Daily Sports News

Michael Schumacher is getting ready for the European Grand Prix to be held in Valencia on 23rd August. The 40 year old seven time world champion is return to F1 racing as a replacement for the recuperating Felipe Massa. Schumacher has already lost three kilograms post his return announcements. The only spoil sport could be the neck pain he had during the practice runs. Neck injuries can spoil a F1 driver’s career as on has to face high G-forces especially in the neck region during the race. Michael with go through a fitness test before he is cleared to race in the Ferrari F60 car.

Meanwhile Ferrari has expressed frustration on the issue of Michael Schumacher not being allowed to test in the F60 car. Williams and Red Bull teams had opposed the Ferrari request to allow Schumacher on the issue on practicing in Massa’s car as the new rules don’t allow in-season testing. Schumacher on Friday did 70 laps at Mugello near Florence in the 2007 Ferrari car.

Meanwhile Felipe Massa left the hospital in Sao Paulo on Tuesday and as per the latest reports he does not require any more surgeries.

This is the first major loss by Michael Phelps in any swimming race since 2005. He lost to Paul Biedermann of Germany in the 200 meter freestyle event at the World Championships in Rome. Biedermann also broke the world record 0.0.9 second which Phelps had created in the Beijing Olympics. Biedermann clocked 1 minute and 42 seconds.

Many in the sports are questioning the controversial 100% polyurethane swimsuits used by majority of swimmers at the Championship where already 11 world records have been thrashed. Fina (Fédération Internationale de Natation) international governing body for the sport has made it clear that these suits would be banned in 2010. Phelps competes in a

Speedo LZR and is a 50% polyurethane and is a far lower performance enhancer as compared to the 100% polyurethane swimsuit.

It took 5 years for Phelps to go from 1 minute 42 second to 1 minute 42.9 second. But Biedermann did it in 11 months. Many are questioning this improvement in performance in such short time duration. Seven years old men’s 400 meters freestyle record was also thrashed by Biedermann on Monday.

Swimmers broke 25 world records at the Beijing Olympics, 23 used the magical suit. And by the end of the year 180 new world records had been created using the controversial swimsuits. There are only two pre-bodysuit records still to be unbeaten; they are for the 800m and 1500m freestyle discipline.

Brazilian Felipe Massa is said to be showing improvements post the surgery to fix his multiple skull injuries which the Ferrari driver suffered on Saturday during the qualifying. He has started passive communication with the hospital doctors and his medical scans are also showing positive signs of recovery. He was operated in the defense hospital and the spokesman Istvan Bocskai told press that although he was not speaking but was responding to doctors by moving his hands and feet.

Massa suffered a life threatening concussion when loose shrapnel hit his helmet and he lost control of his car and hit the tyre wall at the speed of 190 kilometers per hour. He was air lifted in the medical helicopter and was taken to the AEK hospital where he was operated within an hour. As of now he is in the intensive care unit of the hospital.

The weekend at Hungaroring circuit was quite a serious blow on F1’s governing body’s efforts to increase driver safety. First it was Massa’s crash and then during the race, Renault driver and former world champion Fernando Alonso lost his wheel during the race. Fernando Alonso has been banned for the next race post this incident. Renault team should have informed Alonso about his wheel problem and thus could have avoided such an incident, but they failed to communicate at the rite time.

These two accidents remind all of us about the tragedy that happened 15 years ago when Ayrton Senna died in a crash at Imola. Senna was the three times World Formula 1 Champion but lost his life due to head injuries suffered in that violent crash.

Fellow Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello and Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo visited the hospital to check on the status of Massa’s health. Also present at the hospital was Massa’s pregnant wife Anna Rafaela.

Alberto Contador the dark horse of the race and the Astana strong man took the first climb of the Alps in style. He powered ahead on the base of the final climb and took away the yellow jersey. He is now ahead of his Astana teammate and seven times champion Lance Armstrong with a gap of one minute and thirty seven seconds. Andy Schleck of team Saxo Bank finished an impressive second behind Contador.

As the tour returned to the mountains the 15th stage after a rest day was from Pontarlier to Verbier. The 207.5 kilometers stage had 6 climbs and two intermediate sprints. There were four category-3 climbs the cote du Rafour at 8 kilometers, cote des Etroits at 18.5 kilometers, cote de la Carrière at 54 kilometers and the cote de Prévonloup at 74 kilometers, a category-2 climb: col des Mosses at 135.5 kilometers and a category-1 climb to the finish at Verbier. The two sprints were Thierrens at 56.5 kilometer mark and Martigny at 181 kilometer mark.

Although the pace of peloton was dictated by Milram, Liquigas and Saxo Bank but just 6 kilometers from the finish and the final ascent Contador surprised everyone and took the lead. He quickly crossed all the escaped riders and finished the race with a 43 second gap.

Yellow jersey holder Nocentini was dropped at 5 kilometers and could just watch the yellow jersey going away from his hand. Thor Hushovd keeps the green jersey and is ahead of Cavindish by 18 points. In a post match interview Contador said that he was a different rider as compared to team mate Lance Armstrong and was looking for a tour victory this time and was not here to make records like Armstrong’s seven tour victories. Team Astana also had a good outing as it came back to the number one spot in the team standings and taking the place away from AG2R La Mondiale.

Rain gods were not in favor of the tour as it poured on the riders for most of the race. But German Heinrich Haussler was determined to fight and he did winning the stage in style. He attacked the peloton at the three kilometer mark and took all the climbs and descents with aggression. As he crossed the line at Colmar, he had tears in his eyes, quite an emotional first stage victory for him at the tour. Other gainers in the race were Hushovd who took the green jersey away from Cavendish and the other gainer was Franco Pellizotti’s who gets to wear the polka-dot jersey on Saturday.

