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last updated on: 23/07 12:49AM

23/07 12:49AM
Contador resists Schleck to retain Tour de France lead

Andy Schleck puts an arm around Alberto Contador as they cross the line together at the top of the Tourmalet

Andy Schleck acknowledges Alberto Contador after their duel up the Tourmalet.lebron james shoes

Alberto Contador clung to the wheel of Andy Schleck up the final major climb of this year's Tour de France to remain on course to retain his crown.

The defending champion held a lead of eight seconds over the Luxembourger, who was unable to shake off his rival up the 15.5km of the Col du Tourmalet.

Schleck's attack with 10km left of the 174km stage from Pau left the rest of the overall contenders in his wake.

He took the Stage 17 win but Contador finished right up with his rival.

It leaves the Spaniard in pole position for overall victory with Friday likely to be a day for the sprinters ahead of Saturday's time trial, in which Contador is considered a superior practitioner.

But Schleck refused to give up on his chances of overall victory. nike star shoes

"I am going to try to do a pretty fast time trial," he said. "I am motivated and I have never been in as good condition before.

"I don't want to sound arrogant but Alberto and I are both at a level above the others. I think it is between him and me now.

"He [Contador] is a better time trialist but is is only eight seconds and I will keep fighting until the end. Last year I was four minutes behind but now it is only eight seconds so anything is possible."

Schleck waited until 10km left of the 15.5km climb up the Tourmalet to make his move, immediately leaving everyone else in the main bunch, bar Contador, trailing.

The duo caught the seven-man breakaway group including Team Sky duo Juan Antonio Flecha and Edvald Boasson Hagen - who had opened up a nine-minute lead at one stage - within the next 2km to leave a straight fight between them in the gruelling final 8km. christian louboutin boots

Schleck repeatedly looked behind him through the mist to assess the state of Contador, who initially refused to take up the running.

The Spaniard suddenly launched an attack of his own with 3.9km remaining, but Schleck responded superbly, giving his rival a long stare when he drew alongside him again.

But the Luxembourger could not shake off the champion on the way to the summit, meaning he is likely to have to settle for a repeat of his runner-up finish in 2009.

"It was a good final push," said Contador. "My objective was not the stage win but the overall victory.

"The most important thing is to be first in Paris. It is not over yet but I worked very hard and the feeling couldn't be better. I am really happy.

"There is a lot of mutual respect between us. I gave everything, I'm tired, but I'm focused."

His compatriot Samuel Sanchez, who suffered a heavy fall earlier in the stage before being helped back to the bunch by his Euskaltel team, inched a further eight seconds ahead of Russian rival Denis Menchov in the battle for the third podium spot.

Britain's Bradley Wiggins, who said this week he is targeting Saturday's time trial for a stage win after a disappointing Tour, came home in 88th place, 23 minutes and 19 seconds behind Schleck, and has slipped to 24th place overall. lebron james shoes


22/07 02:33AM
Pakistan dominate as Australia collapse at Headingley

Marcus North is dismissed


Salman Butt enjoyed a dream first day at the helm as Pakistan built a 60-run lead after bowling out Australia for 88 on the opening day of the final Test.

Australia chose to bat but were 41-5 by the 17th over as Pakistan's three main seamers extracted prodigious movement.

Teenage left-armer Mohammad Aamer took 3-20 and Mohammad Asif 3-30, with Tim Paine last out having top scored on 17.

Butt shared an opening stand of 80 with Imran Farhat in reply as his side made 148-3 before bad light curtailed play.

Australia are 1-0 up in the two-match series and few could have expected their lowest Test total since 1984.

There had been over two inches of rain in Leeds overnight and overcast skies gave even greater incentive for the bowlers, but Australia captain Ricky Ponting opted to bat first.

Indeed Ponting has not asked a team to bat first since the Ashes series of 2005 at Edgbaston when England amassed 400 on the first day.

The opening six overs produced little threat to the batsmen but then the Pakistan seamers began to find their line, and accompanied the accuracy with some stunning movement in the air and off the pitch.

Simon Katich was the first of five wickets inside 11 overs, trapped lbw having moved too far across, while Shane Watson was plumb lbw to one from Mohammad Asif that swung back in sharply.

