International Capsules: Armstrong-Contador rivalry helps Tour contenders
ALHAMA DE MURCIA, Spain — Team RadioShack boss Johan Bruyneel wants to play down Lance Armstrong's rivalry with Alberto Contador at the Tour de France.
He doesn't want to give Armstrong's other challengers a helping hand.
Their rivalry was well-documented when they raced for Astana last season and Bruyneel was the team director. Contador won the Tour de France last year and Armstrong finished third.
Bruyneel and Armstrong joined the new RadioShack team this year. Bruyneel believes Andy and Frank Schleck and Bradley Wiggins can only gain "an advantage" from a Armstrong-Contador focus during the grueling race from July 3-25.
"I think it's wrong to look at it that way because it only provides the other contenders with an advantage," Bruyneel said at the Tour of Murcia on Friday. "There's no point in going on about Contador-Armstrong because we only spend more energy on that, and that just helps the others."
Armstrong considers Wiggins the clear favorite in Murcia after Friday's 103.4-mile third stage. The Texan admitted he had "suffered like a dog" on the punishing grade-1 mountain climb of Alto de Espuna.
Luke Roberts of Milram won the stage Friday at the Tour of Murica stage in 4 hours, 16 minutes, 47 seconds. Armstrong and Wiggins were five seconds back of overall leader Josep Jufre of Astana heading into the time trial on Saturday.
The 38-year-old Armstrong dropped 98 feet behind the leading group before eventually catching up.
"I didn't expect to be near the front because I haven't focused on the climbing and still need to lose some weight," said Armstrong, who needed more than 30 minutes to give an anti-doping sample afterward.
He was pleased with his position in the race.
"To be on the same time as the favorite is a good sign for me," Armstrong said. "I did that climb years ago and was not anywhere near the front."
Wiggins said Murcia was important for getting a sense of where Armstrong was in his training.
"You do all the things you would do if it was the Tour de France, riding with the same mindset," Wiggins said. "For me, coming here and trying to pick up some results is good for the morale."
Like Armstrong, Wiggins said the time trial on Saturday would be important for the upcoming season. Armstrong has already pinpointed Wiggins and the Schlecks as Tour candidates.
"All sports need people, need personalities — it's sort of what makes the world goes round," Armstrong said. "I think we're starting to see in cycling the evolution of other stars, which is good."
Throngs of supporters have turned up at the Team RadioShack bus for a photo or autograph of Armstrong, who posted on his Twitter page: "Muchas gracias to the people for the support here. I must say though, I'm a little surprised by it!"
"I've been in Spain a long time racing, even back to my amateur days — it's been 20 years. So maybe the people have an appreciation for that and I think they obviously like their riders," Armstrong said. "I just stay quiet, stay out of their way, let them cheer for whoever they want to cheer for and avoid the drama."
French antidoping agency refuses UCI cooperation
PARIS — France's antidoping agency won't help the International Cycling Union try to catch drug cheats at the Paris-Nice race.
The AFLD said Friday in a statement it will only give its information "to judicial authorities," rather than to the sport's ruling body.
In a letter to AFLD boss Pierre Bordry last month, UCI president Pat McQuaid said there would be no repeat of last year's cooperation during the Tour de France and Paris-Nice, when AFLD testers collected the samples.
McQuaid did leave the door open to limited collaboration.
The two organizations have clashed since Bordry accused UCI drug testers of favoring Lance Armstrong's former team Astana during last year's Tour.
The "Race to the Sun" starts Sunday with a prologue in Montfort-l'Amaury.
Spain's Gutierrez retires from cycling
MADRID — Spanish cyclist Jose Enrique Gutierrez has announced his retirement after his American Rock Racing team failed to get a license to compete.
In a statement, Gutierrez said that "at this stage of the season it is very difficult to find a team" that could offer him the right conditions.
The 35-year-old Gutierrez has competed in six Tour de France races, three Italian Giros and five Spanish Vueltas in a 12-year career.
