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Cavendish breaks Merckx’s record
for most career Tour de France stage wins
SAINT-VULBAS, France | Mark Cavendish wrote a new chapter of Tour de France history in what is expected to be his last appearance at cycling’s biggest race.
The veteran Isle of Man sprinter broke Eddy Merckx’s long-standing record for most career Tour de France stage wins with his 35th victory on Wednesday.
The 39-year-old Cavendish sprinted for the win in the fifth stage of the Tour, pulling away some 100 meters from the line despite being bunched in. He crossed the line ahead of Jasper Philipsen and then celebrated with teammates.
Norwegian rider Alexander Kristoff, who had crashed earlier, finished third. They were given the same time of 4 hours, 8 minutes, 46 seconds.
Sixteen years after his first Tour stage win, Cavendish spoke of his constant hunger for victory.
“I always needed to win one more, more more,” said Cavendish, who was joined by his children on the podium. “It takes a lot to get there every year. I’ve got incredible people around me.”
Two-time champion Tadej Pogacar narrowly avoided a crash and finished nestled in the main pack in 35th place. While Pogacar retained the race leader’s yellow jersey, the day belonged to Cavendish.
He equaled Merckx’s mark of 34 wins during the 2021 Tour and went close to No. 35 in the seventh stage last year when he was narrowly beaten by Philipsen. He crashed a day later and broke his right collarbone.
Merckx, the Belgian considered the most dominant rider in cycling history, won his 34 individual stages at the Tour from 1969-75.
Cavendish’s decision to give it one more shot paid off.
“I just wanted to get the run-in to do it. I’m a little bit in disbelief. Astana put a big gamble on this year to make sure we’re good at the Tour de France,” Cavendish said. “We’ve done it.”
With his 2023 race ending early, Cavendish decided to put off retirement by a year and came back to try again.
Finally, Cavendish made cycling history, after winning his first Tour stage back in 2008.
Other riders were happy for Cavendish, with several stopping to speak with or hug him after the 177.4-kilometer (110-mile) leg from Saint-Jean-De-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas
Merckx amassed his wins in an era during which his domination was such that he earned the nickname “The Cannibal.” Unlike Merckx, one of four riders to win the Tour five times, Cavendish has never won the overall title, or come close.
But Cavendish’s longevity among his fellow Tour sprinters has no equal.
He won the Tour de France best sprinter’s green jersey twice. He also won stages at all three Grand Tours — the others are the Giro d’Italia and Spanish Vuelta — and became a world champion in 2011.
Cavendish joined Astana after his contract with Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl expired and he was overlooked for the 2022 Tour.
Cavendish had faced a difficult start to this Tour. During the first stage, he appeared to struggle with stomach and heat issues.
“I know how it works, my trainer and everyone around me knows how it is,” Cavendish said. “I’ve done 15 Tours de France. I don’t like to have bad days, I don’t like to suffer but I know it’s just in the head and to push through it.”
Meanwhile, Pogacar has another flat stage to get through safely Thursday, having reclaimed the leader’s jersey Tuesday with a brilliant attack near the top of the race’s first big mountain pass.
On Wednesday, he was simply relieved to avoid crashing.
“We were in the bunch and then suddenly something came up in the middle from nowhere. The guys in front of me braked and we touched wheels a little bit, but luckily I escaped,” he said. “I reacted on instinct and was very lucky.”
The 25-year-old Slovenian leads overall by 45 seconds from Tour debutant Remco Evenepoel, the Vuelta and world champion in 2022. Pogacar is 50 seconds ahead of two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard — the Danish rider who was badly injured in a high-speed crash at the Tour of Basque Country in early April.
Pogacar is aiming for the rare Giro-Tour double, and for his third Tour title after wins in 2020 and 2021. The last rider to win the Giro and the Tour the same year was the late Marco Pantani in 1998.
Wednesday’s stage saw Clement Russo and Matteo Vercher forming a breakaway after 35 kilometers (22 miles).
Given that French riders won the first two stages through Romain Bardet and Kevin Vauquelin, this may have motivated them. With rain falling, Russo and Vercher were caught with 36 kilometers (22 miles) left.
Stage 6 on Thursday is again suited for sprinters, going through vineyards to Dijon on a mainly flat trek of around 100 miles. The first individual time trial is on Friday.
Newly built CPKC Stadium of the KC Current to host NWSL championship
KANSAS CITY, Mo. | The championship game of the National Women’s Soccer League will be played Nov. 23 at CPKC Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Current and one of the first purpose-built stadiums for a professional women’s team in the world.
The league made the announcement Wednesday.
The $120 million, privately funded facility opened earlier this year on the banks of the Missouri River, just north of downtown Kansas City. The Current have sold out every match so far this season at the 11,500-seat stadium.
Last year’s championship game drew a record 25,011 fans to Snapdragon Stadium, the home of San Diego State football and the NWSL’s San Diego Wave. NJ/NY Gotham FC beat Seattle Reign FC 2-1 to win its first league title.
The Current play the Orlando Pride on Saturday night in a matchup of the NWSL’s top two teams. Both are unbeaten with 10 wins and five draws, and the two clubs have the exact same goal differential through 15 matches.
