Pogacar storms to Vuelta a Espana stage four triumph

Cycling superstar Tadej Pogacar on Tuesday crushed his Vuelta a Espana rivals to clinch a sensational solo stage four victory and open up a commanding general classification lead.

The Slovenian, aiming to complete a Grand Tour grand slam, attacked with just more than 50km remaining in Andorra’s mountains, and crossed the finish line with the chasing pack languishing.

Jarno Widar and Felix Gall completed the day’s podium in second and third respectively, both coming in 2 minutes 39 seconds behind Pogacar as they beat out four other riders in a sprint to the line.

Already wearing the red jersey after winning the individual time trial on the first stage, UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider Pogacar’s bid to carve out a significant lead was foiled on Monday by inclement weather.

Riders had to take shelter from a dangerous hailstorm in a nearby hotel in the Pyrenees, and the third stage was abandoned.

So, it was a day later than planned that five-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, hoping to become only the fourth rider to claim a Tour-Vuelta double in the same season, took full control.

Racing resumed on Tuesday with a short but tricky 104.8km course in the mountains with four categorized climbs.

Decathlon led onto the day’s second climb, Collada de Beixalis, but Pogacar decided that was his moment to shine.

The 27-year-old, competing in the Vuelta for the first time since 2019, powered ahead, with Gall attempting to follow him.

Pogacar dropped the Austrian, who fell back to the chase group, and flew on ahead, creating a two-minute gap.

The chase group expanded to nine riders, including Oscar Onley and Primoz Roglic, but Pogacar was three minutes ahead up the road at that point.

The unstoppable Slovenian pumped his fists then raised his arms aloft as he crossed the finish line.

Widar and Gall edged out four-time Vuelta winner Roglic, Onley, Enric Mas and Sepp Kuss in a sprint to the line, after they had dropped Richard Carapaz and Mattias Skjelmose in the final stages.

China’s world No. 3 Wang Zhiyi on Thursday overcame severe cramps to down Indian star P.V. Sindhu and reach the quarter-finals of the Badminton World Championships. The top seeds kept their campaign on track, with South Korea’s world No. 1 An Se-young and defending champion Akane Yamaguchi also winning their third-round matches at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. Wang’s brave effort stood out as she beat ninth-seeded Sindhu 21-11, 15-21, 21-17 despite severely cramping in the deciding game.

With scores level at 16-16 in game 3, Wang slipped and winced in pain before taking some treatment for cramps. The Chinese went down again

TAIWAN’S HSIEH ADVANCES: Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko made the semis, but Chan Hao-ching and Maya Joint of Australia were beaten in the women’s doubles World No. 3 Jessica Pegula on Thursday survived a stirring fightback from Amanda Anisimova to win 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4) and reach the Cincinnati Open semi-finals, while Iga Swiatek also advanced when Elena Rybakina retired injured. World No. 2 Rybakina retired in the first set with an ankle problem in a setback to her preparations for the US Open Grand Slam, which is to begin on Aug.

30. Pegula took the opening set in 34 minutes, but ninth-seeded Anisimova hit back hard to claim the second, breaking early for a 3-0 lead before Pegula took a medical timeout. American Pegula squandered a 5-3

Alex Lanier yesterday became the first singles badminton player from France to clinch the BWF World Championships title, moments after France took gold in the mixed doubles, after Taiwan won bronze medals in the men’s singles and doubles the previous day. Taiwanese badminton stars Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan fell in the men’s doubles semi-finals to a Chinese duo, giving them a bronze medal, matching Taiwan’s best-ever result in the event.

Lee and Yang, ranked 17th in the world and the only unseeded pair in the men’s doubles semi-finals, lost 21-18, 21-14 to world No. 3 Chinese pair Liang Weikeng

Taiwanese badminton veteran Chou Tien-chen on Friday advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals at the BWF World Championships in India, securing the second world championships medal of his career. He was to play against Japan’s Kodai Naraoka after press time last night. The 36-year-old world No. 6 defeated Indonesian rising star Alwi Farhan 21-15, 21-15 in 50 minutes to guarantee himself at least a bronze medal. Chou, who entered the match with a 2-1 career record against the world No. 12, used his defense and experience to neutralize Farhan’s attacks and claim his third win in their four meetings.

Chou after