He finished second in the 2006 Giro de Italia behind Ivan Basso, his best performance in a major race.
Swimming
Phelps disappointed after easy win in 400-yard IM
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Swimming in a state championship meet in a 25-yard pool and against mostly 15 to 17 year olds, Michael Phelps was a long way from being anywhere close to an Olympic venue.
The 24-year old, 14-time Olympic Gold medalist was nowhere near Olympic form, disappointing himself, frustrating his coach and leaving the standing room crowd unfulfilled.
Phelps' time of 3 minutes, 39.01 seconds in winning the 400 individual medley in the Maryland State Swim Championships at the U.S. Naval Academy, was well off the U.S. short course record of 3:35.98 in the event.
"I'm not happy, not at all," said Phelps, whose most recent international appearance was as a spectator at the Vancouver Olympics last month. He last swam competitively seven weeks ago.
"I wasn't as focused as I should have been. I let things control me that I should have been able to control. This is my job, my profession. I should handle things differently," Phelps said after the first of four events he plans to compete in this weekend's three-day meet. "I can say today, at this moment, after this event, 3:39 is nowhere close to what I can or should do."
Phelps is swimming here as part of a schedule designed to get him back in peak condition for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. But, according to his coach, Bob Bowman, Friday's swim was a step in the wrong direction.
"Everything we do in training and competition is a stepping stone in the big picture, everything is meant to be a step forward, but today was a step backward," Bowman said.
While Phelps would not be specific as to what was responsible for his poor showing, Bowman said Phelps' training hasn't been what it should be.
"He's the best in the world when he's prepared. When you're that fast, you have to be able to prepare yourself to swim at that level," Bowman added. "It comes down to how you train, without question. He has to be more consistent in his training."
Phelps' other events in this meet will be the 200-yard IM and 500 freestyle on Saturday and the 200 butterfly on Sunday. Short-course races are held in shorter pools that are measured in yards, rather than in 50-meter pools as are most events.
"I wasn't as prepared as I should have been. I was so looking forward to this race, but there it is: 3:39. I have to put this behind me. I have three more chances (here) to do better than I did today," Phelps said.
Coughlin back in the pool with a victory in Austin
AUSTIN — Natalie Coughlin won the 100-meter backstroke at the Austin Grand Prix on Friday, her first victory since winning six medals at the 2008 Olympics.
Coughlin is competing for the first time since taking a year off after Beijing.
She won the 100 back in 1 minute, 1.08 seconds. Henriette Stenkvist was second and Olympian Margaret Hoelzer was third. Coughlin finished third in the 100 fly on Thursday.
Olympian Rebecca Soni won the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.43, bettering the University of Texas pool record and defeating Jessica Hardy and two-time Olympian Megan Jendrick.
Olympian Matt Grevers won the men's 100 back in 53.05 seconds, also lowering the pool record. He held off Nick Thoman and reigning Olympic champion Aaron Peirsol, who touched in third.
Ariana Kukors won the 400 individual medley, with Olympian Katie Hoff finishing second. Robert Margalis won the men's race.
In other races, Peter Vanderkaay won the men's 200 freestyle and Dana Vollmer won the women's race; and Mike Alexandrov won the men's 100 breast.
Sailing
Swiss say Race 2 of America's Cup was improper
SAN DIEGO — One of the bitterest chapters in the 159-year history of the America's Cup didn't quite end when the speedy space-age trimaran owned by American software tycoon Larry Ellison routed Alinghi of Switzerland last month in Valencia, Spain.
Fred Meyer, the vice commodore of Alinghi's backing yacht club, Societe Nautique de Geneve, said in an open letter to the club's members that the decisive Race 2 was run in improper conditions.
"From a rules point of view, it is not even clear whether there was truly a race or not on that day," Meyer concluded. The letter was sent last week and began circulating outside the club this week.
