SPORTS SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

Monaco has F1 dancing in the streets

MONACO: A lap of Monaco is much more than driving and all the focus and concentration is really me. I kind of woke up and I realized that I was in a muscling a car round a twisty track, at breakneck going into driving. “You have the car dancing and different atmosphere than you normally are.” speeds and millimeters from the metal barriers with- you make it dance.” Known as the Jewel in the Crown of the Formula out crashing. With its harbourside backdrop, con- The late Brazilian triple champion Ayrton Senna, a One championship, Monaco has always been the fined Casino Square, tight hairpin turns and tunnel six-times winner in the Mediterranean principality, race that drivers want to win but it also requires stretch, Monaco is a blast from the past that allows famously compared his qualifying lap with McLaren finesse to avoid the unforgiving barriers. Brazilian the best to show off their skills and express them- in 1988 to an out of body experience. “I suddenly Nelson Piquet’s comment that racing around selves. “It’s an incredible feeling, making a car dance realized that I was no longer driving the car con- Monaco was like riding a bicycle in your living room through those streets,” says Mercedes triple world sciously,” he said in a later interview. “I was kind of has become a well-worn cliche, but the sense of champion Lewis Hamilton. “It’s one of the purest driving it by instinct, only I was in a different dimen- balance and poise remains as crucial now as then. thrills you can have in a racing car.” Mexican Esteban sion. It was like I was in a tunnel, not only the tunnel “It’s a course where speed is not terribly important,” Gutierrez, driving for the US-based Haas team after under the hotel, but the whole circuit for me was a three-times winner Stirling Moss told Reuters at the previously racing for Sauber, agrees about the danc- tunnel. “I was just going, going. More, and more and recent Monaco Historic race. “It’s just how good the ing. “I love this track,” he said. “Everything is about more. I was way over the limit but still able to find car is, how well you can handle the car. “It really is a improvising...you don’t have time to think. It’s pure even more. Then, suddenly, something just kicked fabulous race.” — Reuters Nibali wins Giro stage 19; Chaves takes pink

RISOUL: Italy’s of Astana escaped alone to a summit-finish victory in the 19th stage of the Giro d’Italia yesterday whilst ’s Esteban Chaves rode into the pink jersey by coming third on the day. Pre-race favourite Nibali, 31, had been thought to be dead and buried at this Giro after starting the day fourth overall at 4min 43sec, but is now just 44 seconds off the pace in second, ahead of another mountain stage on Saturday. The 2013 champion looked like a man transformed on the final climb and wept openly after crossing the finish line for his sixth Giro stage win over- all, before dedicating the victory to a deceased 14-year-old cyclist killed in an accident ten days ago. The victory came after the ‘Shark’ had come in for fierce criticism in the Italian press throughout the race and had been on the brink of being withdrawn by his coach Paolo Slongo after suffering from an illness over the previous days. Sky’s was second on the day, just a couple of sec- onds ahead of Chaves. Overnight leader finished almost five min- utes off the pace after surviving a spectacu- lar head-over-heels fall on the rapid descent of the Col d’Agnel but then getting dropped badly on the last climb. Kruijswijk’s teammates had all been dropped by the time of the fall, when he hit a huge wall of snow at 2700m altitude, and his team car was too far away to give him a new bike in good time, so he began the last climb already two minutes off the pace and with a bloody elbow. The overnight leader showed real guts going up the last climb alone but RISOUL, France: Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali of team Astana (right) is followed by Colombian cyclist Johan Esteban Chaves of Orica finished 4min 54sec off Nibali, dropping to GreenEDGE (center) and the pink jersey Dutch Steven Kruijswijk of team (Lotto NL) during the 99th Giro d’Italia, Tour of Italy, from third overall at 1min 05sec. The fifth-placed Pinerolo to Risoul yesterday. — AFP rider at the start of the day, Russia’s Ilnur Zakarin ended it motionless at the bottom of a ditch with a broken collarbone after a terri- ble crash on interminable 40km descent FIFA imposes stadium bans, between the day’s two . Chaves, a 26-year-old climber from Bogota, managed to stay within striking dis- fines for homophobic chants tance of Nibali and rode a wonderfully paced second climb, after also leading the first one, to finish 53sec adrift of Nibali.Spanish veter- ZURICH: FIFA yesterday handed out fines to the football associations FIFA World Cup,” FIFA said in a statement. Mexico were fined a total an Alejandro Valverde also struggled to fol- of Chile, Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Paraguay and Peru for homo- of 35,000 Swiss Francs for two cases, while Honduras were fined low the pure climbers Nibali and Chaves, and phobic chants by supporters during qualifying matches for the 2018 40,000, El Salvador 35,000, Paraguay 20,000 and Peru 15,000 for indi- World Cup. Chile were banned from playing at the Estadio Nacional in vidual cases related to incidents involving discriminatory and crossed the line with Rafal Majka 2min 11sec Santiago for two official matches and fined 30,000 Swiss Francs unsporting conduct by fans, including homophobic chants. Croatia after the winner. The result sees Valverde ($30,000, 27,000 euros). The first match-ban will be served at the next were also ordered to play their next two World Cup qualifiers-against drop from third to fourth overall. It leaves World Cup qualifier against Bolivia, with the second suspended sub- Turkey on September 5 and Iceland on November 12 — without things finely poised ahead of Saturday’s ject to a two-year probation period. “The proceedings relate to spectators and fined a total of 150,000 Swiss Francs for two cases of 134km mountain stage, the last opportunity homophobic chants by the team’s fans and follow previous sanctions discriminatory chants by fans, which occurred at friendly matches for riders to make a victory bid, with three for similar incidents during the preliminary competition of the 2018 against Israel and Hungary last March. — AFP summits to scale at over 2000m. — AFP