Cycling
Sagan second no more, sprints to a stage win
AVILA BEACH, Calif. – Slovakia’s Peter Sagan surged in the short final uphill sprint Wednesday to win the windy fourth stage of the Tour of California and close in on overall leader Tom Skujins of Latvia.
After finishing second in the first three stages, Sagan – the Tinkoff-Saxo rider who has four Tour de France stage victories – raced to his 12th career stage victory in the California event. He finished the 107.6-mile leg from Pismo Beach to Avila Beach in 4 hours, 6 minutes, 56 seconds.
Contador climbs to Giro lead after mountain stage
ABETONE, Italy – Alberto Contador claimed the overall lead in the Giro d’Italia after the first mountain stage Wednesday, as the race favorites leaped into action on the concluding climb to Abetone.
Slovenian rider Jan Polanc, a 23-year-old with the Lampre team, won the fifth leg.
Polanc got in an early breakaway and attacked on the final climb. He clocked little more than four hours over the 94-mile stage, which started in La Spezia.
In the overall standings, Contador is two seconds ahead of Aru, with Porte 20 seconds back in third.
NFL
NFLPA to use noted labor lawyer Kessler in appeal
NEW YORK – Noted labor attorney Jeffrey Kessler will aid in the players’ union planned appeal of Tom Brady’s suspension.
The New England Patriots quarterback was suspended by the NFL for the first four games of the 2015 season for his role in the deflating of footballs. He has until 3 p.m. Thursday to file the appeal. His lawyer, Don Yee, and the union have said they will appeal.
Kessler has litigated some of the most famous sports antitrust cases, including working for a variety of player unions. He was instrumental in getting NFL free agency established and had a key role in helping end the league’s lockout of the players in 2011.
NHL
Rangers rally from 3-1 hole to eliminate Capitals
NEW YORK – Derek Stepan scored 11 minutes, 24 seconds in overtime, lifting the New York Rangers past the Washington Capitals 2-1 and into the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday night.
Stepan’s wrist shot from the left wing after he won a faceoff – a rarity for the Rangers – capped a comeback from a 3-1 deficit in the series. The Rangers are the only team to manage that in successive years, doing the same thing to Pittsburgh in the second round in 2014.
Alex Ovechkin scored in the first period for Washington, which has lost five Game 7s in as many tries when leading a series 3-1. Kevin Hayes tied it in the second.
Olympics
IOC strips U.S. of relay medals in Gay doping case
LONDON – Two officials with knowledge of the decision said the entire U.S. men’s sprint relay team has been stripped of its silver medal from the 2012 London Olympics as a result of Tyson Gay’s doping case.
The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the decision has not yet been announced.
They say the International Olympic Committee notified the U.S. Olympic Committee by letter Wednesday that the team was disqualified and the medals withdrawn. The letter asks the USOC to collect the medals and return them to the IOC.
Gay returned his own medal last year after accepting a one-year doping suspension and the loss of results going back to July 2012, but the status of the U.S. second-place finish in London and the medals of Gay’s relay teammates had remained in limbo until now.
Associated Press
