Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Thursday, July 13, 2017
Tour de France
Kittel wins crash-marred stage 11, Froome stays safe
By SAMUEL PETREQUIN &
JOHN LEICESTER
Associated Press
PAU, France — Ahead
of two grueling days filled
with some truly punishing
ascents, the main contenders
on the Tour de France were
all hoping that Wednesday
would be a nice, relaxed day
on the bike.
It didn’t happen.
Instead of what riders
call a “transition” day, with
a comfortable run to the
gateway to the Pyrenees
mountains, Stage 11 proved
to be a brutal experience for
some of the top riders after
a series of crashes left them
nursing cuts and bruises.
When crosswinds started
making the bunch nervous
toward the end of the
203.5-kilometer (126-mile)
stage from Eymet to Pau, the
stress became palpable and
led to several crashes at the
back of the peloton.
German sprinter Marcel
Kittel steered clear of trouble
and claimed the stage in a
sprint finish, taking his tally
to five stage wins since the
race started.
But Frenchman Romain
Bardet, who is third overall
behind race leader Chris
Froome, was not so fortu-
nate. He hit the deck and
slightly hurt his knee, but
the AG2R La Mondiale rider
was able to continue after
changing bikes and did not
lose any time.
“It was a nervous day
and I was caught in a crash,”
said Bardet, who is trying to
become the first Frenchman
to win the Tour since Bernard
Hinault last managed the feat
in 1985.
“It’s never enjoyable to
fall. I just have to soak it up
and to wait for better days.”
AP Photo/Christophe Ena
The pack with Denmark’s Jakob Fuglsang, in fourth position in blue jersey, passes fields of sunflowers during
the eleventh stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 203.5 kilometers (126.5 miles) with start in Eymet and
finish in Pau, France, Wednesday, July 12, 2017.
Two-time
champion
Alberto Contador went
down twice, while second-
place Fabio Aru lost one of
his Astana teammates when
Dario Cataldo was forced
to retire with a broken wrist
after a crash in the feed zone
midway through the stage.
Fifth-place Jakob Fugl-
sang, another Astana rider
expected to play a key role
alongside Aru in the moun-
tains, was caught in the same
crash.
Though he was able to
reach the finish, Astana later
said in a statement that Fugl-
sang had suffered two minor
fractures in his left wrist and
left elbow. However, they
will not prevent him from
starting Thursday’s stage.
“It was a nervous day,”
Froome said of the crashes.
“Everything was good on
our side.”
Froome kept his overall
lead intact ahead of the big
battle in the Pyrenees. He
has an 18 second-lead over
Aru, with Bardet 51 seconds
off the pace. Trailing 55
seconds behind Froome in
the general classification,
Rigoberto Uran remains in
contention and Fuglsang
is still within reach of the
podium, 1:37 behind the
yellow jersey.
Thursday’s stage will be
extremely difficult, with six
categorized climbs — three
of them either rated Cate-
gory 1 or “hors categorie”
— beyond categorizing. It
features a short, but steep
uphill finish at an altitude of
1,580 meters (5,200 feet).
Froome described the
finish as “quite savage.”
“If someone blows in
those few hundred meters,
there could be some really
significant time gaps,” the
Team Sky leader said. “One
of the really key stages of
this year’s race.”
Froome also expects
Contador to try and wreak
havoc during Friday’s shorter
stage to Foix. Contador has
already lost 5:15 overall, but
could still ruin the Team Sky
masterplan with some relent-
less attacks on his favorite
ground.
“He’s never shy to attack
from far out. We’d be ready
for that,” said Froome,
adding that his team is “not
going to allow anyone to
come back on GC (General
Classification).”
A sprint specialist, Kittel
has now won 14 Tour de
Westbrook, Biles win athlete
of year honors at The ESPYS
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES —
Russell Westbrook won best
male athlete at The ESPYS,
while Olympic gymnast
Simone Biles earned best
female
athlete
honors
Wednesday night.
The 25th annual show
honoring the past year’s top
athletes and sports moments
was hosted by Peyton
Manning, who humorously
mocked his reputation as a
control freak and an overex-
posed commercial pitchman
in the retired NFL quarter-
back’s opening monologue.
Westbook was the NBA
MVP, led the league in
scoring and set a record
for most triple-doubles in a
season with 42. The Okla-
homa City Thunder star won
the trophy over Kris Bryant
of the Chicago Cubs, Sidney
Crosby of the Pittsburgh
Penguins and Olympic
swimmer Michael Phelps.
“It’s been an unbelievable
journey for me,” said West-
brook, a fashion fiend who
adjusted his black shirt and
green pants with wide white
stripes before he spoke. “I
want to make sure I look
good first.”
