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A16 sports
Thursday 22 OcTOber 2020

Australia's Ben O' Connor pedals on his way to win the 17th
stage of the Giro d'Italia cycling race from Bassano del Grappa
to Madonna di Campiglio, northern Italy, Wednesday, Oct. 21,
2020.
Associated Press
Almeida stays in pink;

O'Connor earns
In this April 20, 2019, file photo, Teofimo Lopez is shown before an NABF lightweight championship
boxing match against Finland's Edis Tatli, in New York.
Associated Press 1st Giro stage win
Teófimo López win excites MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO, cases in the country.

Honduran Americans amid pain Italy (AP) — João Almeida The 20th stage will no
remained in the overall longer go up the Colle
lead of the Giro d'Italia as dell'Agnello and cross into
By RUSSELL CONTRERAS America, Hondurans and each and every day I take the race headed into the France for the Col d'Izoard,
Associated Press Honduran Americans took that in ... and now, it feels high mountains and Ben but will instead climb to Se-
RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — to social media to express good." The victory came for O'Connor earned his first striere three times on an al-
It would have been just an- pride, excitement, and Honduran Americans after stage victory in a Grand tered 190-kilometer route.
other Saturday night until emotion over the improb- years of watching Hondu- Tour by winning the 17th On Wednesday, Kelder-
Faridd Sierra got a phone able victory by López over ran and Central American leg on Wednesday. man and Hindley, who
call from his brother: come the best boxing technician migrants fleeing violence Almeida was part of the both ride for Team Sun-
over. A fellow Honduran in the world. only to end up in detention group of overall favorites web, tried to attack on the
American is fighting for a The son of Honduran immi- centers in the U.S. and Mex- that crossed the summit final climb up to Madonna
unified boxing lightweight grants walked into the ring ico. Images of migrant chil- finish more than five min- di Campiglio but Almeida
championship. to a Biggie Smalls hip hop dren in cages and hearing utes after O'Connor, and marked the moves.
The 39-year-old from Dallas sample with swagger and stories about migrant chil- the Portuguese cyclist, "Today it was a hard day,
hadn't heard of Brooklyn- walked out with multiple dren being separated from who rides for the Deceun- a lot of climbing but I had
born boxer Teófimo López championship belts. Lopez family have only added to inck-Quick Step team, re- the perfect team with me,"
until that phone call. (16-0) added the three titles the anxieties and fears, ac- mained 17 seconds ahead Almeida said. "That's one
But by the 12th round of held by Lomachenko (15-2) cording to Patricia Montes, of Wilco Kelderman. more day in the Maglia
the fight between López to the belt he won last year a Honduran immigrant ac- Jai Hindley is third overall, Rosa (pink jersey).
and Ukrainian Vasiliy Lo- to become the undisputed tivist living in Boston. 2:58 behind Almeida on "Team Sunweb tried to
machenko, Sierra and his 135-champion following a "It feels sometimes people the eve of the Giro's tough- attack but I was feeling
brother were on their feet, unanimous 12-round deci- don't even see us as hu- est stage. The so-called good." O'Connor soloed to
cheering on the 23-year- sion. man," Montes said. "But "Queen stage" features four victory and was full of smiles
old fighter to make history. "I had to dig deep, man," now we have a champion classified climbs, three of as he crossed the line, hav-
He did. López said after his win. "I'm and it tells us we can do which are the highest cat- ing narrowly missed taking
Across the U.S. and Central thankful. I'm grateful. And anything."q egory, on the 207-kilome- a stage victory Tuesday.
Soler wins 2nd Vuelta stage, Roglic ter (128.6-mile) route from O'Connor, an Australian
Pinzolo to Laghi di Can-
with the NTT Pro Cycling
keeps overall lead cano. One of those is the team, finished 31 seconds
iconic Stelvio pass, which ahead of Hermann Per-
also has 48 hairpin turns. nsteiner at the end of the
LEKUNBERRI, Spain (AP) — 19 seconds ahead of Ro- first stage on Tuesday, The climb over the Stelvio mountainous 203-kilometer
Marc Soler made a strong glic to secure his first Grand has a nine-second lead is likely to prove decisive for (126-mile) leg from Bassano
move on the final descent Tour stage victory. over Daniel Martin and an the overall win, especially del Grappo to Madonna
to pull away from the pack "We made the move to 11-second gap to Rich- after Giro organizers an- di Campiglio. "Yesterday's
and held on to comfortably the front and everything ard Carapaz in the overall nounced on Wednesday second place left me feel-
win the second stage of the worked out perfectly," said standings. Martin and Car- night that they had been ing pretty bitter," O'Connor
Spanish Vuelta on Wednes- Soler, whose team Movi- apaz finished in the pelo- forced to alter Saturday's said. "Today I was able to
day, with defending cham- star is based in the area of ton with Roglic on Wednes- penultimate stage, cutting bounce back and get this
pion Primoz Roglic finishing Pamplona. "We were moti- day. Alejandro Valverde out two of the most difficult success, it's a dream to get
second to keep the overall vated to race at home, we was fifth. climbs of the race. a victory in a Grand Tour."
leader's jersey. knew the terrain well." "A nice result," Roglic said. French authorities had Thomas De Gendt was third,
Soler was able to ride alone Soler moved to 10th place "The team again did a withdrawn their approval 1:10 behind O'Connor.
toward the finish line at the overall, more than a min- good job (to) keep me in for the Giro to cross into Wednesday's route also
end of the 151-kilometer ute off the lead. the right position. In the France because of new featured four classified
(94-mile) ride from Pamplo- Roglic, the team Jumbo- end Soler went away. He restrictions following the ris- climbs, three of which were
na to Lekunberri, finishing Visma rider who won the deserved to win."q ing number of coronavirus the highest category. q