Cycling
UCI announces 5th doping case linked to Astana
AIGLE, Switzerland – The International Cycling Union has provisionally suspended Kazakh rider Artur Fedosseyev in the fifth doping case linked to the Astana team.
The UCI says Fedosseyev tested positive for an anabolic steroid on Aug. 16 when he was competing for Astana’s development team at the Tour de l’Ain. The 20-year-old rider placed 15th.
The case was announced Tuesday while the UCI license commission reviews Astana’s application to retain top-tier World Tour status next season.
The Kazakh government-backed team’s star rider is Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali of Italy.
In recent weeks, Nibali’s teammates Maxim and Valentin Iglinskiy have tested positive for EPO, and Ilya Davidenok tested positive for steroids.
Last week, another Astana development rider, Victor Okishev, was provisionally suspended after testing positive for an anabolic steroid.
MLB
Minimum salary rises to $507,500 from $500,000
NEW YORK – Major League Baseball’s minimum salary will rise to $507,500 next year from $500,000.
The sport’s collective bargaining agreement called for a cost-of-living adjustment based on the yearly increase through October of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, rounded to the nearest $500. There will be a similar adjustment for the minimum in 2016, the final season of the labor contract.
The commissioner’s office said Wednesday that the minor league minimum for a player signing a second major league contract will go up to $82,700 from $81,500. The minor league minimum for a player signing an initial big league contract rose to $41,400 from $40,750.
White Sox make their deal with LaRoche official
CHICAGO – When Adam LaRoche was a kid, he used to hang with his father at old Comiskey Park when Dave was a coach with the Chicago White Sox.
Now LaRoche gets to play for one of his dad’s old teams.
The White Sox brought LaRoche back to Chicago to serve as their primary designated hitter, announcing a $25 million, two-year contract with the veteran slugger.
LaRoche, who turned 35 on Nov. 6, gives the White Sox some sorely needed power from the left side. The first baseman hit .259 with 26 homers and 92 runs batted in in 140 games this year for NL East champion Washington. He has 243 homers and 838 RBI in 11 years in the majors.
NHL
Tremblay, Stanley Cup champ with Canadiens, dies
MONTREAL – Gilles Tremblay, a former Montreal Canadiens forward who played on four Stanley Cup-winning teams in the 1960s, died. He was 75.
The team announced Tremblay’s death Wednesday. He played his entire nine-year career with Montreal, scoring 168 goals and adding 162 assists over 509 regular-season games.
Skiing
Jansrud jams to fastest qualifying time in Canada
LAKE LOUISE, Alberta – Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud had the fastest time Wednesday in the first World Cup downhill training run of the season.
The Olympic super-G champion finished in 1 minute, 54.21 seconds in falling snow. Canada’s Manny Osborne-Paradis was second at 1:54.54, and Olympic downhill champion Matthias Mayer of Austria followed in 1:54.92.
The downhill race is Saturday and a super-G is set for Sunday.
Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal is not at Lake Louise after winning three consecutive super-Gs and the downhill two years ago. He injured his Achilles tendon playing soccer last month.
Associated Press