Steve Smith is dismissed

Michael Clarke was fortunate not to have been out lbw on three but did not add any further runs when he was beaten by Umar Gul, who had swung several deliveries away before he nipped one back to move through the gate.

Ponting will perhaps never have made a scratchier six, from 21 balls, and was lbw after losing his balance trying to play across his pad.

The expected fightback was simply not allowed to happen, Pakistan aware that a full ball would zip through with swing and seam but a short one would lose pace and effectiveness.

One man who might have helped Australia out of the mire was Mike Hussey but he was unluckily given out lbw when one from Gul appeared to be doing too much and heading down the leg-side.

Butt's hunch to try the medium pace of Umar Amin was rewarded when more swing found the edge of Marcus North's bat to give the 20-year-old a maiden Test wicket.

It was 73-6 at lunch but lingering hopes of a recovery were swiftly ended with the first two balls of the afternoon session by the impressive 18-year-old Aamer.

First he breached Steve Smith's defences and then produced an even better one that swung dramatically away from left-hander Mitchell Johnson and crashed into the timbers.

The innings quickly subsided but thoughts that the Pakistan innings would follow a similar pattern were soon averted.

There were some excellent deliveries but the Australian bowlers were not able to produce them as consistently as their opponents had done.

The Pakistan batting was also commendably disciplined, Butt finally undone by some late swing from Ben Hilfenhaus as a full delivery crashed into the stumps.

Australia took two more wickets but with dark clouds gathering and causing the light to deteriorate rapidly Ponting turned to leg-spinner Smith, whose second ball was smashed for six by Umar Akmal as Pakistan continued their domination. christian louboutin boots

As he reflects on a torturous day, the Australia skipper may choose to look back to January this year at Sydney, when he decided to bat first, his team were all out for 127 but went on the win that match.

Australia coach Tim Nielsen admitted his side's performance was poor and said: "When you walk off and you have 88 next to 11 batsmen it's not a good enough total. We never got a smell of getting a partnership going.

"We were surprised to see how dry the wicket was this morning, we thought it was going to be hard against the new ball but would then flatten out to be a nice batting wicket.

"Pakistan bowled beautifully, hit the wicket hard and didn't just expect the conditions to do it for them. The ball certainly swung around, we were not good enough to stop the rot."

Gul, who captured 2-16, said of Ponting's decision to bat first: "There was moisture under the wicket so I think it was a shocking decision, especially for Australia.

"I don't know what the captain and coach's decision was going to be but if we won the toss we (the Pakistan bowlers) were ready to bowl first.

"When the clouds come it starts swinging and when the sun comes it is a bit flat and good for the batsmen. It all depends on the clouds when you can get some swing and seam.

"It was a good day for us. The bowlers did very well. Aamer, Asif and myself did very well as we planned before the game.

"We are planning to put on another 150 to lead by around 200. We need to bat well to get that and then we will have a good chance."


21/07 01:37AM
Fedrigo outsprints Lance Armstrong to win Tour stage

Lance Armstrong was denied his first stage win since 2005 by Pierrick Fedrigo in a thrilling sprint finish to the 16th stage of the Tour de France.

Bbox rider Fedrigo outsprinted seven-time winner Armstrong and six others after breakaway leader Carlos Barredo had been caught with a kilometre to go.

Overall leader Alberto Contador held on to his eight-second advantage over Luxembourg's Andy Schleck.

Fedrigo's victory was France's sixth stage win of the 97th Tour.

He finished ahead of compatriot Sandy Casar and Spain's Ruben Plaza, with Armstrong crossing the line in sixth in the same time.

Armstrong last won a Tour stage in Saint-Etienne on 23 July 2005 on the way to winning his seventh title.

After being pipped to the line at the end of an arduous 199.5km stage that took the race from Bagneres-de-Luchon to Pau and featured four tough climbs, the Col de Peyresourde, Col d'Aspin, Col du Tourmalet and Col d'Aubisque, Armstrong said: "It was harder than I expected. It's been a while since I sprinted and I was just not quick enough.

"It was somewhat of a planned attack. I knew that starting on the Peyresourde was going to be very difficult, I knew that a group was going to go away.

"I've trained hard, I'm not the best guy in the race but I still have the spirit of a fighter.

