Ponting remains the most successful captain, though, with 220 wins, | Forum
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Jun 16 '18
LE GRAND-BORNAND, France -- Half the height of Mount Everest, climbed on a bike, in a single day. Jan Vertonghen Jersey . Even by Tour de France standards, Stage 19 was hard. "At times, you just feel like youre being tortured," was how American rider Andrew Talansky described Fridays ordeal, arguably the toughest stage of this 100th Tour, which started with two monster climbs as riders were still digesting breakfast. "Youre just like, What is this? But you dig in and keep going." The GPS mini-computer the Garmin rider carries on his bike did the sums: 4,419 metres ridden uphill -- close to the height of Western Europes loftiest peak, Mont Blanc, and half of Everest, the roof of the world at 8,850 metres. The riders also zoomed 4,239 metres downhill. Talanskys gizmo showed he burned 5,670 calories during the six-hour suffer-fest. And they call this "sport." The difficulty of Stage 19 made Chris Froome "quite nervous." Once he got through it with his big race lead intact, the British rider finally started to allow his mind to fast-forward to the finish on Sunday. Victory is so close he can almost taste it. The last Alpine stage on Saturday -- 125 kilometres in the mountains towering above the limpid waters of Lake Annecy -- wont be enough for second-place Alberto Contador to puncture Froomes cushion of more than five minutes. In all but name, the 28-year-old is champion of the 100th Tour and knows it. "One more day to really stay concentrated and to stay up front and look after the yellow jersey and then looking forward to taking it to Paris," Froome said. "Its going to be very hard for someone to take more than five minutes in 125 kilometres. But having said that, I dont want to be complacent." No, that can wait until Sunday evening -- when Froome and the other survivors of this three-week, 3,404-kilometre clockwise trek around Western Europes largest country will clip their feet into the pedals for the final 133 kilometres to Paris. Traditionally, that last stage is a relaxed lap of honour, at least until the pack hits the cobbles of the Champs-Elysees. There, Mark Cavendish and other sprint-finish specialists will battle for the bragging rights of the stage win on that leafy boulevard the French modestly call the most beautiful avenue in the world. The unique dusk finish for this 100th Tour, just as the sun sets behind the Arc de Triomphe, should be extra special. While the top spot is taken, podium places next to Froome are still very much up for grabs. Just 47 seconds separate second-placed Contador from Joaquim Rodriguez in fifth. Sandwiched between those Spaniards are Colombian Nairo Quintana, in third, and Contadors Czech teammate Roman Kreuziger, in fourth. They are all more than five minutes behind Froome. With Froome so dominant and his lead so large, Saturdays penultimate stage might have been devoid of all suspense were the battle for podium places not so close and intense behind him. Places arent just for honour. There are financial incentives, too. Second-place prize is 200,000 euros ($263,000). Third gets half that. Froome will get 450,000 euros. With a succession of six climbs, getting harder and ending with a steep uphill, Stage 20 offers a fine arena for the contenders to land their final punches. The last climb on Saturday is HC or Hors Categorie, meaning its considered too hard to classify. Riders can lose or gain big time on such ascents, but surely not the more than five minutes they would need to dethrone Froome, not unless he crashes or has a similar mishap. Quintana, who is just 21 seconds behind Contador, wasnt giving away his strategy, "We have to wait and see how the stage develops. Sometimes you visualize it one way, and the stage doesnt develop how you think it will. Well decide during the stage," he said. "Itll be a very difficult and challenging stage, well have to be very alert." Saturday will be Froomes 12th day in the race leaders yellow jersey. He took it in the Pyrenees and has worn it through Britanny, across to the Alps, in baking sunshine and, on Friday, a cold storm that doused riders up the days final climb. The 204.5-kilometre trek from Bourg-dOisans wound past peaks so high that their snows have resisted the July sun. It started with two HC climbs and ended with two still tough Category 1 ascents before a long downhill to Le Grand-Bornand. The Alpine town swathed its church tower in cloth canary yellow like Froomes jersey to welcome the riders. Rui Costa won the stage -- the Portuguese riders second of this Tour -- with a solo breakaway on that final ascent to the Col de la Croix Fry, catching Frenchman Pierre Roland on the way up. For the second stage in a row, Victorias Ryder Hesjedal went on the early attack. Hesjedal and Spaniard Jon Izaguirre opened up a lead of more than seven minutes over the yellow jersey group once they went over the top of Col du Glandon. As Hesjedal and Izaguirre reached the second HC of Col de Madeleine, the peloton was 10 minutes behind. Hesjedal forged ahead before being caught and overtaken by Frenchman Pierre Rolland. Hesjedal ended up finishing the stage in 136th spot, but after taking Glendon and almost winning the Madeline climb he moved from 18th to seventh overall in the climber classification. Hesjedal remained the top Canadian in the overall