Page 23 - ARUBA TODAY

A23
SPORTS Thursday 12 July 2018

Sagan wins hilly Tour stage as Froome avoids trouble

By ANDREW DAMPF he’s still pretty close on GC Froome and Sky were also
AP Sports Writer (general classification) so I at the front in the finale,
QUIMPER, France (AP) — couldn’t let him go. I think I ceding the lead to the
Peter Sagan had the yellow went too early in the sprint. stage hunters only in the fi-
jersey holder to thank for his I thought the corner was nal kilometer.
victory on Stage 5 of the closer to the finish than it re- “Everyone knew that was
Tour de France on Wednes- ally was.” going to be a tricky finish
day. In a repeat of Stage 2, Sa- today, a very undulating
Chris Froome could also gan held off Sonny Colbrelli day — never really flat —
thank his Team Sky col- in the sprint, with Gilbert fin- just up and down,” Froome
leagues for keeping him ishing third. said. “A nice day to have
out of danger — and help- Sagan clocked nearly five behind us.
ing overcome a mechani- hours over the undulating “It’s the kind of stage where
cal problem — in the race’s leg through Brittany, which something can be wrong
first hilly stage. contained five categorized and you quickly find your-
Greg Van Avermaet mis- climbs over a 204.5-kilome- self losing 30-40 seconds if
timed his sprint and Sa- ter (127-mile) route from you get caught out of posi-
gan, the three-time reign- Lorient to Quimper, and re- tion. It was a day to stay up
ing world champion with sembled a single-day clas- front and really stay on it.”
the Bora-Hansgrohe team, sic. Seven riders broke away
took advantage to claim Gilbert, a former world eight kilometers into the
his second victory in this champion, moved up to stage. The group estab-
year’s event. third overall, three seconds lished a lead of about four
“I don’t know if he did it on off the pace. minutes as they wound Slovakia’s Peter Sagan, wearing the best sprinter’s green jersey,
purpose or if he wanted to Froome, the four-time along the Atlantic coast crosses the finish line ahead of Italy’s Sonny Colbrelli, second
drop everybody but I have champion who trails Van through picturesque towns right, Belgium’s Philippe Gilbert, second left, and Belgium’s Greg
to say thanks,” Sagan said. Avermaet by 57 seconds like Riec-sur-Belon — which van Avermaet, left, to win the fifth stage of the Tour de France
Van Avermaet still in- in 15th spot, finished in the is famous for its oysters — cycling race over 204.5 kilometers (127 miles) with start in Lorient
and finish in Quimper, France, Wednesday, July 11, 2018.
creased his overall lead main pack with the other and Pont-Aven — which Associated Press
over BMC teammate Tejay favorites. inspired artists like Paul
van Garderen to two sec- There was a nervy moment Gauguin . far. ters to go.
onds by gaining precious for the British rider when he While Brittany is usually French rider Elie Gesbert, The Tour remains in Brittany
time in an intermediate bo- had to stop due to a me- rainy and windy, this time it another member of the for Stage 6 on Thursday,
nus sprint. chanical issue with 70 kilo- was sunny and racing con- breakaway, crashed on a another hilly leg of 181 ki-
After a move from Philippe meters remaining. ditions were perfect. Fans short descent, ending up lometers (112 miles) from
Gilbert, Van Avermaet ac- Teammate Michal Kwiat- waving the black-and- in a ditch and appearing Brest to Mur-De-Bretagne
celerated out of the final kowski attempted to fix the white striped flag of the re- to scrape his face along a Guerledan, including two
turn with 300 meters (yards) problem but Froome was gion swarmed the climbs. stone wall. But he got back climbs of the short but
to go but couldn’t maintain later forced to stop again Sylvain Chavanel, the on his bike and continued. steep Mur-de-Bretagne.
his pace. and change his bike. 39-year-old riding in a re- Lilian Calmejane and Tom “We always see a bit of
“I tried to win the stage Kwiatkowski and two other cord 18th Tour, launched a Skujins, the last remaining action there,” Froome
but it was pretty compli- teammates then quickly solo attack from the break- members of the break- said. “I sometimes prefer
cated,” Van Avermaet escorted Froome back to away with 100 kilometers away, were caught by the those stages to the fast, flat
said. “Phil went early and the peloton. remaining but didn’t get main pack with 10 kilome- stages.”q

GM Pelinka: Lakers landing

LeBron is “ultimate validation”

By GREG BEACHAM moves we’ve made and eas where we will have an
AP Sports Writer what we’ve been building advantage.”
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — since we started.” Pelinka said the Lakers fo-
Rob Pelinka says the Los Pelinka and top executive cused their free agency
Angeles Lakers aren’t trying Magic Johnson hope the recruitment efforts on ver-
to beat the Golden State result is a sturdy, defense- satile, playoff-tested talents
Warriors at their own game. minded team with enough who can score and de-
Instead, they’re building a up-tempo offense to trou- fend, instead of looking for
team around LeBron James ble the Warriors, the Hous- elite players with only one
to do something different. ton Rockets and every oth- specialty. He hopes the re-
“To get the commitment er contender for the title. sult will be a flexible, dan-
from LeBron James to “I think to try to play the gerous team under coach
come to the Lakers for four Warriors at their own game Luke Walton — and a dif-
years was really the culmi- is a trap,” Pelinka said. ferent look around James,
nation of everything we’ve “No one is going to beat whose Cleveland Cava-
Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka reads a been working towards,” them at their own game, so liers teams often looked
passage from “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho as talks about Pelinka said. that is why we wanted to like a collection of perim-
the acquisition of LeBron James and other free agents at a news
conference at the NBA basketball team’s headquarters in El “When LeBron chose to add these elements of de- eter shooters whose defi-
Segundo, Calif., Wednesday, July 11, 2018. come here, it was the ul- fense and toughness and ciencies were exposed by
Associated Press timate validation for the depth and try to look at ar- Golden State and others.q