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9/19/2018 11:55 am  #1


ch from that point. He put Djokovic unde

BERGERAC, France -- Ramunas Navardauskas of Lithuania led a late breakaway in a downpour to win the 19th Stage of the Tour de France on Friday after hitching a ride with his Garmin-Sharp teammates. Italys Vincenzo Nibali retained the overall leaders yellow jersey and is expected to take it home with him when the three-week cycling showcase ends Sunday. Navardauskas stole away from the pack late in the 208.5-kilometre (129.5-mile) northward trek from Maubourguet to Bergerac. He looked back over his shoulder, kissed his fingers and raised his arms in victory, with a bunch of sprinters barrelling behind him. They crossed seven seconds later, and the stragglers followed. The 26-year-old Garmin-Sharp rider became the first Lithuanian to win an individual stage at cyclings greatest race, and gave his team its first stage win this Tour. In 2011, he was also part of the Garmin-Cervelo squad that won the team time trial at the Tour that year, and he also won a stage in the Italian Giro last year. Garmin-Sharp made the win a team effort. First, Dutch rider Tom-Jelte Slagter joined a five-man breakaway early in the stage, then sped ahead alone. Alex Howes of the United States helped to pull the Lithuanian up front, before Navardauskas went away solo with about 13 kilometres (8 miles) left. "I gave it all. My teammates worked really hard for me," said Navardauskas. "I took a risk -- you have to try -- and it worked." Within the last few kilometres, around a dozen riders crashed together while trying to turn rightward on the rain-slickened roads. Among them were Slovak rider Peter Sagan, who has the green jersey given to the races best sprinter, and Jean-Christophe Peraud, who is third overall. Under course rules, because the crash happened in the last 3 kilometres (2 miles) , nobody who went down lost time in the title chase. The top standings didnt change. The final shakeout comes Saturday with this years only individual time trial. Nibali leads his closest rival by more than seven minutes, but the quest for the last two podium spots is tight. Only 15 seconds separates Thibaut Pinot, Peraud and Alejandro Valverde. Cassius Marsh Jersey .C. -- Al Jefferson knows few people will be giving the Charlotte Bobcats a chance to upset the Miami Heat in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Dante Pettis 49ers Jersey . -- Jonas Hiller is cautiously confident he has kicked his vertigo. http://www.49ersrookiestore.com/49ers-Dante-Pettis-Jersey/.S. President Barack Obama saluted the Stanley Cup winning Chicago Blackhawks at the White House on Monday -- a rare moment for a president hungry to see more victorious teams from his hometown. Custom San Francisco 49ers Jerseys . Brazilian striker Brandao opened the scoring with a header in the 55th minute before winger Franck Tabanou volleyed home from close range to double the lead in the 61st. Jimmie Ward Jersey .Tzavelas opened the scoring in the 11th and Pereyra added another in the 51st. Emmanuel Kone pulled one back in the 80th and Levadiakos missed several chances to level in the last 10 minutes.LONDON - Novak Djokovic capped off a phenomenal autumn by defending his ATP World Tour Finals title with an impressive 6-3, 6-4 win over Rafael Nadal in a duel between the two dominant players of the season on Monday night. Theres no doubt Djokovic is the man to beat on indoor hard courts. And just for the record, his 22 consecutive wins to finish 2013 matched top-ranked Nadals best stretch of the year. Djokovics winning run started after a U.S. Open final defeat to Nadal, and during a span when the Spaniad replaced him atop the rankings. "The most positive thing that I can take from those 2 1/2 is the fact that I managed to regroup after a few big losses against Nadal, especially in Roland Garros, U.S. Open final and Wimbledon final," said Djokovic, who became the seventh player to win the elite season-ending tournament at least three times. His victory in London denied Nadal the only big trophy missing from his glittering CV. Having produced one of the most memorable comebacks in tennis, Nadal lost in a deciding match for the second time at the tour finals and missed the chance to join Andre Agassi as the only players to have won all four Grand Slams, Olympic gold, the Davis Cup and the year-end tournament. "Its not going to change my career, winning or losing today," Nadal said. "I am not very disappointed. I know that I was not the favourite for the match, even if I tried with the right attitude, in my opinion, fighting for every moment, trying to be positive in every moment, even if the match was not going the way that I would like." Mondays defeat was a strong warning to Nadal, who overhauled Djokovic for the No. 1 ranking last month, that his Serbian rival will be ready to extend his form into next years Australian Open, where he is the three-time defending champion. Djokovic has now beaten Nadal 10 times in 19 finals and is unbeaten since losing at the U.S. Open in September. "After the US Open final, of course, I needed to take things slowly and see and analyze what I did wrong, especially in the matches against him, to understand what I need to do in order to win against him," Djokovic said. "I think the results are showing that we had a great improvement in the last 2 1/2 months." Djokovic returned superbly from the start to move his Spanish rival around the court and prevent him from dictating the points. Nadal, playing on his less favourite surface, hit only nine winners and was broken three times. "If I can ssay about one thing that makes the difference in todays match was the serve — I didnt serve well, he served well," Nadal said.dddddddddddd"So in this kind of court, first shot is very important, and he did that first shot much better than me." Nadal return to the No. 1 ranking came on the back of a stunning comeback from a career-threatening knee injury. Since returning in February, the Spaniard has won 75 matches —losing only 7 —to win 10 titles including the French Open, the U.S. Open and five Masters 1000 events. But Djokovic proved again that he still has the upper hand on hard courts by extending his head-to-head winning record to 13-7 on that surface against Nadal. "Year-end No. 1 is deservedly in Nadals hands because he had two Grand Slam wins, the best season out of all players, the most titles," Djokovic said. "I think thats no doubt, cannot question that. I tried to put aside the calculations and the rankings after U.S. Open and just tried to focus on one tournament at a time, one day at a time. That kind of attitude has helped me to get to where I am at this moment." Djokovic made an impressive start, hitting powerful groundstrokes to keep Nadal well behind his baseline while limiting his own mistakes. Returning well, the Serb made the most of two of Nadals backhand errors to break in the second game. He had another chance in the fourth game after Nadal double-faulted, but was unable to convert. Nadal got into the match from that point. He put Djokovic under pressure with his huge forehands in the next game and two unforced errors from the Serb allowed him to break back and then level at 3-3. But Nadal faltered in his next service game as he served a double-fault at 30-30. After a stunning exchange, Djokovic broke for 5-3 following a series of volleys at the net. Standing in the middle of the court, the Serb opened his arms and screamed as the crowd erupted in cheers. Djokovic sealed the first set with an ace. Appearing supremely confident, Djokovic raised his game further in the second set, pinpointing his shots on the lines to make life more difficult for Nadal after breaking in the third game of the second set. The resilient Spaniard saved two match points and kept encouraging himself until the end, but a final forehand too long gave Djokovic the title. Djokovic will now focus on the Davis Cup final later this week in Belgrade, where he will lead Serbia against defending champion Czech Republic. 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