Page 23 - ARUBA TODAY

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SPORTS Monday 16 March 2020

Team Bora Hansgrohe's Maximilian Schachmann, of Germany,
celebrates on the podium of the seventh and final stage of the
Paris Nice cycling race after winning the overall leaders jersey.
Associated Press
Schachmann wins

Paris-Nice held amid Mike Lemcke, from Richmond, Va., sits in an empty Greensboro Coliseum after the NCAA college

basketball games were cancelled at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Greensboro,
coronavirus outbreak N.C., Thursday, March 12, 2020. Associated Press

Continued from page 18 came a couple of days now-canceled 68-team
VALDEBLORE-LA COLMI- Schachmann is the first "Events of any size should before the CDC made its tournament Tuesday. The
ANE, France (AP) — Ger- German to win Paris-Nice only be continued if they latest recommendation. women's Division I tourna-
man cyclist Maximilian since Tony Martin in 2011. can be carried out with The NBA regular season ment was to have started
Schachmann won the Par- "It was very, very hard. The adherence to guidelines was to have ended April 15 this week.They've all been
is-Nice race on Saturday last three kilometers were a for protecting vulnerable and the NBA Finals were to called off, as have all oth-
in a rare case of a sport- walk through hell, through populations, hand hygiene, have started June 4, with er winter- and spring-sport
ing event still going ahead pain. Now it's like being in and social distancing." the season done on or be- seasons at all levels of the
amid the coronavirus pan- heaven and it erases all the The eight-week window fore June 21. NCAA. Most high school
demic. pain in my legs," he said. easily exceeds what would For most people, the new state associations have
While France's soccer and For Schachmann, the win have been the remainder coronavirus causes only also had to cancel seasons
rugby leagues scrapped proved he had what it of the NBA and NHL regular mild or moderate symp- and championships as well.
their matches indefinitely takes to compete in big seasons, plus would cover toms, such as fever and Some minor-league hock-
on a hectic Friday - amid stage races. about the first 25% of the cough. For some, especial- ey leagues have canceled
cancellations around the "It's not my first success but MLB season — or roughly 40 ly older adults and people seasons, and it seems in-
world - organizers main- the biggest so far and the games per team. It would with existing health prob- creasingly unlikely that the
tained one of cycling's big- most important because a also cast serious doubt on lems, it can cause more se- G League -- the NBA's mi-
gest stage races. They only whole lot of people doubt- the ability to hold other ma- vere illness, including pneu- nor league -- will resume
shortened it by scrapping ed that I could be a GC jor U.S. sporting events as monia. play this season.
Sunday's traditional last (General Classification) planned, such as the Ken- The vast majority of people Even a polo match in South
stage into the southern city rider," Schachmann said. tucky Derby in early May. recover from the new virus. Florida on Sunday was
of Nice. Schachmann led "Now I won the most presti- The NBA was already brac- According to the World played without fans or re-
overnight by 36 seconds gious one-week race." ing to play games without Health Organization, peo- porters present, with orga-
from Belgian rider Tiesj Be- Benoot was 18 seconds be- fans in arenas, something ple with mild illness recover nizers saying they needed
noot heading into the hilly hind overall, while Colom- that would have started in about two weeks, while to take ultimate precau-
166.5-kilometer seventh bian Sergio Higuita finished late last week had a player those with more severe ill- tions.
stage, ending with a steep third and former Tour de -- Rudy Gobert of the Utah ness may take three to six Some NBA players were
Category 1 climb to Valde- France champion Vincen- Jazz -- not tested positive weeks to recover. In main- spending Sunday at home
blore-La Colmiane. zo Nibali was fourth. for the virus, COVID-19. land China, where the virus playing video games; Mi-
With about 4 kilometers (2.5 Pockets of fans were lining Utah teammate Donovan first exploded, more than ami's Goran Dragic posted
miles) left, Nairo Quintana sections of the final climb Mitchell and Detroit's Chris- 80,000 people have been a video of himself outside
moved out of the leading to encourage Quintana tian Wood have tested diagnosed and more than his house kicking a soccer
group of a dozen riders and the other riders. positive since, but Gobert's 58,000 have so far recov- ball around. Others, like
and launched a strong at- "I always try to win stag- diagnosis was enough for ered. Golden State's Stephen
tack which the punchy Co- es with some elegance," the league to say that it It's not just the team sports Curry, were urging their
lombian is well known for. Quintana said. "I wanted was suspending play. that have been shut down: fans to continue taking the
He was quickly caught, but to win (a stage) to bring a "I've been feeling a little Pro tennis and golf have pandemic seriously.
his next attack was more little joy to this team (Arkea- better every single day," basically been called off "We all have to take re-
successful and he won Samsic), and this is a gift for Gobert said in a video for the next several weeks, sponsibility for ourselves
the stage by 46 seconds the whole team for the job posted Sunday. He added, with such marquee events and do whatever it takes
ahead of Benoot. done. Now I'm going to go "I wish I would have took as Indian Wells and the to #stopthespread," Curry
Benoot attacked just be- back to Colombia to stay this thing more seriously." Miami Open in tennis and told his 14.1 million follow-
fore the last kilometer as with my family." The NBA has already been The Players Championship ers on Twitter. "There's a
he tried to make up the Quintana is a climbing spe- asking teams to share and Masters in golf either sense of urgency to flatten
gap to Schachmann. But cialist who has won the availability for their arenas canceled or postponed. the curve and give our-
the exhausted German Giro d'Italia and finished through the end of July, a The NCAA men's Division I selves and the healthcare
held on and then lay on his runner-up at the showcase sign that the league is pre- college basketball tourna- system the best chance to
back after crossing the fin- Tour, the three-week major pared to extend the sea- ment — March Madness get through this pandemic.
ish line in sixth place to win race which is scheduled to son at least that long if nec- — was to release its brack- Share this message and
the race for the first time. start on June 27.q essary — and those moves et Sunday and start the let's protect each other!"q