Daily News Channel
Manchester United have scheduled a second match in Malaysia after rejecting a request from the Indonesian government to fulfil a fixture canceled as a result of bomb attacks in Jakarta. The English Premier League champions will play a second game against a Malaysia XI in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, having defeated the same team 3-2 in Saturday’s opening match of the club’s pre-season Asian tour
Mark Cavendish regained the green jersey with another blistering sprint finish to win the 11th stage of the Tour de France in Saint Fargeau on Wednesday. It was the fourth stage victory of this year’s race for the Team Columbia High Road star, matching his achievement on last year’s Tour. It also draws his level with Barry Hoban for the all-time record of eight wins by a British cyclist.
Cycling at the Tour de France has taken a techie turn. Not only is Lance Armstrong posting to Twitter from the race, but a Chalkbot — a robot that writes in water-soluble paint — is scribing messages onto the road, offering inspiration to the competitors and to cancer survivors. The Chalkbot takes input from text messages and Twitter posts sent by the public
Frenchman Pierrick Fedrigo has won the ninth stage of the Tour de France from Saint-Gaudens to Tarbes, outsprinting Italian Franco Pellizotti after the pair had broken away from their fellow escapees as the race left the Pyrenees.
Spain’s Luis-Leon Sanchez won a sprint finish among a four-man breakaway group to claim stage eight of the Tour de France over the Pyrenees on Saturday. The Caisse d’Epargne rider timed his finish to perfection to cross the line just ahead of Frenchman Sandy Casar in a time of four hours 31 minutes and 50 seconds. Sanchez, Casar and two others — Mikel Astarloza and Vladimir Efimkin — had made a decisive break on the final climb, the Col d’Agnes, allowing the quartet to battle it out at the finish of the 176.5km hike from Andorra La Vella to St Girons.
Thor Hushovd led a mass sprint finish win the sixth stage of the Tour de France in wet conditions on Thursday, while overall leader Fabian Cancellara remained a second ahead of comeback king Lance Armstrong. The Norwegian headed off last year’s green jersey winner Oscar Freire and another Spaniard in Jose Joaquin Rojas to give his Cervelo team its first stage win in cycling’s premier event, and his sixth. The top 43 riders were all classified with a time of four hours, 21 minutes and 33 seconds, including Cancellara in 10th and seven-time champion Armstrong in 27th.
Lance Armstrong has failed by under a second to take the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, after the American’s Astana team powered to victory in the 39km fourth stage team time-trial around Montpellier. Seven-times winner Armstrong began the day 40 seconds behind race leader Fabian Cancellara in third position on general classification — and his Astana team duly beat Cancellara’s Saxon Bank team by that very margin, with the Garmin team splitting them in second position. The result means Swiss Cancellara keeps hold of the race lead by the slenderest of margins, with 2007 champion and Armstrong’s team-mate Alberto Contador in third place, 19 seconds behind the leading two.
Call it irony, call it the silver lining of a tragic death — Michael Jackson’s passing has put the King of Pop back on top of the music charts. His hits have suddenly become the nostalgic sound track of summer 2009. And Jackson’s reign could continue for years with fresh material that has never been released and artistic reworkings of existing classic tracks, according to Tommy Mottola, former CEO and chairman of Sony, the company that owns the distribution rights to much of Jackson’s music
Mark Cavendish underlined his position as the fastest man in cycling by sprinting away from his rivals to comfortably take the 187km second stage of the Tour de France from Monaco to Brignoles.
The rehearsals ended on a high note that night.