BMC's Schar sprints to victory in Utah


(MENAFN- Arab Times) KATOWICE Poland Aug 6 (Agencies): Belgium's Jonas Van Genechten prevailed in a sprint finish to the Tour of Poland fourth stage a 236km ride from Tarnow to Katowice on Wednesday. The Lotto Belisol rider was followed home by Italy's Jacopo Guarnieri and Luka Mergec of Slovenia. The Czech Republic's Petr Vakoc retained the leader's yellow jersey. In Torrey Utah Michael Schar of BMC Racing Team survived a six-man breakaway over Boulder Mountain and then sprinted to victory Tuesday in the second stage of the Tour of Utah. Schar was part of the lead group for the entirety of the 131-mile stage the longest of this year's race. After cresting the final climb the reigning Swiss road race champion managed to hold off the peloton by two seconds at the finish line. Schar then collapsed in a joyful heap on the pavement under the town's famous cottonwoods. SmartStop's Jure Kocjan finished second for the second straight day winning a bunched sprint for the podium. Serghei Tvetcov of Jelly Belly finished third. The third stage Wednesday takes riders 118 miles before finishing in Tooele Utah.   Mark Cavendish will return to action in this month's Tour de l'Ain stage race in eastern France having recovered from the shoulder injury he sustained in the Tour de France opening stage his team said on Wednesday. The British rider whose hopes of a home win in Harrogate ended in a high-speed crash said he would use the race to gauge his recovery from the accident that forced him to abandon the Tour before the second stage with shoulder ligament damage. 'Tour de l'Ain will be important to see where I am at with my training and recovery from my injury and also as a bit of a test at competition pace' Cavendish said on the Omega Pharma Quickstep team's website (www.omegapharma-quickstep.com). 'The rest of my program will be decided 100 percent after Tour de l'Ain depending on how I feel during that race. Tour de l'Ain will be the first time back in the peloton after the Tour.' Cavendish who has 25 stage wins on the Tour said he would have liked to have competed at this weekend's Prudential Ride London Classic - a 100-mile mass race for amateur riders with a pro race thrown in for good measure. 'I think it will be a wonderful event given the amazing support for cycling in the UK' he said. 'I was so proud of what I saw from the public in the opening stage of the Tour and I wish I could be there to race in front of my British supporters.'   Tour de France green jersey winner Peter Sagan will join Tinkoff-Saxo next season the Slovak daily Sport said on Tuesday. It claimed the Russian-owned team would probably officially announce the deal after Thursday's stage of the Tour of Poland. 'The three-time winner of the green jersey from the Tour de France has signed a contract with the team of Russian entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov' the daily said. Although the 24-year-old Slovak currently with Italian team Cannondale won the Tour's green jersey for the third year in a row last month he failed to win a stage this year. He has had a fairly unsuccessful season by his high standards with victory at E3 Harelbeke his only major win this season other than the Slovakian national road race. He was 2nd in Strade Bianche 3rd at Gent-Welvelgem sixth in Paris-Roubaix and 10th at Milan-San Remo. He also finished second in four Tour stages while coming fourth on another four. Sagan was courted by Astana as well as the new Spanish team being built for next season by Formula One star Fernando Alonso the daily said.  


Arab Times

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