Euro Weekly News - Costa de Almeria 18 - 24 July 2019 Issue 1776

SPORT
72
27 June - 3 July 2019
Real Madrid bear arch rivals Barcelona to win the 2018-2019 Liga Endesa
basketball title in the championship play-off on Friday. The 74-68 win made them
champions for the 35th time.
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Triumphant return
By Dilip Kuner
ALEJANDRO VALVERDE
has made a triumphant return to
competition two months after
suffering a fall, which forced
his withdrawal from the classic
Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
For the second consecutive
year he has won the Route of
Occitania (France). It is some
recompense for the Spaniard,
who lost out on the Giro d’Italia
as a result of that fall.
On Sunday he started the
fourth and final stage of the
cycling road race with a narrow
eight-second advantage
over Colombian Iván Ramiro
Sosa but the Movistar team
had no problem defending
Valverde’s first place.
The last stage victory was
taken by Frenchman Arnaud
Demare (Groupama FDJ),
who won the sprint, ahead of
Sacha Modolo.
The Spaniards David
González and José Rojas were
WINNER: Valverde retained his title.
fourth and fifth to the finish
line. Valverde will now go to
the Spanish Championships in
his hometown of Murcia with
more confidence.
He said: “I feel very well,
and as I said the other day, you
can see that the preparation
and rest in these two months
after the injury have been very
good. Now it’s time to think
about the Spanish Championships
and, above all, the
Tour de France.”
Credit: Aubin Lipke / La Route d'Occitanie /Movistar
He added: “My objective is
to help (teammates) Nairo and
Mikel and to make the best
possible Tour together. At no
time will I be a leader; my job
will be to help them 100 per
cent.”
EMBARRASSING: Clement Berardo ran out of balls.
Bogey course
FRENCHMAN Clement Berardo was disqualified
on the first day of the Andalucia-Costa del
Sol Match Play 9 after he ran out of golf balls.
He was on hole 16 when the embarrassing incident
happened at the Valle Romano course.
Tournament director Federico Paez explained:
“It was very windy, the fairways are narrow and
the rough is very thick vegetation.”
Berardo had a bad day with a quadruple bogey
nine on the first hole, a double bogey, two more
bogeys and two dropped balls on holes 14 and
15.
Credit: Trophee Hassan II/YouTube
Ana’s back: win in Italy
puts her in hunt
ANA CARRASCO is not going
to give up her Supersport300
crown without a fight.
The woman from Murcia
took her first victory in 2019
and won at Italy’s Misano circuit
to throw the gauntlet down
to champion leader and fellow
Spaniard Manuel Gonzalez.
The latter was beaten into
second place on the day, but retains
the lead in the race for the
World SSP300 title.
This win consolidates Carrasco’s
challenge for the 2019
crown after a slow start to the
season. She could do no better
than eight in the first three races
of the season.
The turning point came in the
double header in Jerez when the
22-year-old seemed revitalised
as she took two podiums. This
catapulted her up the championship
standings from 11th to
sixth.
After the win at Misano she
is now in joint second alongside
Dutchman Scott Deroue
(Kawasaki MOTOPORT) on 64
points. He could only manage
seventh in this fifth race of the
season.
Carrasco had to show her
best qualities on the Adriatic
track, as she did in Jerez, but
this time with the ability to
finish the job in front of a
SHE’S BACK: Ana Carrasco.
runaway quintet.
Championship leader Manuel
González (Kawasaki ParkinGO
Team) was the most dangerous
enemy until the final stages, after
13 laps of a spectacular race
which featured many fallers.
“We have worked very well
all weekend and I think we deserved
to win,” said Carrasco.
“It was a difficult race, because
it was very hot, but it was the
same for everyone. I’m very
happy, I hope to get another victory
very soon.”
Next up is Donnington Park
in the UK, a circuit where last
year she achieved a second consecutive
win of the season. Her
success this Sunday also has a
symbolic value, since the
Spaniard has become the rider
with the highest number of victories
in the history of
WorldSSPP300 - four in total.