Tour de France: Cummings sneaks by the French
July 18, 2015
Cummings earned his South African team MTN-Qhubeka its first stage victory ever, after spoiling an almost certain French win in the 14th stage of the Tour de France on Saturday.
Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet seemed convinced it was their race to win, marking each other just a few kilometers from the finish line above the town of Mende. Cummings, however, powered past the French duo inside the final kilometer.
Riding for the first African team on the Tour de France, Cummings raised his arms in celebration as he crossed the line, with the victory a double pleasure for the South African team on Mandela day.
Froome froome!
Fellow Briton Chris Froome retained the yellow jersey two-thirds the way through the Tour after holding off his rivals - and even gaining further ground at the end of the 198.5-km ride from Rodez.
Despite a host of challengers, the 2013 champion never panicked, finishing one second ahead of Colombian Nairo Quintana, now second overall at 3:10 behind, and leapfrogging American Tejay van Garderen, who is now third at 3:32 off the pace.
Spaniards Valverde and Alberto Contador are fourth and fifth overall, 4:02 and 4:23 off the pace after losing a few seconds in the final sprint.
Urine attack
After the race, Froome told the media that he had been doused with urine by a spectator in what was an apparent attempt to draw attention to unconfirmed allegations of cheating.
The 30-year-old Briton blamed journalists for "irresponsible" reporting after facing accusations of doping during this year's race.
"A spectator about 50-60km into the race threw a cup of urine over me, shouting 'dope,'" Froome told reporters.
"It's unacceptable on so many levels."
He added: "I would blame some of the reporting on the race, it's been very irresponsible. Those individuals know who they are."
glb / (Reuters, AP, AFP)