UAE Team Emirates rider Tadej Pogacar maintained his three-minute-plus overall lead in the Tour de France as Victor Campenaerts secured a perfectly-timed victory in the Alps on Thursday's Stage 18.
Campenaerts was in the leading breakaway trio with Michal Kwiatkowski and Matteo Vercher, with the Belgian biding his time behind the other two riders before exploding into a powerful sprint in the final 200 metres to take his first ever Tour stage win.
Pogacar rolled home in the yellow jersey 14 minutes down on the stage winner and there were no changes in the top 11 of the overall standings as the GC rivals came in unscathed.
The Slovenian remains three minutes and 11 seconds clear of Visma-Lease a Bike's Jonas Vingegaard with Remco Evenepoel of Soudal-Quick Step 5 mins and 9 secs behind Pogacar as they head into the race's final three stages – the last of which ends in Nice on Sunday.
Campenaerts, a former one-hour world record holder, wept at the finish line as he spoke with his wife by video link.
In many ways, Campenaerts shared the limelight on Thursday with the 20km-long artificial lake Serre-Poncon with turquoise blue waters that run off the Alps to 90m deep in spring.
Campenaerts, Kwiatkowski and Vercher broke away and surged ahead about 35km from the finish and the trio kept the pressure on as a group of five riders attempted to catch up.
But they managed to hold the chasing pack at bay with a comfortable pace up front until the final sprint where Campenaerts hung back while Kwiatkowski led, constantly looking over his shoulder.
Campenaerts eventually kicked into gear to overtake both riders who gave chase in vain as Vercher, who crashed earlier in the neutral zone at the start of the stage, finished second and Kwiatkowski third.
“As a real professional you have to ride the Tour de France, finish the Tour de France, but winning a stage in the Tour de France is everybody’s dream,” he said.
“I’ve been dreaming about this for a very long time. After the Classics, I had a very difficult time. I had a verbal agreement with the [Lotto Dstny] team about extending my contract. I got ignored for a long time and it was very difficult.
“I was at a long altitude [training] camp but my girlfriend was there, she supported me every day, [while] heavily pregnant.
“I was struggling to finish my training schedules but I changed my mind. I have a bright future now, still in cycling.
“I became a father and it was like, only blue skies. I started to feel very good on the bike and I came to this Tour de France with a super-motivated team, with a super good atmosphere in the team. This is just the sum of this atmosphere in the team and we’re going to celebrate tonight.
“The support I have from my girlfriend is incredible, she's always there for me. We spent nine weeks in the altitude camp, she gave birth to our son at the bottom of the climb in Granada. She is the hero in this story.”
The final three stages are all potential game-changers with Friday's run taking the peloton to 2800m altitude before a huge descent sure to provide an edge-of-the-seat experience for the armchair viewer.
Saturday is also a steep stage with two mountains and another downhill finale. But the final stage could shake up the standings even more with a 34km individual time trial from Monaco to Nice.
Stage 18 result
1. Victor Campenaerts (Bel/Lotto-Dstny) 4hrs 10mins 20secs
2. Matteo Vercher (Fra/TotalEnergies) Same time
3. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol/Ineos Grenadiers)
4. Toms Skujins (Lat/Lidl-Trek) +22secs
5. Oier Lazkano (Spa/Movistar) Same time
General classification
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) 74hrs 45mins 27secs
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma-Lease a Bike) +3mins 11secs
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal- Quick Step) +5:09
4. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) +12:57
5. Mikel Landa (Spa/Soudal-Quick Step) +13:24
Moral education needed in a 'rapidly changing world'
Moral education lessons for young people is needed in a rapidly changing world, the head of the programme said.
Alanood Al Kaabi, head of programmes at the Education Affairs Office of the Crown Price Court - Abu Dhabi, said: "The Crown Price Court is fully behind this initiative and have already seen the curriculum succeed in empowering young people and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in building the future of the nation at all levels.
"Moral education touches on every aspect and subject that children engage in.
"It is not just limited to science or maths but it is involved in all subjects and it is helping children to adapt to integral moral practises.
"The moral education programme has been designed to develop children holistically in a world being rapidly transformed by technology and globalisation."
'Morbius'
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Stars: Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona
Rating: 2/5
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg result:
Ajax 2-3 Tottenham
Tottenham advance on away goals rule after tie ends 3-3 on aggregate
Final: June 1, Madrid
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
Get Out
Director: Jordan Peele
Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford
Four stars
How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
The Saga Continues
Wu-Tang Clan
(36 Chambers / Entertainment One)
UFC%20FIGHT%20NIGHT%3A%20SAUDI%20ARABIA%20RESULTS
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Sun jukebox
Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog) (1953)
This rip-off of Leiber/Stoller’s early rock stomper brought a lawsuit against Phillips and necessitated Presley’s premature sale to RCA.
Elvis Presley, Mystery Train (1955)
The B-side of Presley’s final single for Sun bops with a drummer-less groove.
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Folsom Prison Blues (1955)
Originally recorded for Sun, Cash’s signature tune was performed for inmates of the titular prison 13 years later.
Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes (1956)
Within a month of Sun’s February release Elvis had his version out on RCA.
Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby (1956)
An essential piece of irreverent juvenilia from Orbison.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Lee’s trademark anthem is one of the era’s best-remembered – and best-selling – songs.
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
Second Test
In Dubai
Pakistan 418-5 (declared)
New Zealand 90 and 131-2 (follow on)
Day 3: New Zealand trail by 197 runs with 8 wickets remaining
Company%20profile
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