"I focused on the stage, tried to get up in the moves and it didn't work - I wasn't fast enough in the end. Fedrigo's very fast and he deserved to win."

Fedrigo, who timed his burst for the line perfectly to win in five hours, 31 minutes and 43 seconds, added: "It was my day. Everything smiled on me. This shows that it isn't only the great leaders who can win on the Tour de France, it's also the general riders."

Barredo, who made a brave break for victory with a little more than 40km remaining, came home in ninth - 28 seconds behind the winner.

Race leader Contador came over the finish line just under seven minutes later, along with closest rival Schleck.

Cervelo rider Thor Hushovd won the final sprint to the line from the peloton to finish 10th.

In winning six points, the Norwegian reclaimed the points classification leader's green jersey from Lampre-Farnese sprinter Alessandro Petacchi.      lebron james shoes

The Italian is second with 187 while HTC-Columbia's Isle of Man ace Mark Cavendish is third on 162 points. Both trailed in among the last riders to finish Tuesday's stage.

Wednesday is a rest day followed by Thursday's 174km stage, which will see the riders start in Pau and return to Tourmalet - an 18.5km climb, with a mountaintop finish.

The stage is likely to be Schleck's best opportunity to reclaim the lead from Contador ahead of Sunday's finale.   nike star shoes

Schleck, who was angry about the way Contador had taken the yellow jersey after he suffered a mechanical problem on Monday, says he has now forgiven the Spaniard.

Contador had apologised for taking advantage of his rival's misfortune and Schleck said: "We are fine now. The Tour de France isn't going to be won by eight seconds, and there's going to be a big race between him and me on Thursday."     christian louboutin boots


19/07 10:40PM
Scientists say vaginal gel cuts HIV-infections by half

A vaginal gel has significantly cut the rate of women contracting HIV from infected partners in an experiment in South Africa, researchers said.

They said the gel, containing Aids drug tenofovir, cut infection rates among 889 women by 50% after one year of use, and by 39% after two and a half years.

If the results are confirmed it would be the first time that a microbicidal gel has been shown to be effective.

Such a gel could be a defence for women whose partners refuse to wear condoms.
New ways of curbing the spread of HIV are badly needed, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly 60% of those infected with the virus are women.

Many women are often forced to take part in unsafe sex, and are biologically more vulnerable to HIV infection than men, making a gel they apply an attractive option.

Welcoming the results, UN agencies said they would convene an expert consultation in South Africa next month to discuss the next steps with the product.

'Just pennies'
The results of the three-year study, which was completed by the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa (Caprisa), are being presented at an international aids conference in Vienna and were published on Monday by the US magazine Science.

The gel was found to be both safe and acceptable when used once in the 12 hours before sex and once in the 12 hours after sex by women aged 18 to 40 years.

Salim Abdool Karim, one of the two leading co-researchers, told reporters in Vienna that the 889 women involved in the trial, conducted in the coastal city of Durban and a remote rural village, had largely used the gel as directed.

They were also given condoms and advice about sexually transmitted diseases, and tested for HIV once a month.

After 30 months, 98 women became infected with HIV - 38 in the group that got tenofovir in the gel and 60 in the group that got placebos.

"We showed a 39% lower incidence of HIV in the tenofovir group," Dr Karim said.

Tenofovir, he added, lowered the risk of infection by 50% at 12 months but then the efficacy declined.

Women who used the gel more consistently were much less likely to be infected, he said.

He added that he did not know how much each dose would cost but said the applicators and gel cost "just pennies".

"Boy, have we been doing the happy dance," Dr Karim, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, said.

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18/07 10:32PM
More LeBron James news from lebronjames.com

If you didn't get enough of LeBron James and his interview with Jim Gray last night, the two paired up for bonus material on lebronjames.com.

Gray, who CNBC's Darren Rovell says was paid by James' company for the work last night, asked him some questions from fans including the superstar's favorite cupcake.

Here is how James announced his move to South Florida.

Next year, I will be playing for The Miami Heat. I would like to thank all of my fans for supporting me and I am looking forward to seeing you guys next season as I chase the NBA Championship.

FYI, red velvet is his favorite cupcake and he wants Will Smith to play him in a movie.

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