classification despite falling seven spots to 69th. David Veilleux of Quebec City was the top Canadian in Fridays stage, finishing 74th. He was 129th overall. Svein Tuft of Langley, B.C., was 162nd in the stage and 170th overall. Froome braced himself for a big Contador attack that never materialized on any of Fridays climbs, nor in the final downhill made especially hairy by the wet roads. Having pushed Froome and his Sky team hard in the past weeks, Contador now seems largely spent. With Quintana breathing down his neck for second place, Contador chose Friday not to take risks. "There was a moment when I wanted to attack and thought about it," said the 2007 and 09 winner, who was stripped of his 2010 victory for a failed doping test. "But then I thought it was best to reach the finish line." That suited Froome just fine. "I am excited, but quietly excited," Froome said. "One final big effort, then we can start relaxing on the ride into Paris." Wholesale Belgium Jerseys . Coach Tom Thibodeau says the former MVP will probably start travelling with the team in the next few weeks. Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee at Portland in November and was ruled out for the remainder of the season by the Bulls. Belgium World Cup Jerseys .In my heart and mind Im competing for India, luge competitor Shiva Keshavan told The Associated Press in an email interview. Every day Im flooded with messages from Indians all over the world telling me they are supporting me. http://www.cheapbelgiumjerseysauthentic.com/axel-witsel-jersey/ . Its sharpness matched my mind. This was no night to go to sleep. 489 The match aggregate, which is the highest in any T20 game, going past the previous best of 469 in an IPL game between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2010. In T20Is, the previous best was 467, in a South Africa-West Indies game in Johannesburg in 2015. (Click here for a full list of highest aggregate runs in a T20Is.) The two totals of 245 and 244 are third and fourth in the list of highest totals in T20Is, while Indias score is the most in a run-chase by any team in all T20 matches.32 The number of sixes in the match, which is the highest in any T20I, going past the previous record of 30 in an Ireland versus Netherlands game in the 2014 World T20. The record in any T20 game is 33, in a match between Colombo Cricket Club and Colts Cricket Club earlier this year. Twenty-one of those sixes were from the West Indian batsmen, which equals the most in any T20 innings: Royal Challengers Bangalore also hit 21 in the IPL game against Pune Warriors when Chris Gayle scored 175. In a T20I, the next best is 19, by Netherlands against Ireland in the 2014 World T20. West Indies also walloped 178 runs in boundaries (21 sixes and 13 fours), the joint third best in a T20I innings.46 Balls for KL Rahuls century, the second fastest in T20Is, and just one ball behind the record of 45, by South Africas Richard Levi. West Indies had a sub-50-ball hundred as well, with Evin Lewis scoring one off 48, the sixth fastest in T20Is, and the second best by a West Indian. The quickest for them is 47 balls, by Chris Gayle.32 Runs that West Indies scored off Stuart Binny in the 11th over of the innings - Lewis struck five sixes and took a single, while one ball was a wide. Only once have more runs been scored in an over in T20Is, when Yuvraj Singh slammed six sixes off Stuart Broad in the 2007 World T20. There are also two othher instances of 32 runs being scored in an over, both by England, in consecutive matches in 2012: off Wayne Parnell at Edgbaston, and off Afghanistans Izatullah Dawlatzai in a World T20 game in Colombo. Eden Hazard Jersey. 248 Runs scored in the first ten overs by both teams in the match - West Indies scored 132 to Indias 116. It is the most runs that each team has scored in the first ten overs, while the aggregate is the second best in any T20I, three runs short of the record of 251 in a South Africa-West Indies game in Johannesburg in 2015.13.26 The run rate during the 126-run stand between Johnson Charles and Lewis, the sixth highest for any century partnership in T20Is. India had a similar century stand, with Rahul and MS Dhoni adding 107 off 8.1 overs, a rate of 13.10. The fastest 100-plus stand in T20Is is also in Lauderhill by West Indies, when Gayle and Kieron Pollard added 108 in 6.5 overs against New Zealand in 2012, at a rate of 15.80. Three of the seven fastest 100-plus stands in this format have come in Lauderhill.6 Number of runs India scored in the 20th over; only two overs in the entire match yielded fewer runs: the 11th of the West Indies innings, by R Ashwin, which went for four, and the first over of Indias innings, by Andre Russell, which went for five.325 International matches in which MS Dhoni has been captain, the most by any player in international cricket. Dhoni went past Ricky Pontings mark of 324. Ponting remains the most successful captain, though, with 220 wins, while Dhoni is next on 175.2 Number of players from the West Indies XI who played the Test series - Marlon Samuels and Carlos Brathwaite. India had eight players from this team who also played in the Tests. NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Gear China NFL Jerseys White Cheap NFL Autographed Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Throwback China NFL Jerseys China NFL Jerseys White ' ' '
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