The Friday stage between Vittel and Colmar had a total distance of 200 kilometers. There were in all five climbs in the stage including category 3 at cote de Xertigny, category 2 at col de la Schlucht, category 1 at col du Platzerwasel, category 3 at col du Bannstein and category 3 at col du Firstplan. The stage also had three sprints including Xertigny at 43.5 kilometers, Gerardmer at 88.5 kilometers and Luttenbach at 24 kilometers.

There was one major disappointment especially for team Astana as one of their most experienced climber Levi Leipheimer had to leave the tour due to a fractured wrist. Leipheimer was thought as a great helper to Contador, Armstrong and Kloden as the tour enters the Alps.

It’s been an amazing tour this year, out of the 11 stages 5 have had excellent sprints and what’s most amazing is that 4 have been won by the phenomena Mark Cavendish. The sprint king took away the green jersey from Norwegian Thor Hushovd and also equaled Barry Hoban’s British record of eight stage wins. There were doubts if this would be an ideal stage for Cavendish to charge, but he timed it to the perfection. Till now Cavendish has been the one who started the sprint but in this stage he waited for the right moment and showed the world his caliber as a class sprinter, not to forget he won four stages in last years tour and also has an Olympic gold to his name. It was a disappointment for the green jersey holder as he could manage only a fifth place finish and also lost the jersey to Cavendish.

The 192 kilometers stage 11 was between Vatan to Saint-Fargeau and had 170 riders with one casualty on stage 10 as Kurt Asle Arvesen was forced out of the tour due to a fractured collarbone. The stage consisted of two category four climbs at cote d’Allogny at 40.5 kilometers and cote de Perreuse at 150 kilometers. There were three intermediate sprints in the race Quincy at 26.5 kilometers, St-Geols at 73.5 kilometers and Suilly-la-Tour at 114.5 kilometers. The stage saw an early accident when at the 14th kilometers mark Vande Velde and Rosseler crashed. At the 15 kilometer mark the race came to a halt due to a road block caused by a collapsed structure. This helped the two accident riders to join the main peloton. There was another crash involving Rojas and Righi at the 24 kilometer mark.

Tour leader Nocentini finished the stage at 34th place and will wear the yellow jersey on Thursday in stage 12. He his followed closely by Astana riders Contador and Armstrong.

There was an escape in the early minutes of the 10th stage and for most of the race they stayed ahead by 150 seconds but were finely caught by the sprinters as the wonder by Mark Cavendish crossed the line in Issoudun. Thor Hushovd tried his best but the Colombia boys were as usually on the top and made sure there sprinter took the victory. Even though Hushovd lost but he still leads the green jersey points table at 147 points with Cavendish following him at second with 141 points.

Benoit Vaugrenard, Samuel Dumoulin, Thierry Hupond and Mikhail Ignatiev were part of the breakaway and could only hold with 1400 meters to the end. The train formed by Colombia caught the three Russians just 1900 to the finish and Mikhail Ignatiev was caught in the end with just 1400 meters to finish. For a change team Astana did not do any hard work and did not take part in the chase, maybe this was a way to show the tour officials a sign of protest against the banning of the radio contact.

The stage was a 194.5 kilometers from Limoges to Issoudun and was slow as it was just after a rest day and also one with banned radio contact between riders and the team cars. The stage had there category four climbs cote de Salvanet at 12.5 kilometers, cote de Saint-Laurent-les-Eglise at 27.5 kilometers and the cote de Benevent-L’Abbaye at 58.5 kilometers. The stage also had three sprints which were dispersed evenly. The three sprints were at Lauriere at 44 kilometers, Aigurande at 122.5 kilometers and Saint-Aout at 167.5kilometers.

It was like visiting history, Armstrong has done it in the past and almost did it in the time trial stage again. US Postal and Discovery were lead by Lance to achieve the amazing team time trial results and he did it again with Astana. I guess but the gods were with Fabian Cancellara as he retained the yellow with just two tenth of a second separating him and Armstrong. The stage also witnessed an excellent finish by Garmin – Slipstream who lost the four riders in the first half of the race. But its was the relentless pace that Garmin – Slipstream delivered and increased the tempo for the day, the remaining five riders – Bradley Wiggins, David Millar, David Zabriskie, Christian Vande Velde and Ryder Hesjedal delivered an excellent time taking them to a second place in the stage.

The Schleck brothers lead team Saxo Bank finished third and are now places second in the race behind Astana. The stage also witnessed Team a not so good performance by Team Colombia-HTC which was pushed to a fifth place by Team Liquigas. The stage was a big disappointment for Cadel Evans of Team Silence – Lotto and RABOBANK rider Denis Menchov as the poor result in the team time trial pushed them down in the overall ranking. Team Silence – Lotto finished a below par at the 13th sport, 6 minutes and 51 seconds behind the leader and Rabobank took the 11th position. Another disappoint of the day was defending champion Carlos Sastre who after a poor at stage 1 time trial slipped further down as his team finished sixth.

The day truly belonged to the excellent time trial by Astana with excellent riding has place five of there rider in the top ten. Armstrong, Contadorm, Kloden, Leipheimer and Zubeldia are in the top ten which is a clear sign how this team has eclipsed the race results so far.

There were no changes in the green, white and polka dot jersey standings. Stage five has two category 4 climbs and one might see some aggression and also a change in few positions.