This has been an interesting year in Pro Cycling. The first grand tour stage took place inSardinia this year, as the Giro d'Italia kicked off there in May. This keystone event in pro cycling the Tourde France, kicked off in Germany this year, with several days inDusseldorf. The third and last GrandTour kicks off today, as 198 cyclists, representing 22 teams, pursue glory in the Vuelta a Espana. This year's Tour of Spain begins, curiouslyso, in France. Nimes has been the siteof the Vuelta preliminaries, and hosts today's stage, a 13.7 team time trialaround the city. The team time trial hasbecome a signature opening stage in the Vuelta, and such a short one willdetermine very little, besides, of course, glamourously showing off thecyclists in their skinsuits to the world. While this year's Tour de France was rather flat, in this year's Vuelta there arefive mountain-top finishes, three other uphill finishes of between 2km and 5kmlong, and another three stages with a tough climb not far from the line. In addition to he who has been foreordainedto win this year's Vuelta, Sky Team's Chris Froome, there are many othercontenders to top the race, including Vicenzo Nibali, Fabio Aru, Romain Bardet,Warren Barguil, and Rafael Majka. Visitthis space for frequent updates. The recent terrible tragedy, and terrorist attack, inBarcelona has cast a somber mood upon the Spanish Soccer season, which opensthis weekend. Prayerful moments wereheld in Spain before last night's games, including the games between Valenciaand Las Palmas, and between Leganes and Alaves. Indeed, all ten games to be played this four day weekend in Spain willbe preceded by a moment of silence. Saturdayfeatures Celta Vigo vs Real Sociedad, Girona vs. Atletico de Madrid, andSevilla vs. Espanyol (who areheadquartered in Barcelona). In a pressrelease, Barcelona leadership stated "As a mark of respect, the flags willfly at half-mast at the club’s facilities and the players from both teams willwear black armbands in all the club's matches this weekend." Our condolences to those from Barcelona andto all Spaniards. All the best for theseason! | Aussie Rules Football, today, has five games, Western Bulldogs, winners at last year's Grand Final, play Port Adelaide, Collingwood meets the Geelong Cats at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, the GWS Giants meet the West Coast Eagles, the Gold Coast Suns grapple with Essendon, and Carlton meet Hawthorn. The Greater Western Sydney Giants, at 2nd in the standings, meet the West Coast Eagles, who are at number 8, in what promises to be a good game. The Bulldogs hold a great advantage in the recent history of the series. These two teams enter round 22 in vastly different form, with the Giants belting the wasteful Western Bulldogs and the Eagles struggling to shake off a determined Carlton last week. Eagles spearhead Josh Kennedy has dined out on weaker opponents since his return in round 17, but he'll have a tough job against a miserly GWS backline led by Phil Davis. It's hard to see how the visitors will contain the power running of the Giants midfield, with Dylan Shiel, Josh Kelly, Stephen Coniglio and Tom Scully all in great touch, and if they can continue to have an influence key forward target Jonathon Patton is likely to get plenty of scoring opportunities. West Coast enter the round inside the eight and have so much to play for, but they've struggled to step up in the big moments this season, so it remains to be seen if they're ready to do so on Saturday. | | | | | | | In Anaheim, California, USA, the P&G GymnasticsChampionships kicked off Thursday night with four-time men’s champion SamMikulak limited to just two events. This much is for sure: two new nationalgymnastics champions will be named this weekend. Saturday is Men's finals day, and onlyMikulak and Alex Naddour are back from the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team, so therewill be no shortage of opportunities for gymnasts to step into the spotlight atthe Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Gymnasts are competing for notice, and for placement in this Fall's WorldChampionships in Montreal, Quebec. Atthat contest, unlike in the Olympics, there will be no team competition, onlyindividual. Six men will be named to theU.S.A. world championships team. At that event in October, each nation can putup three gymnasts for each contest, but the rules do not differentiate betweenwhether those candidate need be all arounders, or specialists in one of theevents. With Mikulak limited to just high bar and pommelhorse, the national all-around title he’s held since 2013 will be up for grabs.The last two NCAA champions are eager to take it. 2016 U.S. Olympic Teamalternate Akash Modi wrapped up his senior year at Stanford by winning hissecond NCAA all-around title in March. He also won in 2015. 2016's champion, Oklahomateam member Yul Moldauer is also a strong candidate. Moldauer won the American Cup in April, beatingnot only Modi but also Oleg Verniaiev, the 2016 Olympic all-around silvermedalist from Ukraine. Other strongcandidates to take over the top spot include all around gymnast DonnellWhittenburg. -- Posted By Rex to SR at 8/19/2017 12:55:00 AM -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. 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