Biles became the most
decorated U.S. Olympic
gymnast at the Rio de Janeiro
Games, winning five medals,
including four golds and a
bronze. She beat out Olympic
swimmer Katie Ledecky,
WNBA star Candace Parker
and Serena Williams for the
honor.
“Ever since Rio it has
been an amazing year,” Biles
said. “I want to thank you all
for believing in me.”
She was one of three
double winners. Biles also
won best female Olympic
athlete.
Phelps won record-setting
performance for extending
his record Olympic medal
haul and as best male
Olympic athlete.
Aaron Rodgers won best
NFL player and shared best
play with then-Green Bay
Packers teammate Jared
Cook. Another Packer, Jordy
Nelson, earned best come-
back honors.
The biggest ovation of
the night belonged to former
first lady Michelle Obama,
who posthumously honored
Eunice Kennedy Shriver with
the Arthur Ashe Courage
Award for championing
the rights and acceptance
of people with intellectual
disabilities through her
founding of Special Olym-
pics. Her son, Tim Shriver,
accepted the trophy.
“Once a great first lady,
still a great first lady,” Shriver
told Obama as the crowd
roared its approval.
The Patriots and Falcons
shared the best-game award
for the Super Bowl, won in
a furious comeback by New
England.
LeBron James, a five-time
winner last year, was named
best NBA player. Mike Trout
of the Los Angeles Angels
won best MLB player, while
Crosby won best NHL player.
MARINERS: Next two weeks critical
Continued from 1B
“We have most of the
guys healthy. We just have to
be consistent. That’s been the
issue,” slugger Nelson Cruz
said.
THE GOOD: Cruz is
leading the American League
in RBIs with 70 at the break
despite playing through leg
injuries during big chunks of
the first half. When healthy,
Jean Segura has been the best
hitter in the AL and Seattle
may have figured out its
outfield of the future between
Mitch Haniger, Guillermo
Heredia and Ben Gamel,
who was hitting .323 at the
break.
On the pitching side, Ariel
Miranda wasn’t supposed to
be in the rotation at the start of
the season but injuries made
him the ace for much of the
first half. He went 7-4 with
a 4.15 ERA. James Paxton,
when healthy, showed signs
of being at the top of Seattle’s
rotation going forward.
THE BAD: Injuries.
Paxton,
Cruz,
Segura,
Haniger, Robinson Cano,
Felix Hernandez and Hisashi
Iwakuma all missed time
with injuries and while all
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File
In this May 31, 2017, file photo, Seattle Mariners pitcher
Felix Hernandez, who at this time was on the disabled
list, sits in the dugout during a baseball game against
the Colorado Rockies,in Seattle.
but Iwakuma have returned,
the impact of their absences
may ultimately be too much
to overcome. Kyle Seager
finished the first half hitting
just .248. Mike Zunino had
a huge June but was that an
anomaly or can that become
the norm? Seattle’s bullpen
has been overused due to
the injuries and that led to
inconsistency.
WHAT’S AHEAD: Seat-
tle’s schedule makes the first
two weeks after the All-Star
break critical in determining
where the Mariners go. After
a six-game road trip, the
Mariners return home for
10 games against both New
York teams and Boston. If
facing the top two teams in
the AL East isn’t difficult
enough, it’s just the precursor
to an awful August where
Seattle plays just seven
games at home and has road
trips of nine and 12 games.
France stages in five appear-
ances at cycling’s showcase
event, a record for a German
rider.
Kittel’s power in the
bunch sprint could not be
matched on Wednesday and
the Quick-Step Floors rider
easily beat Dylan Groene-
wegen and Edvald Boasson
Hagen by half a bike’s length,
easing up well before the line
as he extended his lead in the
points classification.
Kittel has lost only one
sprint since the Tour started
and has been in a class of
his own since sprint rivals
Mark Cavendish and Arnaud
Demare left the race.
“It was a nervy day,”
Kittel said. “It could have
been worse with all the
wind.”
Three riders — Frederick
Backaert, Marco Marcato
and Maciej Bodnar escaped
from the pack right from the
start at the picturesque town
of Eymet in the Dordogne,
a tourist hotspot with its
castles, caves and other
sights.
They built a lead of
about four minutes over a
laid-back peloton, but the
breakaway had few chances
of succeeding on the flat,
straight roads. The peloton
trailed by 30 seconds with 30
kilometers left when Bodnar
attacked to go on his own.
The Polish rider went
all out, using his time trial
skills to resist the peloton’s
pursuit as long as possible.
But despite looking for the
best possible aerodynamics
position in the downhill
section leading to Pau, he
was swallowed up with just
250 meters left.
“I thought, ‘Oof. That
was close,’” Kittel said of
Bodnar’s effort. “This time,
the sprinters won.”
