Cycling
SESTOLA, Italy – Bob Jungels moved into the overall lead of the Giro d’Italia on Tuesday, while neo-professional Giulio Ciccone soloed to victory on the mountainous 10th stage in his debut Grand Tour.
An emotional Ciccone shook his head in disbelief as he crossed the line, after nearly six hours on the 136-mile ride from Campi Bisenzio to Sestola, with no flat sections after the first 25 kilometers, and an uphill finish.
Ivan Rovny was 42 seconds behind the Italian, and Darwin Atapuma third, 80 seconds off the pace.
Jungels replaced Etixx-QuickStep teammate Gianluca Brambilla as the overall leader.
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – French phenom Julian Alaphilippe attacked inside the final mile of the grueling climb up Gibraltar Road to win Stage 3 of the Tour of California on Tuesday and assume the overall race lead.
The 23-year-old Alaphilippe bridged a 24-second gap to Peter Stetina in one big push, then rode away from his American rival to the finish. He thrust his arms in the air after crossing the line to celebrate a stage victory that could make him the man to beat when the race concludes on Sunday.
Stetina crossed in second but has a 19-second deficit in the general classification.
Hockey
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – The United States advanced to the quarterfinals of the hockey world championship on Tuesday despite a 3-2 overtime loss to Slovakia.
Slovakia would have qualified instead of the Americans with a win in regulation, but the U.S. earned a point for forcing overtime, enough to secure fourth place in Group B.
Marko Dano scored the game-winning goal for Slovakia as both teams finished the preliminary round with 3-4 records. Canada, Finland and Germany also advanced from Group B.
The United States will face Group A winner Czech Republic in the quarterfinals. The Czechs beat Switzerland 5-4, knocking the Swiss out.
Olympics
LAUSANNE, Switzerland – The IOC said 31 athletes in six sports have tested positive in reanalysis of their doping samples from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee says it has opened disciplinary proceedings against the unidentified athletes from 12 countries.
The samples had been stored at the IOC laboratory in Lausanne. They were retested using enhanced methods on athletes who were expecting to compete at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August.
The IOC says “all those athletes infringing anti-doping rules will be banned from competing” in Rio.
GENEVA – The World Health Organization’s chief says the agency is increasingly worried about the Zika virus, even though it does not recommend canceling or postponing the upcoming Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics.
In a briefing Tuesday in Geneva, Dr. Margaret Chan said “the more we learn about Zika, the more worried we get about it.”
Chan noted that although Zika has been around for decades, it is only recently that the virus has been proven to cause severe birth defects and neurological problems.
Some experts have called for this year’s Olympics to be moved or delayed to prevent the avoidable birth of brain-damaged babies. The games run Aug 5-21.
Associated Press
