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SISTERON, France (VN) — Navigating the Tour de France is never easy. But after all these years, you’d think we’d have it figured out.
Monday’s third stage was a preview of what the 2020 Tour de France will be throwing at us in this COVID-19 edition. Road blocks, both literally and figuratively, were impeding our frantic daily start-to-finish quest that typically chews up a large part of any hack’s day on the Tour.
It started off badly enough, getting lost driving out of the nest of alleyways in Nice’s Vieux-Port. Then came a comical arrival at the Nice football stadium, where ASO underlings had journalists lost in a maze of stairwells, fencing, barriers, security checks, hand-sanitizing stations, and finger-wagging security guards. The morning’s refrain? You can’t there from here.
Almost as soon as we finally “got there,” we heard the pre-stage bell — kind of a like a bell lap in a critérium race — except instead of racing for primes, you need to move your butt. Then came a panic moment of trying to find the car in the dungeon-like underground parking garage in the bowels of the soccer stadium (remember, kids, to always take note of the parking spot if they’re numbered).
If you get stuck behind the Tour de France race caravan, the line of cars goes on and on for miles. Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images
Once out on the racecourse — whew! — things returned to normal. Fans lined the road, the villages above Nice glittered in the late-summer sun. We stopped in Tourrettes-sur-Loup, chatted with some fans, hit a boulangerie, snapped some shots, and watched the peloton roll past. It almost seemed like the Tour de France, except everyone was wearing face masks.
We tucked in behind the broom wagon just as the heavens opened up. With heightened security and health measures, police were telling us there was no way we could jump off course. And without limited-access press credentials, there was no way we can pass the peloton.
We were stuck behind the peloton, the absolute worst place to be in a bike race.
In simpler times — before world pandemics and terrorist attacks — photographers and scribes could leap-frog ahead of the course each stage, using back roads and a keen sense of direction to catch the peloton two to three times, and still arrive for the finish in time for a tidy sprint.
Not anymore. We snapped our photographs early, in the opening 25km, but it was still down to the wire for us to arrive in Sisteron.
After some creative cajoling and pleading with a local police officer got us through the barriers, we plunged back down to the Riviera, just in time for what turned out to be two big “bouchons” — a special kind of French traffic jam — on the main toll road.
Luckily for us, the peloton was on slow-go mode, and we arrived in Sisteron some 30 minutes before the pack. Tout va bien.
A Tour like no other
Thierry Gouvenou said the 2020 Tour de France is unlike any other in history. Photo: James Startt
The above line has been the refrain so far of the 2020 Tour. Exceptional conditions require exceptional measures.
Everyone will see that play out in Tuesday’s first mountaintop finale. According to Tour race director Thierry Gouvenou, cars and campers will not be allowed on 27 summits and climbs throughout this year’s edition.
That will mean the climbs in this year’s Tour could be all but denuded of some of the most colorful and dynamic aspects of what makes the Tour so unique in the world of sport.
Cycling fans’ ability to get so close to their sporting heroes — too close in some cases — is an essential part of the Tour’s story. With the coronavirus threatening the Tour, race organizers felt like they had no other option.
The last thing anyone wants is that the Tour becomes a spreader event of COVID-19, and the rationale is if there are fewer people on the usually packed summits, the lower the risk.
Insiders tell us that it’s been a gut-wrenching decision for ASO to cut off access to fans on the Tour’s most famous climbs. Fans are the lifeblood of a sport that does not charge admission and does not have stadium seating.
It’s important to point out the climbs are not off-limits entirely — fans can still go up by foot or on bikes.
Cheering on the peloton’s stars will simply require some more sweat energy this year.
Time to plug in that e-bike.
Tuesday’s stage to thin the herd
Hood is picking Pogačar (left) to win Tuesday’s summit finish. Photo: UAE-Team Emirates
The final climb isn’t that hard by WorldTour standards — 7.1km at 6.7 percent — but the fact that it comes so early in this Tour in a truncated season where everyone’s form is all over the map, well, how can we predict what will happen?
One thing that will happen is that a few GC hopes will be torpedoed. We’ve already seen a couple of big names cede time. Tuesday should see a few more.
It’s the classic “you-can’t-win-the-Tour-but-you-can-lose-it” kind of climb.
I expect a few things: first, Jumbo-Visma will try to bludgeon Ineos Grenadiers again. The Dutch team is coming strong out of the gate, so let’s see if they keep piling on the pressure. This Tour is so long and hard, however, I wonder if that could backfire later in the race. Egan Bernal has played it cool so far, so I expect Ineos’s DS’s to keep whispering in his ear not to rise to the bait.
I also fully hope to see Tadej Pogačar to go on a flier. He’s only 17 seconds out of the yellow jersey, and he’s only 21 years old — of course he will attack! I just hope UAE-Emirates doesn’t try to hold him back. Youth exuberance only lasts so long. If he has the legs, let him run.
My pick: Pogačar for the win, and Julian Alaphilippe defends yellow by a whisker.
TORONTO – The Toronto Raptors are expected to confirm today that Vince Carter’s No. 15 will be the first number to be retired by the NBA franchise.
Carter will attend an MLSE Foundation event this afternoon at the renovated Vince Carter Court at a park in the city’s northwest end.
