NST Online: Sports

Posted: 05 Aug 2011 07:28 PM PDT

MADRID: HTC-Highroad, the team of top Tour de France sprinter Mark Cavendish, will fold at the end of the season after a deal with a potential new partner collapsed.

The US outfit have been cycling's most successful team in the last three years, with 47 wins for the men and 46 for the women in 2011.

"Our view was that if we couldn't be close enough on financial firepower, we couldn't consistently outperform with far less money," team manager Bob Stapleton told a small group of reporters on Thursday.

"If we couldn't be in a leadership position in the sport, then we weren't going to be in a position to drive change and that was our fundamental mission coming in, and if we weren't going to succeed in that, then it was best to let people go and pursue their own interests."

Briton Cavendish has racked up 20 Tour stage wins with HTC-Highroad, his team since he turned professional in 2007, including the green jersey for best sprinter in July's race.

Stapleton said a phone call on Sunday dashed any hopes he had of keeping the team alive.

"We had seven different teams offering mergers and an agreement with a new partner looked to be in place," Stapleton said.

"But the deal collapsed Sunday night, when they called me during my wife's 50th birthday party.

"We reached the conclusion that the best thing would be to release the managers, staff and athletes."

Without naming names, Stapleton said the arrival of big budget teams could have harmed cycling in some ways.

"The stakes of top teams have increased. More than three teams have budgets north of 20 million (dollars)," the American said.

"You have 'haves' and 'have-nots' and that's not an optimal situation for the sport."

But he denied that the rumours consistently linking Cavendish to British team Sky for 2012 had anything to do with the end of their sponsor search.

"It was a chicken and egg situation. We are very proud of the success Mark has had and if we could have secured funding in a timely manner we would have had a lot fewer problems in general," he said. -- Reuters

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Jessica proves too strong for rivals

Posted: 05 Aug 2011 07:28 PM PDT

PALO ALTO (California): World record holder Jessica Hardy finished well ahead of her nearest rival to win the women's 100m breaststroke title at the US swimming championships on Thursday.

Jessica won in 1min 6.81sec, more than two seconds outside her world record time of 1:04.45. But she was comfortably in front of Ann Chandler, who was second in 1:07.17.

Jessica withdrew from the 50m freestyle, opting not to double up on events as she did on the last day of the world championships on Sunday in Shanghai, where she won individual gold in the 50m breaststroke.

Nathan Adrian, who finished out of the medals in fourth at last week's worlds, won the men's 50m freestyle in 21.84sec. His time at the US meet would have been good enough for silver in Shanghai.

Elizabeth Beisel, who won the 400m individual medley world title in Shanghai, captured the national title in the same event.

Elizabeth led from start to finish and won in 4:34.78.

In other events, Lara Jackson won the women's 50 free in 24.98sec and Tim Phillips won the 100m butterfly in 51.69sec. -- AFP

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Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Jumaat, 5 Ogos 2011

NST Online: Sports

NST Online: Sports

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