SR: Chris Froome

Showing posts with label Chris Froome. Show all posts

July 27, 2018

Saturday Sport: Cycling and Soccer

In Southern France, the Tour de France continues today with the Stage 20 Individual Time Trial. This moveable feast of cycling has been played out across the hills, plains and valleys of France, since its start in Normandy on July 7th. Chris Froome finally yielded, on Friday, to his teammate Geraint Thomas, who has been race leader, without Froome's support. Welshman Thomas took the yellow jersey last week, and sits in good position heading into today's Time Trial. Saturday's race is a time trial, and no challenging is permitted on Sunday's celebratory procession into Paris, so Froome's last minute "support" of his teammate could be considered too little, too late.

Thomas, of Team Sky, currently has 79:49:31 in overall time for the entire Tour, while second place Team Sunweb's Tom Dumoulin, of the Netherlands, trails him by two minutes, five seconds. In Third Place in the general classification, is LottoNL-Jumbo's Primoz Roglic, of Slovenia, 2 minutes, 24 seconds behind Thomas. Roglic is well known to readers of this space as a former ski jumper, who has adapted well to cycling. In fourth place is Chris Froome, riding for Team Sky, at 2:37 behind, and fifth place Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk, also of LottoNL-Jumbo, at 4:37. Dumolin and Roglic are both known as being fantastic time trialists, and both are expected to gain time on Thomas, it is doubtful, though, that either can overcome the more than two minutes difference in the only 30 km (20 miles) of riding.

This should provide great and suspenseful viewing, so tune in to watch this momentous stage.

In Singapore, in international soccer, English Premier League's Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain face off at the Singapore National Stadium, with both teams seeking their first win of the 2018 International Champions Cup. The Gunners lost 3-1 in a penalty shootout against Atletico Madrid after drawing 1-1 over 90 minutes on Thursday, while PSG fell 3-1 to Bayern Munich in Klagenfurt, Austria, last weekend.

Arsenal manager Unai Emery faces a showdown against his previous club, who are now led by Thomas Tuchel and searching for some momentum after losing their last two pre-season friendlies. Both teams have had some of their bigger names missing after the conclusion of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but the two managers may start stepping up their preparations on Saturday with the 2018-19 campaign just around the corner.

The International Champions Cup fun continues in the afternoon from the University of Michigan Stadium, when Manchester United takes on Liverpool at the Ann Arbor stadium. Later, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami hosts the contest between Bayern Munich and Manchester City. The competitions follow the time zones west, as an evening game features a competition between FC Barcelona and Tottenham, from the venerable Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

The USA National Swim Championships continue today, too, with coverage of Day 4 from Irvine, California. Included today in coverage will be men's 440 m freestyle, 100 m breaststroke, and 100 m backstroke.

May 25, 2018

Saturday Sport: Giro d'Italia and Aussie Rules

Today is the penultimate day of the Giro d'Italia. The roughly 3000 km stage race, lasting three weeks is wrapping up.

As you read in this space three weeks ago, this was to be the Giro of Peace, Il Giro della Pace. The race started outside of Europe, the first of the three Grand Tours ever to do so, in Jerusalem, city of peace, to be exact. The expectations of the organizers were that the race would end at the Vatican, but it could be a permitting issue kept them from doing so. Instead, the closing stage, Sunday, will pass by the Coliseum.

Friday, a virtual unknown surged to the front. Actually no. Christopher Froome, who has assembled an impressive Palmares while touting the anti doping line, actually took first place in impressive style on Friday's Alpine mountain stage, which finished a few yards from France. Tom Dumoulin, last year's overall winner, and notable for having "digestive problems" in last year's Giro ("you mean I run through Italy, and they don't even give me a pooper scooper?"), was leading the race until Friday.

Chris Froome, most unfortunately, may not have his A and B samples in order, and is under great suspicion for having doped in a race last year. Only in cycling would officials wait until after a race had been ridden before announcing a positive result, and vacating the title won by the cyclists. It is to be hoped that Chris Froome is as pure as the driven snow, well, not that kind of snow, and will be made known to have won honestly.

Today's stage is a 214 km (133 mile) ride from Susa in the Turin Province, through the Valle d'Aosta, to end at Cervinia. There are three Category One climbs in the last 50 or so miles (80 or so km), so this should provide a challenge and also separate sheep from goats, or Froomes from Dumoulins. Set your alarms, the stage starts early. Sundays 115 km race through Rome, in 10 11.5 km laps, should challenge no one, and not change any standings.

In Aussie Rules Football, Saturday's match between the Brisbane Lions and the Sydney Swans should provide some interest. Brisbane are perpetual losers with regard to the Swans, but last week broke the nine year losing streak against the Hawthorn Hawks, and will be the hosts at The Gabba.

