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Friday 12 July 2019

Teuns wins Tour de France Stage 6, Ciccone takes race lead

By JOHN LEICESTER this time. He lost 51 seconds fighting head-to-head for in his plans. “It’s strange but ished ahead of Egan Ber-
AP Sports Writer to Thomas on the climb the win. super good,” he said. nal, his teammate at Ineos
CHAMPAGNEY, France and is well down the overall Ciccone cracked first on The last three riders to hold who could yet become
(AP) — Two Tour de France rankings in 20th place, 1:07 the eye-poppingly steep the yellow jersey at the top one of his main challengers
rookies stole the show on
the first mountain stage,
with Dylan Teuns of Belgium
winning Stage 6 and Giulio
Ciccone of Italy taking the
overall race lead on Thurs-
day.
Geraint Thomas, the de-
fending champion, also
rode strongly, going some
way to answer questions
about his fitness after he
crashed out of the Tour de
Suisse in June.
Thomas rode in fourth
at the top of the terrible
climb to the Planche des
Belles Filles ski station in the
woody Vosges mountains
of eastern France.
But the severity of the as-
cent, with a final 24% in-
cline and an unpaved sec-
tion that kicked up clouds
of dust, torpedoed other
main contenders for overall
victory in Paris on July 28.
Some riders were so ex-
hausted at the top that
race workers had to help
them stay upright on their
bikes after they crossed the
line. Belgium’s Dylan Teuns celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 160
kilometers (100 miles) with start in Mulhouse and finish in La Planche des Belles Filles, France, Thursday, July 11, 2019.
One of the big losers of the Associated Press
day was French rider Ro-
main Bardet, a podium fin-
isher in 2016 and 2017, who behind Thomas. incline, as Teuns cranked of the Planche des Belles for the Tour title.
cracked and rode in 1 min- Teuns and Ciccone, both on ahead of him to the line. Filles all went on to win in Overall, Thomas climbed
ute, 9 seconds after Thom- racing their first Tour, were “It was really hard. A man- Paris: Bradley Wiggins in to fifth overall, 49 seconds
as. He suffered the added rewarded for their enter- to-man fight,” Teuns said. “I 2012; Nibali in 2014; Chris behind Ciccone and leap-
indignity of having his chain prise and endurance on finished it off. It was amaz- Froome in 2017. frogging Bernal, in sixth
jump on the line, immobiliz- the climb and for having ing.” But Ciccone doesn’t ex- and now 4 seconds behind
ing him. been part of a breakaway But Ciccone got a delight- pect to follow in their foot- Thomas. “It was a decent
Now 2:08 behind Thom- of 14 riders that sped away ful consolation prize, in the steps. day,” Thomas said.
as overall, Bardet will be from the pack early in the shape of the yellow jersey. His Trek-Segafredo team is The previous wearer of the
hard-pressed to make up 160.5-kilometer (100-mile) “It’s an incredible day. I built around Australian rider iconic yellow jersey, French
that deficit on even harder trek from Mulhouse that can’t grasp what’s hap- Richie Porte, who also got rider Julian Alaphilippe,
climbs to come in the Alps took the Tour up six climbs pening,” the Italian said. dropped by Thomas but did everything he could to
and Pyrenees. before hitting the last and Having raced in the Giro limited the damage, riding keep it, battling up the as-
Vincenzo Nibali, the 2014 hardest one. d’Italia in May, where he in just 9 seconds after the cent, through the dust.
Tour champion from Italy At the top of that final as- won a stage, the 24-year- Welshman. But Alaphilippe fell just 6
who also won the stage to cent, Teuns and Ciccone old came to the Tour to Another sign that Thomas seconds short, losing the
La Planche des Belles Filles were the two survivors of bank some experience. isn’t hampered by his crash race lead he first took on
that year, came undone their breakaway group, The yellow jersey was never in June was that he also fin- Stage 3.q

Boxing champ Lebedev retires after fights fall through

MOSCOW (AP) — Former world cruiserweight focus on my big family and try to give as His defeat to Guillermo Jones in 2013 was lat-
boxing champion Denis Lebedev retired on much attention as possible to those closest er changed to a no-contest when the Pana-
Thursday aged 39 after a lengthy and color- to me.” manian failed a drug test.
ful career. He also held the IBF belt in 2016, winning it Lebedev had been hoping to fight the then-
Lebedev won the interim WBA cruiserweight from Victor Emilio Ramirez before losing it to unified cruiserweight champ Oleksandr Usyk,
title in 2011 against James Toney, and suc- fellow Russian Murad Gassiev seven months but the Ukrainian moved up to heavyweight
cessfully defended it eight times to 2017. later. in March.
“The time has come to leave elite sport,” he Known for entering the ring in Russian para- A planned fight with France’s Arsen
said on Instagram. trooper uniform, Lebedev finishes with a 32-2 Goulamirian collapsed last week.
“As a real man, husband and father, I must win-loss record, 23 by knockout. Lebedev hasn’t fought since last November.q