NICE, France: Colombia’s Sergio Henao lifted his troubled Sky team’s spirits with a dramatic two-second success over Alberto Contador in the Paris-Nice on Sunday.
Henao set up the win when grabbing a half-minute lead in the ‘Race to the Sun’ with fourth in Saturday’s penultimate stage.
But the 29-year-old only scraped home in the face of a determined challenge from Contador.
The Spaniard, placed third at 31 seconds at the start of the day, took second in the closing eighth stage behind his fellow countryman David de la Cruz.
Stage success for de la Cruz (Quick Step) denied Contador the bonus points which would have seen him and not Henao take overall victory.
For Contador it was a cruel near miss coming after he had been edged out by just four seconds by Geraint Thomas 12 months ago.
Ireland’s Dan Martin completed the final podium, half-a-minute behind Henao who became the second Colombian to win the race after Carlos Betancur in 2014.
Team Sky have won five of the past six editions courtesy of Bradley Wiggins (2012), Richie Porte (2013-2015), Thomas (2016) and Henao.
The British team have been hit by doping and sexism rows in recent weeks, their reputation taking a battering as a result.
Henao had said he hoped to see out the win for beleaguered team chief Dave Brailsford.
Henao shades Contador by two seconds in Paris-Nice
Henao shades Contador by two seconds in Paris-Nice
Vonn crashes out of Winter Olympics in brutal end to medal dream
- The 41-year-old was just 13 seconds into her run when she lost control
- Skiing legend was aiming to win another medal despite competing with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy: Lindsey Vonn crashed out of the Winter Olympics downhill on Sunday, brutally ending the American skiing great’s improbable dream of winning a medal despite competing with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
Vonn was just 13 seconds into her run in bright sunshine in Cortina d’Ampezzo when she lost control, twisted in the air and crumpled in the snow.
The 41-year-old’s cries of pain could be heard on the microphones as medical staff attended to the stricken skier on the piste.
Thousands of spectators at the bottom of the run fell silent as they watched the images of the crash on giant screens.
Vonn was eventually strapped into a stretcher and winched into the air by helicopter to be flown to hospital.
Her US teammate Breezy Johnson went on to win the gold medal, but her first thoughts were for Vonn, saying: “My heart goes out to her. I hope it’s not as bad as it looked.”
Johnson finished in front of Germany’s Emma Aicher by just 0.04sec with Italy’s Sofia Goggia taking bronze in front of her home fans.
Vonn’s sister Karin Kildow, who watched the crash on giant screens at the course, said: “That definitely was the last thing we wanted to see.”
Hopes dashed
Just two weeks ago, Vonn, one of global sport’s most recognizable faces, looked in contention to cap a remarkable comeback from retirement by winning the second Olympic gold medal of her career — her last came 16 years ago in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
She had retired in 2019 but returned to the slopes in 2024 after surgery to insert a titanium implant in her right knee to quell persistent pain.
But her Olympic plans were thrown into disarray when she crashed in a World Cup race at Crans Montana, Switzerland, on January 30.
In a press conference once she arrived in Italy, she admitted she had ruptured her ACL in the crash, but insisted she could still compete for medals.
“This is not obviously what I had hoped for.... I know what my chances were before the crash and and I know my chances aren’t the same as it stands today,” she said then.
“But I know there’s still a chance, and as long as there’s a chance I will try.”
She even batted aside those who doubted her ability to perform with such an injury, taking to social media to fire back at a sports doctor for doubting her ACL tear was as bad as she claimed.
In other action on Sunday, the second full day of the Milan-Cortina Games, Czech snowboarder Zuzana Maderova won gold in the women’s parallel giant slalom after the shock exit of defending champion Ester Ledecka.
Ledecka crashed out in the quarter-finals as the Czech chased what would have been a historic snowboarding title in three consecutive Olympics.
Maderova enjoyed a comfortable victory over Ledecka’s conqueror Sabine Payer, cruising to victory by 0.83sec.
In Tesero, Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Klaebo racked up the sixth Olympic gold medal of his career by taking the skiathlon title.
Later, attention will switch the ice rink as the USA go into the final day of the figure skating team event seeking to resist a stiff challenge from Japan.
Ilia Malinin, the US sensation who was upstaged on his Olympic debut on Saturday by Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, skates again on Sunday in the free program.