They may be able to harness that energy, but they are 17th on the ladder, whilst Sydney is at 5th, and beat Hawthorn themselves two weeks ago, and won last week against Fremantle.

The Swans' Lance Franklin returns with this game, and when these two teams last met, the day was clearly his. Any time you play the Swans, slowing down Franklin is a big ask, and this week that task will go to Harris Andrews. The young Lions fullback was exceptional against Hawk Jarryd Roughead last Sunday, but with Franklin's speed and ability to move up the ground, this week is a whole new proposition.

Brisbane has been highly competitive in all but one match this season, and will have to be at its best to challenge the professional Swans, who have won their last 10 meetings. Saturdays other matches include Richmond against St. Kilda, Geelong against Carlton, and the Giants against Essendon.

May 5, 2018

Sport Saturday: Derby and Giro

The first weekend of May often puts us at the intersection of two great races, the Giro d'Italia and the ole Kentucky Derby. In Europe, every other soccer match seems to be a "derby," but in the US, there is only ONE derby. When an American says "Derby," he means "The Kentucky Derby."

On Saturday, 20 horses will step into the gates at Churchill Downs, Louisville, Kentucky to the strains of "My Old Kentucky Home." One will win the annual "Run for the Roses" and take the first step at an attempt at horse racings' Triple Crown. As in most years, there is incredible talent, and this year, unlike others, the field of three year olds includes a horse who never ran a race as a two year old. Such a horse has not won the Derby since the 1880s.

At present, only five horses have odds in the single digits, two of whom are undefeated. Justify has the top odds at 3-1, and is undefeated in the three races he has run so far. His trainer, Bob Baffert, has trained four Derby winners, most recently with the Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. Justify is that horse who never raced as a two year old, and the last such winner of the Derby was Apollo in 1882. Still, the favourite has won the past five Derbies. Mendelssohn is a another powerful horse. In March he won the UAE Derby, where he beat the field by more than 17 lengths. On the downside, winners of the UAE Derby have finished in fifth place, at best, in the Kentucky Derby #jetlag.

Another horse, with a great name, is Magnum Moon, also undefeated in his young career. Some experts think he is the strongest in the field. Audible has won four straight races coming into this one, and he's racing out of the No. 5 post, which has produced a remarkable five Derby winners in the past 21 years. Finally, Bolt d'Oro gave chase to Justify at the Santa Anita Derby earlier this year before just falling off the pace.

If you like to party, Derby Day is a great time to have a good time, whether at Churchill Downs, or viewing from home. NBC is hosting five hours of coverage in the USA, and the Derby can certainly be found online or on other foreign networks. Make a mint julip, or enjoy a Kentucky Food. Local specialties include the Kentucky Hot Brown sandwich, which is known as a Horseshoe in Illinois (the Kentucky version does not include French Fries as in Illinois) and poutine in Acadian lands.

Your Derby party might also include other Kentucky favourites such as Benedictine Spread, Beer Cheese, Country Ham Biscuits, Bourbon Balls, Kentucky Burgoo and Chocolate-Bourbon Nut Pie, sometimes known as Derby Pie. It is said if your Easter duds are still fresh, you can wear them on Derby Day along with that festive hat. Enjoy the horse racing, enjoy the partying. Send us a picture.

The leading rider in the Giro d'Italia is also festively dressed, in a shocking pink jersey and tights. The Giro is the annual Italian Grand Tour, and started yesterday with an individual time trial, won by Dutchman Tom Dumoulin. The race continues over the next three weeks, crossing Italy from up hill and down dale. Curiously, Italy's grand tour began this year in Israel, and will continue there through Monday. Never before has one of the grand tours begun outside of Europe, although it was rumoured, several years ago, that Giro organizers wanted to start a future Giro, with the first several stages in Washington, D.C.. Dumoulin, last year's winner, may very well repeat this year.

The favourite, former African and current GB rider Chris Froome, may put forth great efforts this year, but is unlikely to finish in the top ten, or even to finish. His team, Sky, has been on an anti drug kick in recent years, holding themselves up as heroes of the anti doping set. Now Froome is under examination as a doper, he crashed hard in training, and dropped hard in the opening standings from the first stage. “I am glad I was not more seriously injured,” he said. “I just lost the front wheel on a corner. A crash is always going to hurt, and it’s not an ideal way to start a race with a crash.” Even without the crash, Froome has been downplaying the importance of time trials in this Giro, saying that the pink will be won on the mountain stages.

Then again there are the doping allegations, against the heretofore pristine and well moneyed gods of cycling, unsullied by the use of drugs, at least in their publicity. They have had a great boost through their multiple television networks, and the drumbeat of virtue and sweet goodness has been unstoppable, until now. Froome challenged for doping? Incroyable.

The Giro, like all of cycling, provides nonstop entertainment.