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

France orders 10 metres between joggers, cyclists

France's sports ministry said Thursday that joggers and cyclists will have to stay at least 10 metres (33 feet) from one another once stay-at-home orders are lifted on May 11.

The measures are designed to prevent a surge of new coronavirus cases.

Running has become a popular way to get a break from the nationwide lockdown in place since mid-March, since short exercise jaunts close to home are among the handful of accepted reasons for being outside.

But officials have been alarmed by scenes of hundreds of runners crowding sunny sidewalks and promenades in recent weeks, leading Paris authorities to even ban day-time running.

French guidelines urge people to maintain at least one metre of social distancing in public, but a preliminary study that went viral early in April suggested this is not enough for runners or cyclists.

The study suggested that air currents generated by fast-moving bodies could spread virus particles projected by infected athletes much further than a person standing still.

The results have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Nevertheless, the sports ministry said it wanted "a minimum distance of 10 metres between two people who are cycling or jogging."

It did not clarify how the measure would be enforced in Paris and other crowded cities, where runners often pass each other closely on sidewalks and footpaths.

For yoga, tennis and other activities, the ministry advised making sure that each participant had four square metres (43 square feet) of personal space.

In any case, no more than 10 people will be allowed to gather for any group activity, and changing rooms will remain off-limits.

Team sports such as football will also remain prohibited, it said.

The ministry reiterated that no professional sports matches will be held before August, even in empty stadiums, and France's football and rugby leagues declared their seasons on Thursday.

The new rules came as France this week unveiled 20 million euros ($21.8 million) in aid to encourage the use of bicycles post-lockdown, which could reduce crowding on public transport and also avoid a surge in car use by people afraid of contagion.

The funds will include a 50-euro subsidy for tune-ups of the estimated 30 million used bikes around the country, the environmental ministry said late Wednesday.

Agence France-Presse

‘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