A roundup of today's other sports stories in brief:
Seven mountain stages in tough 2010 Tour De France
CYCLING: Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador were in the same room yesterday but not, naturally, side by side as they watched the unveiling of the 2010 Tour de France route, where their bitter rivalry from this July can be expected to continue, assuming this year's Tour de France winner has a team of any strength to back him up.
The bulk of Contador’s Astana team riders and staff have jumped ship to Armstrong’s new squad sponsored by Radioshack, and at present the Spaniard has no manager and one rider under contract alongside him which hardly bodes well for his title defence.
On the other hand, with a total of seven mountain stages and a summit finish on top of the Pyrenean Col du Tourmalet three days from the end, Contador will have plenty of opportunities to show his climbing skill.
As expected, the great pass is scaled twice, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Tour’s first passage through the Pyrenees. Next year’s race is being marketed as “The eternal quest for the summits”, with a logo consisting of a map of France with a computer-generated mountain range.
There is only one major time-trial, on the final Saturday, and that should ensure the race remains as open as this year’s.
Nor is there a team time-trial – which disappointed Armstrong – but the first three days after the prologue time-trial in Rotterdam are surprisingly tough.
Stage one to Brussels goes over the dams on Holland’s North Sea coast, where the wind could blow the race apart, stage two takes in four sections of narrow cobbled roads used in the Paris-Roubaix Classic, close to the end, while the third stage, in Belgium, includes small, steep climbs in the Ardennes.
“You will need a strong team, strong guys to keep you at the front,” was Armstrong’s conclusion. Given his current worries, Contador will have taken note.
Guardian Service
Dublin County Board refuse Ballyboden's request
GAELIC GAMES: The Dublin County Board have declined a request from Ballyboden St Enda's to postpone the county football final by 48 hours, writes Ian O'Riordan. The south Dublin club booked their place in Sunday's final after winning a second replay against All-Ireland champions Kilmacud Crokes on Tuesday night, which went to extra-time, and were thus seeking a supplementary period of recovery before taking on St Jude's in Parnell Park this Sunday, as originally scheduled.
They were advocating another evening throw-in, next Tuesday, which would at least give their players an extra 48 hours to recover. However, the Competitions Control Committee of the Dublin County Board decided the game would have to go ahead on Sunday, with a 4pm throw-in. It was pointed out that Ballyboden St Enda’s weren’t in a position to play the game the following weekend, as their hurling side are contesting the county semi-final against O’Tooles, and they have a number of dual players involved in both games.
Although the Dublin football champions aren’t active in the Leinster championship until November 8th, when they face Wicklow champions Rathnew, any further replays involving either the Ballyboden St Enda’s football or hurling teams would most likely result in a fixture backlog which may threaten Dublin’s participation in the Leinster competitions.
Irish horses pass inspection
EQUESTRIAN: All horses on the Irish squad which travelled to the world breeding championships for young event horses at Le Lion d'Angers passed yesterday's first inspection, writes Margie Mcloone.
Co Meath-based Sarah Ennis comes before the ground jury in the CCI* class for six-year-olds this morning riding her own Olympic Lux gelding BLM Diamond Delux while Camilla Speirs (BT Crew Master) and Stuart Crawford (Amacuzzi ) perform their tests tomorrow.
In the CCI** for seven-year-olds, Ciaran Glynn is the only Irish competitor today on Killossery Harvey with Melanie Ashe (Roll On Dargle), Louise Codd (Westwinds El Divo), Mark Kyle (Coolio) and last weekend’s Weston Park winner Sam Watson (GFG Rambo Man) all riding tomorrow. Sumas Black Fox, which had been nominated for the CCI**, didn’t travel.
This weekend Irish riders are competing at four-star level in Kiel and Helsinki, at the three-star show in Saint Lo and at two-star level in Harrisburg and Klagenfurt.
Nadal through
TENNIS: Top seed Rafael Nadal (above) marched into the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters with a thoroughly entertaining 6-2 6-7 6-4 victory over American James Blake yesterday.
US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro, however, joined the growing casualty list at the tournament, retiring because of a wrist injury while 7-5 2-1 down to Austrian Jurgen Melzer. World number two Nadal needed more than two hours to get past the man he rates as having one of the best returns in the game.
