut the risk of risk of developing or dying from ischemic heart disease or stroke, according to a new United Kingdom research.

Carried out by a team of researchers from the University of Cambridge, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and Imperial College London, the study set out to assess whether using alternatives to the car could help integrate more physical activity into daily life, reducing sedentary time and the risk of illness and mortality.

For the study the researchers looked at data on 358,799 participants aged 37 to 73 years taken from the U.K. Biobank, a national study designed to measure and track the health of adults living in primarily urban areas in the U.K.

The participants were asked to provide details on their commute and non-commute travel and whether they relied exclusively on the car or used alternative modes of transport that were more active, even if just some of the time.

After taking into account other influencing factors, such as other physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, and measures of socioeconomic status, the results showed that regular commuters who used more active means of travel for commuting to work, such as walking or cycling, had an 11 percent lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) and 30 percent lower risk of fatal CVD.

Regular commuters who also used more active means of travel for both commute and non-commute travel had an even lower risk of fatal CVD, 43 percent less risk.

Among those who were not regular commuters, using more active means of travel was associated with an 8 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality.

As an observational study the researchers point out that no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect. However, as the study used a large sample size and focused on feasible travel choices for commuting and non-commuting travel the team concluded that the results could provide an important message and will hopefully encourage people to make more use of public transport, walking and cycling.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. April Mohanty of the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System in the United States also commented, “This study provides further evidence to support efforts, including policies and guideline recommendations, that encourage active travel even if that is only possible for part of the journey.”

The results can be found published online in the journal Heart. JB

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

Zemlyakov soloes it home, seizes Le Tour yellow jersey

DAET, Camarines Norte—Seasoned by sub-zero conditions on the frigid Russian terrain, Oleg Zemlyakov had his way despite the Philippines’ pre-summer heat.

Zemlyakov, riding for Kazakhstan’s Vino 4Ever SKO, broke away from the lead pack in the final 5 kilometers and soloed it home to rule the second stage of the 2016 Le Tour de Filipinas Friday.

“I attacked when I got the chance,” the 22-year-old from Petropavl, Kazakhstan, said through interpreter and team manager Sergey Danniker.

Zemlyakov seized that opportunity in Talisay town, some 7 km from the finish, as he successfully peeled off from a 12-man lead pack.

Zemlyakov, last year’s best young rider and fifth overall finisher, raised his arms in delight as he crossed the finish line in five hours, eight minutes and 48 seconds after the scorching 204 km ride from Lucena City.

Yevgeny Gidich, Zemlyakov’s teammate, placed second and Australian Jesse James Ewart of 7-Eleven Sava Road Bike Philippines third, both 16 seconds behind the stage winner.

“We train in Russia where the weather is extremely cold,” said Danniker. “It’s difficult here with the heat and I’m happy that we’re able to finish on top.”

Zemlyakov also topped the day’s lone King of the Mountain challenge, a 2-km test of steep hairpin turns in Atimonan, Quezon, early in the race.

The runnerup in the Tour of Romania last year, Zemlyakov accumulated 10 points in the KOM, tying teammate Zhandos Bizhigitov, who beat all comers in two mountain challenges in Stage 1.

Barring any accident along Saturday’s relatively flat 185.79-km Stage 3 to Legaspi City, Zemlyakov is expected to keep the yellow jersey, the Tour’s symbol of leadership, for another day.

“We’ll try to protect the lead until [the tour’s end] Sunday,” said Danniker.

Overall, Zemlyakov leads Gidich by 19 seconds and Ewart by 22 in the four-day bikathon presented by Air21 and organized by Ube Media Inc.

Batmunkh Maral-Erdene of Terengganu placed fourth in the stage, 23 seconds behind, while Tora Lampawog of Team Ukyo, Felipe Marcelo of 7-Eleven Sava Road Bike, Kenji Itami of Kinan Cycling, Ryu Suzuki arrived fifth to eighth, in that order, all 1:25 back.

Suryadi Dadi of Bridgestone Anchor Cycling Team and Rustom Lim of the Philippine national team lay ninth and 10th, both 2:07 off Zemlyakov’s pace.

The 691-km test of bike endurance ends Sunday after an out-and-back course on the fringes of Mayon Volcano in Legaspi City.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Paris police open fire on car at Tour de France barricades

PARIS — Paris police officers opened fire on a car that tried to crash the barricades hours before the final arrival of the Tour de France cycling race on Sunday, a police official said.

The car escaped with its two occupants apparently unharmed after coming under fire in the Place de la Concorde, where the cyclists make their final triumphant rounds to conclude the race, said Luc Poignant, a spokesman with the SGP police union.

Hundreds of thousands of people gather in the Place de la Concorde and the Champs Elysees for the final leg of the Tour de France, which was due to arrive later in the day.

Poignant said officers were finishing setting up the barricades for the race when the car tried to crash through the barriers. Officers opened fire on the car, which ultimately drove away.

Poignant told the BFM television network that no officers were injured.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

‘Miracle’ needed to reopen Armstrong case: WADA

JOHANNESBURG—Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong needs nothing less than a “miracle” to revisit his lifetime ban from sports after admitting to doping, the world anti-doping body chief said Tuesday.

“I see it as done and dusted and it would take something close to a miracle to see it go forward in his case,” said John Fahey, outgoing president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Armstrong, 42, said in an interview he would cooperate to discover the extent of doping in the sport so long as he’s treated the same as his fellow drug cheats.

Punishment for other cyclists has been less severe after they admitted to doping, while Armstrong was stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles won between 1999 and 2005.

But WADA’s Fahey was unsympathetic after Armstrong had denied for years that he used banned substances.

“He did not cooperate, he did not defend the charges,” Fahey told a news conference at the World Conference on Doping in Sport in Johannesburg.

“There’s been no mood to say ‘I want to give substantial assistance’.”

Any decision to reopen Armstrong’s case would have to come from American anti-doping agency USADA, who banned him in the first place, said Fahey.

Even then, the fallen star would need “a damn good case”, he said.

Brian Cookson, the new president of the UCI, the cycling’s world governing body, has promised to set up an independent commission to find out the full extent of doping within the sport.

“I am confident from what UCI have indicated … that it will happen within weeks rather than within months,” said Fahey.

“There’s some work to be done,” he said about doping in cycling, but “the goodwill appears to be there.”

source: sports.inquirer.net