Raptors president and vice-chairman Masai Ujiri will also be on hand along with some current players and city officials.
Reports this week said that Canada’s lone NBA team would honour Carter on Nov. 2 when Toronto plays the Sacramento Kings at Scotiabank Arena.
Carter, an eight-time all-star, played parts of seven seasons with the Raptors. He was named NBA rookie of the year in 1999 and won the Slam Dunk Contest in 2000.
He was the Raptors’ first superstar and is credited for raising the profile of the team and igniting enthusiasm for basketball across Canada.
Carter guided the Raptors to the Eastern Conference semifinal in 2001. Toronto had a chance to beat the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 but Carter’s shot at the buzzer hit the rim and bounced out.
He asked for a trade in 2004 and was dealt to New Jersey in a mid-season deal that saw the Raptors receive little in return. The Nets, who are now based in Brooklyn, plan to retire Carter’s number in January.
Carter played 22 seasons in the NBA before retiring after the 2019-20 season. He’ll be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame next month.
The Raptors are celebrating their 30th anniversary this season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2024.
NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 58th home run, going deep for the fifth straight game to help the New York Yankees wrap up their second AL East title in three years with a 10-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night.
Giancarlo Stanton had four RBIs that included his 27th homer, Alex Verdugo also homered and Gerrit Cole outpitched Corbin Burnes in a possible postseason preview. Judge and Stanton homered in the same game for the 14th time this year, tying Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in 1961 for the most in Yankees history.
New York assured itself a first-round bye and home-field advantage in a best-of-five AL Division Series starting Oct. 5.
Baltimore, which clinched a postseason berth by winning Tuesday night’s opener of the three-game series, will be in a best-of-three Wild Card Series starting Tuesday.
Stanton homered in the second to put the Yankees ahead and hit a three-run double in a six-run sixth.
Judge hit a two-run homer in the seventh against Bryan Baker and has 144 RBIs, the most in the major leagues since Ryan Howard’s 146 in 2008. Judge matched his career best by homering in five consecutive games.
Making his last start before the playoffs, Cole (8-5) allowed two hits in 6 2/3 innings, struck out five and walked one, lowering his ERA to 3.41. He struck out Anthony Santander with a 98.1 mph fastball that ended the eighth after plate umpire David Rackley called a ball on the previous pitch, a knuckle-curve that appeared to be just above the strike zone. Cole glared as the umpire as the pitcher walked back to the dugout.
Cole was given a standing ovation when he walked to the dugout with two outs in the seventh and tipped his cap to the crowd of 42,022.
Burnes (15-9) allowed two hits in five innings, one walk and nine strikeouts — including eight on cutters. Burnes came out after 69 pitches and is likely to start the Orioles’ postseason opener on Tuesday. He had a 1.20 ERA in five September starts.
Stanton lofted a slider at the bottom of the strike zone into the left-field seats after missing badly at a slider on the prior pitch.
Austin Wells, in a 4-for-42 slide, forced in a run when he walked with the bases loaded against Cionel Pérez. Stanton drove the next pitch on one hop to the wall in right-center for a 5-1 lead. Stanton has 72 RBIs after hitting 6 for 18 with two doubles, two homers and eight RBIs in his last five games.
Anthony Rizzo added a two-run single against Baker.
Emmanuel Rivera hit a ninth-inning sacrifice fly for the Orioles.
UP NEXT
Orioles: LHP Cade Povich (2-9, 5.59) starts a series opener at Minnesota on Friday, when LHP Pablo López (15-9, 4.11) will be on the mound for the Twins.
Yankees: LHP Carlos Rodón (16-9, 3.98), 7-2 with a 2.87 ERA since the All-Star break. starts Friday’s series opener against Pirates RHP Jared Jones (6-8, 4.14).
OTTAWA – Noah Ostlund scored the overtime winner for the Buffalo Sabres in a 3-2 pre-season win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.
Buffalo’s lineup had a combined total of just over 100 NHL games of experience as most of its regular roster is in Munich, Germany for the upcoming Global Series Challenge.
Felix Sandstrom made 14 saves for the Sabres (4-0-0). Josh Dunne and Isak Rosen had the Buffalo goals.
Adam Gaudette and Noah Gregor scored for Ottawa. Linus Ullmark made his first start in a Senators (3-1-0) uniform and didn’t disappoint, stopping 28 of 29 shots through 30 minutes of play.
Dustin Tokarski made 10 saves over a period and a half.
Ottawa opened the scoring at 7:55 after Carter Yakemchuk made a great defensive play to create a turnover. Gregor was then sent down the wing and he beat Sandstrom on the glove side.
Buffalo tied the game at the 10-minute mark. Vsevolod Komarov made a cross-crease pass to Dunne who stepped into the faceoff circle and beat Ullmark.
Buffalo had a 24-5 edge in shots after the first period.
Gaudette gave Ottawa the lead midway through the third with a power-play goal that was set up by Yakemchuk. Rosen tied it with 40.7 seconds remaining.
The Senators were expected to make a number of cuts after the game to reduce the size of their roster.
NOTES: The Sabres were given a special exemption from the league before the game. Teams usually have to dress a minimum of eight NHL veterans, but Buffalo didn’t have any in its lineup.
UP NEXT: The Senators will take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday in Sudbury, while the Sabres will head to Columbus on Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