Ex-Kansas stars Chalmers, Collins file lawsuit vs. NCAA, others
NEW YORK | Kansas stars Mario Chalmers and Sherron Collins are among 16 former men’s college basketball players who have sued the NCAA and multiple conferences, claiming they are profiting from the unauthorized use of their names, images and likenesses in promoting and monetizing the March Madness tournament.
Chalmers hit a 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left to force overtime in the 2008 national championship game against Memphis on the way to the title. The lawsuit says the NCAA and Turner Sports Interactive – another defendant – have profited from replaying Chalmers’ shot without paying him.
The Big East, Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and ACC also are defendants in the class-action lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York.
“The NCAA has conspired with conferences, colleges, licensing companies, and apparel companies to fix the price of student-athlete labor near zero and make student-athletes unwitting and uncompensated lifetime pitchmen for the NCAA,” the lawsuit states.
The suit said March Madness generates close to $1 billion in annual revenue for the NCAA, but none has gone to the plaintiffs, who are seeking unspecified damages.
“The NCAA’s illegal conduct has damaged plaintiffs by diminishing their opportunity to maximize their compensation for their publicity rights, including their rights related to images related to the most profitable portion of NCAA’s revenue, basketball,” the suit says. “The full amount of this damage is currently unknown, and it continues to increase as the NCAA and its affiliates and co-conspirators continue to profit from the NCAA’s ongoing, uninterrupted usurpation of plaintiffs’ and class members publicity rights.”
An NCAA spokesperson declined comment Wednesday. The organization is already facing a number of federal lawsuits challenging its longstanding amateurism model and the case comes amidst dramatic changes that cleared the way for compensation of athletes.
A 2021 decision by the NCAA to allow athletes to earn endorsement money opened the door for millions of dollars in spending that has, among other things, changed how schools and donor-backed efforts target recruits. In May, the NCAA and the nation’s five biggest conferences agreed to pay nearly $2.8 billion to settle a host of antitrust claims, setting the stage for a revenue-sharing model that would send millions of dollars directly to athletes as soon as next year.
Other plaintiffs include Ryan Boatright (Connecticut), A.J. Bramlett, Eugene Edgerson and Jason Terry (Arizona), James Cunningham (Arizona State and Tulsa), Alex Oriakhi (Connecticut and Missouri) and Matt Pressey (Missouri).
Jessica Campbell
will be the first woman on an NHL bench
SEATTLE | Jessica Campbell will become the first woman to work on the bench of an NHL franchise after the Seattle Kraken hired her as an assistant coach Wednesday.
Campbell has spent the past two seasons working as an assistant coach for Seattle’s AHL affiliate in Coachella Valley alongside head coach Dan Bylsma, who was hired in late May to take over the head job with the Kraken. There were immediate questions about whether Campbell would be making the move with Bylsma to Seattle.
She will, breaking through another barrier for women in hockey. Emily Engel-Natzke was hired by the Washington Capitals in 2022 as video coach, making her the first woman with a full-time assistant role in the league.
Now, there will be a woman on the bench.
“During our tenure in Coachella Valley, I saw firsthand Jessica’s commitment to player development,” Bylsma said. “Her ability to establish relationships with her players, specifically Tye Kartye, Shane Wright and Ryker Evans, was an important factor in this hire. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with her at the NHL level.”
Campbell was a decorated player in the NCAA, the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and Canada’s women’s national team, with whom she won silver at the 2015 world championship.
With the exception of a short stint with the Malmo Redhawks in Sweden in 2019-20, she hung up her skates in 2017 and had become highly regarded as a skating coach when she joined Coachella Valley in 2022. She had also worked as an assistant coach for Germany during the 2022 IIHF World Championships.
The 32-year-old native of Rocanville, Saskatchewan, was the first full-time female assistant coach in the AHL when she was hired by Coachella Valley before the start of its first season. She also had a one-game stint as an assistant on the Kraken bench for a preseason game against Calgary last September.
But having a woman on the bench as a coach has been an area where the NHL has lagged behind the NBA, MLB and NFL.
The NHL Coaches Association launched a Female Coaches Development Program in 2021 with the goal of growing the pool of available candidates.
Even before joining the league in 2021, the Kraken were at the forefront of giving women opportunities in hockey operations. Current assistant general manager Alexandra Mandrycky was one of the first front-office hires made by the franchise in 2018 as director of hockey administration and was part of the group that led the search for a general manager that ended with the hire of Ron Francis.
Namita Nandakumar was hired in 2020 and is a senior analyst in hockey operations.
Seattle also hired Hall of Famer Cammi Granato as a pro scout in 2019, a role she held before joining the Vancouver Canucks as an assistant GM in 2022.
Along with Campbell, the Kraken filled another spot on the coaching staff by hiring Bob Woods as one of Bylsma’s assistants. Woods was an assistant with Minnesota since 2017, but was let go when Dean Evason was fired as head coach early last season.
Assistant coach Dave Lowry, goaltending coach Steve Briere, video coach Tim Ohashi and video assistant Brady Morgan complete the rest of the coaching staff.
—From AP reports
