Froome completes historic Tour-Vuelta double

MADRID, Spain - Chris Froome became just the third rider in history to win the Vuelta a Espana and Tour de France in the same year as Matteo Trentin won the 21st stage of the Vuelta through the center of Madrid on Sunday.

Froome beat four-time Grand Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali by 2min 15sec, with Russia's Ilnur Zakarin completing the podium.

"Thank you so much to everyone who's been a part of this journey," Froome said to the crowds gathered around the Cibeles fountain in the heart of Madrid.

"It's been a whirlwind past three months and so many people have contributed."

The Briton joins Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil (1963) and Bernard Hinault (1978) as the only riders to win the Tour and Vuelta in the same year.

But Froome is the first man to win both races since the Vuelta was moved to after the Tour in the racing calendar in 1995.

Froome, a four-time winner of the Tour de France, had previously finished runner-up at the Vuelta on three occasions in 2011, 2014 and 2016.

The Sky rider led the race all the way from stage three to Madrid thanks to wins on stage nine and the individual time trial on stage 16.

Trentin claimed his fourth stage win of the race on the sprint to the finish line after a 117.6km ride from Arroyomolinos to Madrid, ending in a nine-lap circuit through the center of the Spanish capital.

His victory was Quick-Step's sixth of the race with Yves Lampaert and Julian Alaphilippe also successful.

"I came here to try and win stages, but knowing the parcours didn't allow too many sprints or easy finishes," said Trentin.

"Thanks to the team in three stages of my four we controlled the bunch from the beginning.

"We also won two more stages, so I think we pretty much dominated this Vuelta in stage wins."

However, the Italian was denied the green jersey as winner of the points competition by an insatiable Froome, who sprinted to maintain his lead by finishing 11th on the stage.

"He told me he wanted to defend it and he did," said Trentin.

"With four victories I don't have the jersey, it's kind of a joke.

"It is a pity but I can survive."

There was also an emotional send-off for Alberto Contador on his final day as a professional cyclist.

The three-time Vuelta winner signed off in style with victory on the steep mountain climb to Alto de l'Angliru on Saturday and was given the honor of leading the peloton around the first lap of the Madrid circuit.

"The whole race has been special," said Contador, who also performed a lap of honor before the adoring Spanish crowds.

"Yesterday was as good as it gets. It was a stage I'll always remember and I feel very fortunate."

A winner of seven Grand Tours, Contador is one of just six riders to have won all three of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta. — Agence France-Presse

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After Lance Armstrong's doping scandal, leading tennis players to get their way on doping controls

Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and other leading tennis players calling for increased blood testing in tennis could get their wish in 2013 with the introduction of athlete biological passports to the sport.

In the aftermath of Lance Armstrong's admission last week that he was on drugs when he won each of his seven Tour de France titles, several top players at the Australian Open have revealed that they have received relatively few blood tests.





World number one Djokovic said last week that he had not been blood tested "in six or seven months".

The biological passport is a method of monitoring selected biological parameters over time, rather than trying to detect individual substances, and was considered one of the main reasons for the success in catching cheats in cycling.



"We're looking very, very closely at it and I think there's a reasonably good chance that will be operational probably towards the end of 2013," Dr Stuart Miller, the head of the International Tennis Federation (ITF)'s anti-doping effort, told BBC radio on Monday.



In 2011, the most recent set of figures available, the ITF conducted only 21 blood tests out of competition and 131 in total, a figure well outweighed by urine tests, which numbered 2,019.



At the Paris Masters last October, U.S. Open champion Murray led the calls for more blood tests in tennis, a view backed up in Melbourne by Roger Federer and Djokovic.



Blood tests are more expensive to administer than urine tests and Miller admitted that they were subject to financial constraints.



The Tennis Anti-Doping Program, which operates under the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) code is funded by the ITF along with the men's (ATP) and women's (WTA) tours and the grand slams.



On Tuesday, the ITF confirmed that the total investment in the anti-doping program was $2 million per year.

That included around $400,000 for the administration, paid for solely by the ITF, which covers staff, education, court costs and insurance.



Miller said tennis was doing everything it could to try to catch cheats.



"We are looking with our partners at the ATP, WTA and grand slams to identify areas we think we can improve," he said.



"We think we need to increase the proportion of blood testing we do under the program and we think we could also do with tending to increase the proportion of tests we do out of competition."



The ITF said it is committed to increasing its contribution in 2013 and former top-10 player Guy Forget, now the tournament director of the Paris Masters, said he believed drug taking was still happening in tennis.



"I don't think our sport is clean, I'm sure some guys are cheating," he told the BBC.



"I think it's a minority, probably, but that's why Roger and Andy are right to say we should put more money into blood tests and have more controls because we should fight this any way we can.



"I lost matches probably to guys who beat me with an unfair advantage because they were taking drugs.

"For sure it has happened. I can look in the mirror knowing I have never taken anything. But some guys might have done it.



"First of all some guys have tested positive, even if it's only a few, some have." - Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com