Dislocated shoulder? What dislocated shoulder? That could have been the feeling uppermost in Alberto Contador’s mind, if not his torso, as he sealed victory in cycling’s Giro d’Italia despite having suffered the injury just six days into the race. The Tinkoff-Saxo rider moved up to fourth in the all-time grand tour winners’ list and is on track for a highly coveted double in the Giro and in the Tour de France. The field for France will be bolstered by the return of many of the sport’s big names as well as the Italian Fabio Aru, runner-up to Contador in Italy.
Arsenal thump Villa in FA Cup
FA Cup football’s smoke-and-mirrors brand of magic failed to rub off on Aston Villa, who were thumped 4-0 by Arsenal in one of the most one-sided Wembley finals for years. Alexis Sánchez’s swerving long-range second goal for Arsenal was the stand-out moment of a mostly dull match, but Jack Wilshere tried to liven things up during the Gunners’ victory bus parade by launching into a raucous medley of songs mocking arch-rivals Tottenham. That misdemeanour was put into stark perspective as Premier League Leicester City came under pressure to sack three players – including manager Nigel Pearson’s son, James – who were caught on film racially abusing a Thai woman during an orgy. It was left to Inverness Caledonian Thistle to restore some hope and dignity to the game, bringing a major trophy to the Highlands for the first time after a 2-1 win over Falkirk in the Scottish FA Cup final.
French shock for Sharapova
The French Open tennis served up a few shocks in the early rounds, the biggest coming in the women’s tournament where defending champion Maria Sharapova was knocked out in straight sets by the Czech left-hander Lucie Safarova in the fourth round. No 3 seed Simona Halep was also an early casualty, defeated in the second round by Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, the No 6 seed, fared even worse after losing in the first round to Kristina Mladenovic. In the men’s draw, No 4 seed Tomas Berdych was sent packing in the third round by home favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Cook runs up cricket record
Not quite corks a-popping at Headingley but a characteristically restrained waggle of the bat from Alastair Cook, as the England cricket captain became his country’s all-time leading Test-run scorer, surpassing the record of 8,900 held for 20 years by his friend and mentor Graham Gooch. In Antigua, a weakened Australia struggled to find form in a drawn warm-up match against a West Indies Cricket Board XI ahead of the forthcoming Test series, while Pakistan continued to enjoy the return of international cricket to the country with a 2-0 one-day series success over Zimbabwe.
