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SPORTS Wednesday 18 July 2018

Van Avermaet extends Tour lead as Sky bides its time

By JOSEPH WILSON tage of 2 minutes, 22 sec- ably saving it.”
Associated Press onds. Defending cham- Or as Froome put it, “No
LE GRAND-BORNAND, pion Froome was left sixth one really showed all their
France (AP) — Facing the overall at 3:21 behind. cards today.
climbing prowess of Chris Julian Alaphilippe, a “Everyone played it a lit-
Froome’s Team Sky, Greg French rider for Quick-Step, tle conservatively maybe
Van Avermaet expected won the 158.5-kilometer thinking about the next two
to lose his lead of the Tour (98.5-mile) ride from Lake days to come, which are
de France on the first day in Annecy that included four going to be hard as well.
the mountains. major climbs before a de- From our side, I can just be
Instead, the Olympic scent to Le Grand-Bornand happy with how the team
champion managed to in 4 1/2 hours. rode and we had the num-
strengthen his hold on the Van Avermaet’s prediction bers up front which was the
yellow jersey when an an- that Sky would topple him main thing.”
ticipated attack never from the general classifica- Up next on Wednesday’s
came on Tuesday’s Stage tion was not ill-founded. The Stage 11 is a 108.5-kilome-
10. Belgian is excellent in rolling ter (67-mile) leg from Al- France’s Julian Alaphilippe rides to cross the finish line to win
Van Avermaet escaped in terrain and single-day clas- bertville to the top of the La the tenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 158.8
an early breakaway and sics but not a top climber. Rosiere summit. That will be kilometers (98.7 miles) with start in Annecy and finish in Le
held on when he was left He was also riding without followed by Stage 12’s as- Grand-Bornand, France, Tuesday, July 17, 2018.
all alone to struggle up the his BMC team’s best climb- cent of the legendary Alpe Associated Press
final of four Alpine passes. er and leader, Richie Porte, d’Huez. Dumoulin was 11th at 3:42, “I had a puncture on the
Once over the Col de la who broke a collarbone on Given the difficulty of those Romain Bardet was 14th at dirt section and got a spare
Colombiere, he glided Sunday. stages, Van Avermaet said 4:11, and Nairo Quintana wheel from a teammate
down to the finish to re- Precedent also pointed he had no illusions of fend- was 16th at 4:29. only to find out it was ac-
main leader for a seventh to a move by Sky. On the ing off Sky again. Alaphilippe attacked on tually flat as well” Froome
straight day. four Tours Froome has won, “I give myself zero chance the third climb of the leg said. “It was a little bit of a
“I was waiting for directions he has worn the yellow jer- for tomorrow,” Van Aver- and finished more than a comedy of errors going on
from Sky to see what they sey after the first mountain maet said. minute ahead of Jon Iza- there. But it was still far from
wanted. (But) the moment stage. Alejandro Valverde of guirre in second. the finish of the race so it
I went nobody reacted,” It appears Sky was biding its Movistar moved into third Froome was momentarily wasn’t too crazy and I was
Van Avermaet said. “It was time. overall at 3:10 off the pace. slowed down by mechani- able to get back in.”
the only way to keep the “It was some steep climbs Jakob Fuglsang of Astana cal mishaps on a gravel Earlier, Dutch rider
jersey and I’m very happy and we were really ex- was next at 3:12. Among path atop the second Annemiek Van Vleu-
with my stage.” pecting it to pick up some- other title candidates, climb up the beyond-cat- ten won the women’s La
The prize was boosting where (...) but it never re- Adam Yates and Mikel egory Montee du Plateau Course for a second year in
his 43-second lead over ally materialized,” Thomas Landa were on the same des Glieres, the first use of a a row. The single-day race
Froome’s teammate, Ger- said. “With two big days to time as Froome, Vincenzo dirt road by the Tour since included most of the men’s
aint Thomas, to an advan- come everyone was prob- Nibali was ninth (3:27), Tom 1987. route.q

Governor dedicates park named for Olympic great Jesse Owens

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — jumped and he jumped
Ohio’s governor on Tues- into glory — and history,”
day dedicated a new Kasich said of Owens’ long-
state park and wildlife area jump gold. “He sent a mes-
named for Olympic great sage to Hitler: He was not
Jesse Owens. ever going to triumph.”
Gov. John Kasich, ac- The governor personally
companied by two of Ow- chose to name the park af-
ens’ daughters, said that ter Owens, The Columbus
achievements of “heroes” Dispatch reported.
such as Owens should be Jesse Owens State Park
preserved to inspire others and Wildlife Area in east-
to “overcome challenges ern Ohio was created af-
and accomplish their very ter Ohio’s Department of
best.” Natural Resources struck a
Owens was a world record- deal with American Elec-
setting sprinter at Ohio tric Power to buy a large
State University and won portion of a 60,000-acre
four gold medals at the (24,281-hectare) parcel.
1936 Olympic Games in The state hopes to buy
Berlin. He died in 1980 at more land from AEP to cre-
age 66. ate the largest park in the
“He’s one of my heroes,” state.
Kasich said at the cere- The money came from
mony at Jesse Owens Me- hunting and fishing license
morial Stadium in Colum- In this Aug. 5, 1936 file photo, American athlete Jesse Owens practices in the Olympic Village in fees and parks and water-
bus. “He jumped and he Berlin. Associated Press craft funds.q