Page 22 - ARUBA TODAY

A22 SPORTS
Monday 13 March 2017

Contador narrowly misses 3rd

Paris-Nice title as Henao wins

NICE, France (AP) — History man David De La Cruz and I have to take risks on the
cruelly repeated itself for missed out on the crucial flat, in the climbs and in the
Alberto Contador as the extra seconds of time bo- descents.”
Spaniard missed out on a nus that a stage win would The 29-year-old Henao
third Paris-Nice victory by have given him. crossed the line in the
just two seconds on Sun- “It was a beautiful race and chasing pack, 21 seconds
day. I’m glad to have played behind Contador and De
Winner of the Paris-Nice cycling race, Sergio Henao Montoya of Colombian rider Sergio a part in that,” Contador
Colombia, center, celebrates with second placed Alberto Con- La Cruz — who clocked the
tador of Spain, left, and third placed Daniel Martin of Ireland Henao clung on to his said. same time as they sprinted
on the podium in Nice, southeastern France, Sunday, March 12, dwindling overnight lead The 34-year-old Contador, to the line in a dramatic fin-
2017. to win the biggest race of a two-time Tour de France ish.
Associated Press his career. champion, felt he may “This is the greatest victory
Last year, Contador lost the have slightly misjudged in my career and to win it
race by four seconds. when to make his move like this at the last meter
Contador was in third place over the 116-kilometer (72- of Paris-Nice is simply un-
overnight — 31 seconds mile trek). The stage started
behind Henao — head- and ended in the southern believable,” Henao said.
ing into the eighth and fi- city of Nice, with a long “I knew I had to suffer until
nal stage, which was the downhill finish after the sec- the last minutes but I had to
third straight day of tough ond big climb. do it for myself and for the
climbing. “I attacked from afar but greatness of Colombian
Contador came agoniz- it was a little too far from cycling.”
ingly close to adding to his the finish,” Contador said. Countryman Nairo Quin-
wins from 2007 and 2010. “That’s the way I am. I have tana leads the Tirreno-Adri-
He finished the stage in sec- to try something. I can’t be atico race in Italy after five
ond place behind country- content with sitting back. stages.q

Sagan sprints to 2nd stage

win, Quintana leads Tirreno

pulled a lot.
“After the climbers at-
tacked, luckily there was a
bit of flat road that allowed
me to come across and
sprint for the win.”
Several riders were
dropped on the short,
steep climbs in the second
half of the route.
Quintana stretched his
lead slightly and is 50 sec-
onds ahead of Pinot, who
moved into second, and
1:06 ahead of Rohan Den-
Slovak cyclist Peter Sagan, left, does the final sprint to win the nis.
fifth stage of the Tirreno Adriatico cycling race from Rieti to Adam Yates was second,
Fermo, Italy, Sunday, March 12, 2017. 33 seconds behind Quin-
Associated Press tana, before pulling out
with an apparent illness
FERMO, Italy (AP) — World Fermo with around a third of the
champion Peter Sagan Bora-Hansgrohe’s Sagan race left.
sprinted to another vic- worked his way back up to Monday’s penultimate
tory in the Tirreno-Adriatico the front bunch with 2 kilo- stage is a 168-kilometer
race, while Nairo Quin- meters left and easily won (104-mile) leg from As-
tana retained the overall out of a group made up coli Piceno to Civitanova
lead after the fifth stage largely of riders targeting Marche.
on Sunday. overall victory. The route has been altered
Sagan, who was also fast- “It was crazy. It looked like because of the condition
est on Friday, edged out there was no tomorrow. of some roads and will
Thibaut Pinot and Primoz The peloton went so fast,” now pass through Pollenza,
Roglic on the narrow, Sagan said. “I’m very hap- where riders face the final
cobbled climb to the fin- py with my win today. It categorized climb of the
ish of the 210-kilometer wouldn’t have happened race.
(130-mile) ride from Rieti to without (Rafal) Majka, who The race finishes Tuesday.q