🚴‍♂️ Le Tour Stops For Sportsmanship

We've done it, it's Friday, 22 July. Just when you thought sport was all about money, winning, fame and other cool stuff, a young cyclist has shown there's still a place for sportsmanship at the elite level. There's also still a place for cash, celebrity and victory, which is what he's gonna get in a few days if he can stay on his bike.

⏱ 1238 words = 7 minutes

👀 Talk about getting screwed...

THE MAIN GAME

🚴‍♂️ Vinegegaard closes in on Le Tour victory

Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard has one hand on his 1st Tour de France title, but it was his act of sportsmanship overnight that he'll be remembered for. And his crazy good cycling skills.

Golden points: Vingegaard won Stage 18 and extended his lead over two-time defending champ Tadej Pogačar to a seemingly insurmountable 3 minutes and 36 seconds with 3 stages remaining.

• Vingegaard and Pogačar were glued at the hip for most of the final mountain stage in the Pyrenees until the second last descent, where Pogačar went too hard into a corner, slipped on the gravel and crashed.

• That would have been the perfect time for Vingegaard to speed off and put the Tour victory beyond doubt, but in a selfless act of sportsmanship, he slowed down and allowed Pogačar to catch up.

• The guys shook hands and were back at it for the final climb, but the crash used up Pogačar's fuel tank and with 4kms to go, Vingegaard took off to win the stage by more than a minute.

• It means Vingegaard now just has to avoid disaster in tomorrow's flat Stage 19 and Saturday's individual time trial to cruise into Paris in the early hours of Monday morning (AEST) and sip on that sweet champagne as the winner in waiting.

They said it: "I have nothing but respect to Jonas Vingegaard. I think we respect each other a lot. When he decided to wait for me after my crash, he was in a good position to do it as he had teammates all over the road. It was fine for him to wait. It's me who wanted to go fast on the descent but I pushed it too far and crashed - I can't blame anyone for that," - Pogačar says he gave it his all.

They said it: "This morning I said to my girlfriend and my daughter I wanted to win for them and I did. I'm really happy and proud. This one is for my two girls at home," - Vingegaard did it for the girls.

Watch it: Check out the highlights of Stage 18, including a nasty prang when a rider was sandwiched between a car and a motorbike.

QUICK SINGLES

⚽️ Football: Sam Kerr can't stop winning stuff. Just a couple of days after she became the first female player on the global cover of the FIFA video game, Kerr won the ESPY for best international women's soccer player. The ESPY Awards, short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly, are kinda like the sports equivalent of the Emmy awards for TV. NBA star Steph Curry hosted this year, but there was one joke that didn't quite land with LeBron James.

🏉 Rugby: The Wallabies have picked a squad that's got something old, new, borrowed and Taniela Tupou. The 36-player squad for the 2 Argentina Tests includes veteran Quade Cooper (old), 4 uncapped players (new), Rory Arnold from playing in France (borrowed) and Reds forward Taniela Tupou (Taniela Tupou). There's no Samu Kerevi, he'll be off steamrolling would-be tacklers with Australia's Rugby 7s team at the Comm Games.

🏏 Cricket: The BBL overseas player draft order is in and it's good to be a Renegade. After 3 years spent at the bottom of the BBL ladder, the Melbourne Renegades had a win yesterday - they'll pick 1st in the inaugural overseas draft. It means they'll get first crack at the likes of Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo on draft night, which will be televised on August 28.

🎾 Tennis: The US Open is closed to Novak Djokovic. The US Open has no vaccine mandate but the US government does, so vocal anti-vaxxer Djokovic won't be heading to New York next month. But he has got plenty of support - more than 29,000 people have signed a petition demanding Djokovic play. Rafael Nadal is one men's major title ahead of Djokovic and funnily enough, we couldn't spot Rafa's name on the petition...

🏉 NRL: The Broncos were too slippery for the Eels last night. The Broncos beat the Eels 36 to 14 on a wet night in Parramatta to move into the top 4. Prop forward Payne Haas was immense in his return, scoring a try and making 216 metres, which is heaps in the game of rugby league football.

LEFT OF FIELD

♟ Chess: The best chess player on the planet, Magnus Carlsen, has decided he's done competing in the world championship. He says he's not motivated and has nothing to gain by playing on, and you can't really blame him. He became a grandmaster at 13yo, the top-ranked player in the world at 19yo and won the 1st of his 5 world championships at 22yo. But those world titles are often best of 12 or 14 games that can last for weeks, so at 31yo, he's taking a break but will still play regular tournaments. He broke the news on his podcast The Magnus Effect and waited until 50 minutes to spill the beans. Talk about burying the lead!

📽 Highlight reel: About 15 minutes after we sent you yesterday's newsletter which had Ella Toone's cracking goal for England, her teammate Georgia Stanway fired a rocket into the back of the net in extra time to beat Spain and move on to the semi-finals of the Women's Euros.

📸 Photo finish: Storm fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen shared a pic with the NRL Physio of his new knee cap after surgery for 10 fractures. Airport metal detectors won't be much fun from now on.

THE POLLING BOOTH

Thursday's result: 55.81% voted pole vault as the athletics field event they'd most struggle with.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

• 🥇 Friday 9:35am - Athletics - World Championships, Day 7 - University of Oregon, Oregon - Foxtel, Kayo

• 🏉 Saturday 5:30pm - NRL - Panthers v Sharks - Bluebet Stadium, Penrith - Foxtel, Kayo

• 🏉 Saturday 7:25pm - AFL - Bulldogs v Demons - Marvel Stadium, Brisbane - 7mate, Foxtel, Kayo

• ⛳️ Sunday 7:30pm - Golf - Evian Championship, Final Round - Évian-les-Bains, France - Foxtel, Kayo 

• 🏎 Sunday 9:30pm - F1 - French GP - Circuit Paul Ricard, Marseille - Foxtel, Kayo

• 🚴‍♂️ Monday 12:30am - Cycling - Tour de France, Stage 21 - Paris - SBS

All times AEST

THE MANAGER'S OFFICE

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