The last line raised some eyebrows in an event that had been mired in court: Do the Swiss plan to take some kind of legal action over the race result?
"No," Alinghi spokesman Paco Latorre told The Associated Press on Friday. "But SNG and especially the people who were on the committee boat are a little bit fed up about comments not truthful. I don't think SNG wants to take any further action. It's done, it's over. The reputation of those three guys has been hit a little bit. Everything has been said but nothing nice has been said about them."
As it was, Alinghi and Ellison's BMW Oracle Racing fought over rules, dates and the venue for 2½ years in the New York state court system, right up until two weeks before Race 1.
The day after the Americans completed the two-race sweep, principal race officer Harold Bennett of New Zealand said there was "a bit of a mutiny" among the Swiss members of the race committee, who refused to help with the starting sequence.
Race 2 had been postponed six hours while the committee waited for conditions on the Mediterranean to settle. Late in the afternoon, Bennett indicated he was aiming for a start five minutes before the cutoff time.
The Swiss, badly beaten in Race 1, told Bennett the waves of approximately three feet (one meter) were too high. When Bennett ordered the prestart sequence to begin, the Swiss members of the race committee — Meyer was among them — refused to lower the postponement flags and went below deck. Bennett told Tom Ehman, a neutral observer from BMW Oracle Racing, to lower the flags and had the boat driver, who is an international umpire, help with other signals.
Alinghi's massive catamaran was penalized for being in the starting box early, which Meyer blamed on spectator boats.
BMW Oracle Racing provided a screen-shot from the television broadcast in which the only boat near the starting line with 4:14 to go before the start was an umpire's boat several hundred meters away from Alinghi.
Meyer also complained that alarms sounded continuously on both boats due to the extreme loads they were under as they sailed upwind on the first leg.
"Fortunately no accidents occurred that day and neither of the boats was damaged," Meyer wrote. "The three SNG Race Committee members however maintain that it was unreasonable, unnecessary and improper to launch the race at that moment."
Bennett didn't have much sympathy.
"They were taking a little bit of strain," he told a group of reporters the day after the race. "But crikey, if the boats are that flimsy, I guess it's a problem, isn't it?"
Ehman declined to comment on Meyer's letter.
Interestingly, SNG's Web site still carries a message from Alinghi dated three days after Race 2, headlined, "GAME OVER!"
The message reads in part: "The 33rd America's Cup was full of twists and turns, but the competition was fair."
San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club, which backs BMW Oracle Racing and is the new home of the America's Cup, still has a breach of fiduciary trust complaint pending against SNG in the New York State Supreme Court. It's not clear whether the case will proceed.
-- Bernie Wilson
Track & Field
Robles wins 60m hurdles at French meeting
LIEVIN, France — Olympic champion Dayron Robles of Cuban has won the 60-meter hurdles at the Pas de Calais meet, beating Yevgeniy Borisov of Russia.
Robles finished in 7.45 seconds Friday on the indoor track in Lievin, France. Borisov was 0.08 seconds behind and countryman Igor Permota finished third in 7.67.
Robles is scheduled to run at next week's world indoor championships in Doha, Qatar. He holds the world record in the 110 hurdles.
Leslie Djhone of France set a European indoor record in winning the 300 in 32.47 and Roman Smirnov of Russia was second in 32.88.
British hurdler Priestley facing 2-year doping ban
LONDON — British hurdler Callum Priestley has been provisionally suspended from competition and faces a two-year ban after testing positive for a banned asthma drug.
Priestley has been suspended under IAAF rules by UK Anti-Doping after analysis of the B sample of an out-of-competition test showed the presence of clenbuterol — an anabolic agent that can be used to reduce body fat.
The positive test was taken in South Africa in January, before Priestley won the 60 hurdles at the UK Championships.
UK Athletics chief executive Niels de Vos says he is disappointed about the failed test.
