Sunday Sport: California, San Marino, and Brooks Koepka

Yesterday's cycling's Tour of California comes to an end, while the Giro d'Italia begins its second week.  In California, the race to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, in the final stage of the race,  resulted in a bunch sprint, with Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar (Team UAE-Emirates) maintaining his lead at the top of the standings, winning the overall race,  while Sunweb's Cees Bol won today's stage.  Peter Sagan was second over the Line of the 112 riders left in the race.    EF Eduction First took  the team competition in an overall win in the stage race.

Meanwhile, in San Marino, the Giro d'Italia cyclists will compete in their second Individual Time Trial today.  If the San Marino time trial has loomed large over the opening week of this Giro, then so too has Slovenian cyclist Primoz Roglič's (Team Jumbo Visma) presumed supremacy on the stage, as he is a great specialist at Time Trials.  . His victory in the opening time trial in Bologna last weekend installed him as the favourite for Sunday's longer time trial. This one will go from the beach up into the mountains of San Mariano. 

Valerio Conti (Team UAE Emirates) wears the maglia rosa as the overall race leader.  Roglič reaches the end of the Giro's opening phase atop the virtual rankings of the pre-race favourites. Thanks to his victory in Bologna and his performance through the week, he holds a buffer of 35 seconds over other race favorite  Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), 39 over Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), 44 over Miguel Ángel López (Astana) and 1:49 over Mikel Landa (Movistar).  Roglič is an amazing 5:24 down on Conti, and surely will not regain the pink jersey from him in San Marino but, come Sunday evening, he might well have closed the gap enough that he will have an buffer which may lead him to victory by the final stage in Verona. 

 

Brooks Koepka is currently at the top of the standings, with the lowest score, heading into the final round of the PGA Golf Championship, this year being held at the Black Course of the Bethphage State Park, Farmingdale, New York.  Four of the top five spots in the competition, up to today, are held by Americans.  The fifth spot is currently held by Thai golfer  Atiwit "Jazz" Janewattananond.  The challenging play, as well as the beautiful scenery, should attract many fans to their televisions today, or to attend the tourney personally on this final day. 

Sunday Sport: Tour of California, NBA

Today, the Tour of California kicks up the kick stands for a weeklong trip up hill and down dale in the Golden State.  The Tour of California (officially sponsored as the Amgen Tour of California) is an annual professional cycling stage race on the UCI World Tour and USA Cycling Professional Tour.  It is the only event on the top-level World Tour in the United States. It was first held in 2006. The eight-day race covers 650–700 miles (1,045–1,126 km) through the U.S. state of California.  

The 2019 Amgen Tour of California has something different in store for 19 teams of elite cyclists who line up at Sunday’s start in Sacramento.  Over seven days, they will face high-altitude racing in South Lake Tahoe, a climb up Mount Hamilton in the San Francisco Bay Area and a brutal ascent of Mt. Baldy that could decide the overall winner.  This edition of the Amgen Tour will cover about 778 miles and includes 68,000 feet of elevation gain and 25 King of the Mountain climbs, all of which make for the longest and most-difficult course in the event’s 14-year history.

Mark Cavendish, a British sprinter and fan favorite who has struggled with Epstein-Barr virus for much of the past two years, will return.  Stage one is a more or less flat 89 mile course, in and around Sacramento, so the day should favor the sprinters like Cavendish and Slovak Peter Sagan.  Stage two heads into the mountains, with the most challenging mountain finish being Mt. Baldy on Stage 6.  The race will finish on Saturday, with the finish line being in the shadow of Pasadena's famous Rose Bowl. 

Sunday's stage of the Giro d'Italia is a 205 kilometre slog from Bologna into Tuscany.  Saturday's Individual Time Trial, won by  Slovenian Primož Roglič.  He won the stage one time trial and took the  overall lead in the Giro d’Italia 2019.  Second place at 19 seconds behind, was won by Simon Yates, and Italian Vicenzo Nibali took third at 24 seconds behind.  Today's stage should, in the end, favor the sprinters.  Although there are some climbs, the peloton should hold together until the final kilometer, leading to a mad dash to the finish line. 

Sunday will also feature some exciting basketball.  The National Basketball League in the United States and Canada is reaching the end of their final tournament.  Sunday's cartel features two games, each game seven of their series, meaning until now each team has won three games and today's game will determine the champ.  In the first game of the afternoon, the Portland Trail Blazers will play at the Denver Nuggets.  In the second game, the Philadelphia Seventy Sixers will play at the Toronto Raptors.  The Sixers have not performed well in this series, just well enough to keep their heads above water and force this game seven. 

The other two teams, already determined for the quarterfinals, are the Golden State Warriors and the Milwaukee Bucks.  The Bucks had not advanced beyond the first round of the NBA since the 2000-2001 season. 

Sunday Sport: Bikes, Spinners and NFL

The UCI Road World Championships, often referred to as the World Cycling Championships, is the annual world championship for bicycle road racing organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships include championships for elite men's road race and individual time trial, with other contests also held. 

This year's World Cycling Championships have been ongoing this week in Bergen, in far northern Norway, and conclude today with the elite men's road race.  A bit of controversy erupted when two of the three cyclists on the Under 23 men's race podium are already riding for professional teams.  The winner of the UCI Road World Championships road race is considered the World Cycling Champion (or World Road Cycling Champion) and earns the right to wear the Rainbow Jersey for a full year in road race or stage events.  The road race is contested by riders organized by national cycling teams as opposed to commercially sponsored or trade teams, which is the standard in professional cycling.  The rainbow jersey is normally integrated into the team jersey for races throughout the year.  Last year's world champion, in competitions held at Doha, Qatar,  was Slovakia's Peter Sagan.  He has reigned for the last two years, having won in Richmond, Virginia, USA the year before.  The two countries with far and beyond numbers regarding the most gold medals won at Cycling Worlds are Belgium, firmly in first place, and Italy, in second place.  All others pale by comparison.  Spaniard Alejandro Valverde has won six individual medals, but so far has never been world champion. 

In International Cricket, today features two interesting matches, both One Day Internationals (ODI).  Australia continues its tour of India today with a third ODI at Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore, and although the Aussies have fallen prey to prime Indian spinners often throughout this tour, competition should remain close in today's match.  Two-down in the series, Australia are faced with a must-win situation to have a chance at the trophy.  India has been playing strong throughout the series, and is confident of a win.  The West Indies continue their tour of England today with their 3rd ODI at County Ground, Bristol.  West Indies, who are World Champions in the twenty twenty format (T20) have had some success in those games, but otherwise their tour has continued with mixed results.  India's National Cricket League teams are engaged in four test matches today, these four matches all conclude on Monday.  16 teams are currently engaged in pool play at four different venues in  the 2017 Africa T20 World Cup. 

In the USA, in NFL play this weekend, none of these pro football teams have a bye week this week. The Houston Texans  will play at the New England Patriots at Foxboro this weekend.  After their season ended at Gillette Stadium in the playoffs, the Texans look to prove that they are a completely different team with J.J. Watt back in the fold. Meanwhile, the Patriots could have a star of their own returning in tight end Rob Gronkowski, well known to readers of this space,  to face the Texans' vaunted defense.

Cyclist Marcel Kittel

by Adrián Herrera

Giro d'Italia started two days ago, and I am really enjoying it from several points of view ;-)

Here is my favourite Marcel Kittel, who won yesterday's, the 2nd stage!

More Track Cycling

Mark Cavendish