Switzerland’s
Roger Fed-
erer returns
to Canada’s
Milos Ra-
onic during
their Men’s
Singles
Quarterfinal
Match on day
nine at the
Wimbledon
Tennis Cham-
pionships
in London
Wednesday,
July 12, 2017.
AP Photo/Tim Ireland
WIMBLEDON: Federer advances
Continued from 1B
though, Murray limped,
bothered by a sore left hip.
As the match wore on,
the hitch in Murray’s step
became more pronounced,
his shots less effective.
And Querrey, an American
seeded 24th, took full
advantage, hitting 27 aces
and dominating down the
stretch to stun Murray, and
a partisan Centre Court
crowd, with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-7
(4), 6-1, 6-1 victory, earning
a spot in the initial Grand
Slam semifinal of his career.
“I am still in a little
bit of shock myself,” said
Querrey, the first U.S. man
to reach a major semifinal
since Andy Roddick was the
2009 Wimbledon runner-up.
Another
quarterfinal
surprise
arrived
later
Wednesday, taking out yet
another member of the
sport’s Big 4 and owner
of multiple Wimbledon
titles: Novak Djokovic
stopped playing because of
a right elbow injury while
trailing 2010 runner-up
Tomas Berdych of the
Czech Republic 7-6 (2),
2-0. Djokovic’s elbow
was massaged by a trainer
during a medical timeout
after the opening set. A day
earlier, during his fourth-
round match, Djokovic also
took a medical timeout.
“It was only getting
worse,” said Djokovic,
explaining his elbow was
in the most pain when he
hit serves and forehands.
“Unfortunately today was
the worst day. Probably the
fact that I played yesterday,
kind of days adding up, as
I’ve said before, it wasn’t
helping at all.”
The owner of three
championships at the All
England Club, and 12 major
trophies overall, said his
elbow has been bothering
him for more than a year,
that he opted against surgery
and that he will consider
taking a break from the tour.
Time off has paid
dividends
for
Roger
Federer, who missed the
last half of 2016 to allow
his surgically repaired left
knee heal, then skipped the
clay-court season this year.
He, Djokovic, Murray and
Rafael Nadal combined to
win the past 14 Wimbledon
titles, but only Federer now
remains in the field.
The 35-year-old Federer,
who has won seven of his
record 18 Grand Slam cham-
pionships at the All England
Club, is the grass-court tour-
nament’s oldest semifinalist
since Ken Rosewall in 1974
at age 39. Federer produced
a straightforward 6-4, 6-2,
7-6 (4) victory over Milos
Raonic, the man who beat
him in last year’s semifinals.
On Friday, Federer will
face Berdych for a berth
in the final. Querrey meets
2014 U.S. Open champion
Marin Cilic of Croatia, who
got past 16th-seeded Gilles
Muller 3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5, 5-7,
6-1 with the help of 33 aces.
Muller eliminated Nadal in
the fourth round.
Querrey hit 27 aces
against Murray and was
impeccable for portions of
the match, finishing with
70 winners and only 30
unforced errors. He also
managed to move past one
really bad mistake in the
third-set tiebreaker: an over-
head that he dumped into
the bottom of the net.
“He was dictating all of
the points,” Murray said.
And Murray was fading.
From 1-all in the fourth,
Querrey grabbed eight
games in a row to take that
set and lead 3-0 in the last.
“I didn’t start my best,
but I just kept with it. Kept
swinging away and then
really found a groove in the
fourth and fifth set,” Querrey
said. “And everything kind
of seemed to be falling my
way then.”
It’s the second year in a
row the 29-year-old Cali-
fornian upset the defending
champion and No. 1 seed
at the All England Club. In
2016, he ended Djokovic’s
30-match Grand Slam
winning streak by beating
him in the third round.
This is Querrey’s 42nd
Grand Slam tournament,
the most ever played by a
man in the Open era before
getting to his first semifinal.
And there were moments
along the way when Querrey
himself doubted he’d ever
accomplish this.
“Last year definitely kind
of gave me a new boost that
I could do it. But there have
been times in my career,”
he said, “where I definitely
thought: If had to bet —
‘Am I going to make a
semi?’ — I probably would
have gone, ‘No.’”
But he’s won three
straight five-setters.
Murray,
meanwhile,
has been dealing with that
hip. Before Wimbledon,
he skipped some practice
sessions and pulled out of
two exhibition matches.
His
serve
speeds
slowed in the latter stages
Wednesday. His backhands
didn’t have their usual
verve. He couldn’t play
his usual court-covering
defense.
“I was pretty close today.
It wasn’t like I was, like, a
million miles away from
winning the match,” Murray
said. “Obviously, the end
was a bit of a struggle.”