Page 15 - aruba-today-20230710

A15
SPORTS Monday 10 July 2023
Woods secures big win at top of famed Tour de France mountain

PUY DE DOME, France (AP) small victory, so I’m super Israel-Premier Tech team,
— On the same mountain happy today,” said Poga- has no ambition in the gen-
where five-time Tour de car, a two-time Tour cham- eral classification and was
France champion Jacques pion. part of the early break-
Anquetil and Raymond Pogacar was the strongest away that formed early. He
Poulidor wrote themselves rider up the 13.3-kilome- managed to catch Ameri-
into race history 59 years ter ascent, with a speed can Matteo Jorgenson just
earlier, all eyes Sunday of 23.7 kph (14.7 mph), 500 meters from the summit
were on Jonas Vingegaard considerably faster than after his rival jumped away
and Tadej Pogacar’s con- Woods’ winning average from the leading group
tinued rivalry at cycling’s of 19.8 kph (12.3 mph). with less than 50 kilometers
biggest race. Vingegaard admitted Po- left.
Neither Vingegaard nor gacar’s superiority on the Woods then dropped
Pogacar finished first at the day, but insisted the profile Jorgenson at ease and
summit of the Puy de Dome of the Alpine stages still to reached the summit of the
after Canadian Michael come better suit his style. Puy de Dome, a volcanic
Woods delivered an im- Canada’s Michael Woods approaches the finish line to win the “It would have been nicer crater in the Massif Cen-
pressive solo effort to claim ninth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 182.5 kilo- to gain than lose time on tral region of south-central
the biggest success of his meters (113.5 miles) with start in Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat and Tadej Pogacar, but as I said France that last hosted a
finish in Puy de Dome, France, Sunday, July 9, 2023.
career. Associated Press before, I came to the Tour stage 35 years ago.
But the fierce rivals, rid- knowing that the first week “I’m 36 years old, turning
ing well behind the day’s ma teammates in the final Vingegaard lost ground suited me less than what’s 37 this year, I’m not get-
breakaway they had al- ramp that destroyed the but did not panic and man- to come, so to be in the yel- ting any younger,” said
lowed to form, were again field, Pogacar launched his aged to limit the deficit to low jersey at the end of the Woods, who also owns two
in the spotlight. attack with 1.5 kilometers eight seconds to retain the first week satisfies me,” he stage wins at the Spanish
The two have been in a left and accelerated again yellow jersey. said. Vuelta.q
fierce duel since the start in on the steepest gradients. “It’s not a victory, but it’s a Woods, who rides for the
Bilbao, Spain, of this year’s
pulsating Tour and will cer-
tainly enjoy Monday’s first
rest day.
Vingegaard, the defending
champion from Denmark
after he dethroned Poga-
car last year, had the up-
per hand in the first round
of their battle in altitude. His
Slovenian rival responded
in style to regain time in the
next two mountain stages.
With two weeks of racing
remaining, only 17 seconds
separate the two in the
general classification, with
Vingegaard wearing the
yellow jersey.
Jai Hindley is in third place,
2 minutes, 40 seconds off
the pace.
Vingegaard and Poga-
car’s confrontation Sun-
day on the steepest part of
the climb up to the Puy de
Dome was not as dramatic
as the duel between An-
quetil and Poulidor back in
1964, when the two French
rivals engaged in a “mano
a mano” for the ages.
But amid silence reigning
in the thin air — the road
leading up to the top of the
mountain is so narrow that
fans had not been allowed
access — the two teamed
up for another epic mo-
ment, again in a class of
their own, with Pogacar in
the role of the attacker.
After another great
collective effort from
Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Vis-