Winter Sports
Putin chides sports officials over Olympic flop
MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took Russian sports officials to task Friday over the nation's dismal showing at the Vancouver Games, despite what he described as generous state funding.
Putin told a government meeting that Russian sports federations must have broader power and specific responsibilities, more sports facilities need to be built and wages of coaches must be increased to prevent a similar humiliation when Russia hosts the 2014 Games in Sochi.
"I already hear some say that ... it's not the most important thing to be among the leaders, the most important thing is to make a good showing," Putin said with a wry smile. "I must tell you it's not so. You go into the games not just to sweat, but to win."
The Russian team brought home just 15 medals from Vancouver, finishing in sixth place. The team was 11th in the gold medal count with only three — the nation's worst Olympic performance.
Putin, chairing a meeting to analyze the Olympic flop, said the government spent about $117 million in three years to prepare for the Vancouver Games — a sum he claimed was comparable to that spent by the nations that won the most medals.
"I have got an impression that the more money we spend, the more modest the results are," he said, adding that the figure was five times the amount Russia had spent on preparations for the 2006 Winter Games in Torino.
Putin's remarks follow President Dmitry Medvedev's call for sports officials to step down or face dismissal. Russian Olympic Committee chief Leonid Tyagachev resigned on Thursday and Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko went on state television to repent, bemoaning the nation's aging sports infrastructure and the loss of the national coaching school.
Putin acknowledged that the wear and tear of Soviet-era sports facilities and emigration of some of the nation's top athletes and coaches had played a role in the poor showing. But he emphasized that the government's spending on sport should have brought a better result.
"Maybe the money we invested wasn't put where it should have been put, but somewhere else, where those who had it wanted it to go?" Putin said.
In a series of interviews, Olympic figure skating champion Irina Rodnina — who won three gold medals for the Soviet Union before moving to the United States in 1990 to work as a coach — decried the laziness and cronyism of Russia's sports managers. They are often accused of favoring their friends or those with money.
Putin said the entire system of training athletes must be changed. He said the work of sports federations must become more transparent and they must produce step-by-step plans. He also urged stronger incentives for promising athletes and better pay for coaches.
"We must take the best from the Soviet system of training athletes and also use modern international experience," Putin said.
In nine Winter Olympics from 1956 to 1988, the Soviet Union never finished outside the top two in the medal standings. Only twice it did not finish on top.
"Sochi is our national project, and we will pay the maximum attention to that," Putin said. "Millions of fans are waiting for our team to become the winner. In any case, it must be among the leaders in Sochi in 2014."
-- Vladimir Isachenkov
Nagano gold medalist Hiroyuki Shimizu retires
OBIHIRO, Japan — Former Japanese Olympic gold medalist Hiroyuki Shimizu has retired from speed skating.
The 36-year-old Shimizu, who won the 500-meter gold at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, decided to retire after failing to make Japan's team for the Vancouver Games.
"I had a great career in the sport and would now like to help young skaters realize their dreams," Shimizu said Saturday at a retirement ceremony.
Shimizu also won bronze in the 1,000 in Nagano and silver in the 500 at Salt Lake City in 2002. He has broken the 500 world record four times and won 34 races in the 500 on the World Cup circuit, third on the all-time list.
Keiichiro Nagashima and Joji Kato won the men's 500 silver and bronze medals, respectively, in Vancouver.
Cuche leads downhill training in Norway
KVITFJELL, Norway — Didier Cuche of Switzerland, who needs one World Cup victory to wrap up the downhill title for the season, led the final training run.
In the first World Cup race since the Vancouver Olympics, Cuche is a favorite to win Saturday's race and clinch his third title in the speed event.
Cuche covered the 1994 Olympic course Friday in 1 minute, 47.52 seconds. Erik Guay of Canada was second and Didier Defago of Switzerland was third.
Bode Miller, who won three medals in Vancouver, is skipping the Norway races.
-- Nesha Starcevic
