CYCLING | Tour de France pack off on short, steep Stage 17

The Tour de France pack has embarked on Stage 17, the shortest leg of the three-week race featuring three tough climbs plus an uphill finish in the Pyrenees. Vincenzo Nibali is again in the yellow jersey that he’s worn for all but two stages this year for yesterday’s 124.5-kilometer trek. It covers three hard Category 1 ascents from Saint-Gaudens and a final push up to Pla d’Adet ski station above the town of Saint-Lary-Soulan. The Italian leader had little trouble keeping his top rivals in check on Tuesday. Nibali leads Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde by 4 minutes, 37 seconds.

Football
Shakhtar Donetsk to play in Lviv this season

Shakhtar Donetsk’s coach says the Ukrainian champion will play its home games this season in Lviv in western Ukraine, over 1,000 kilometers from its home city, due to ongoing conflict in the east of the country. Donetsk is the largest city controlled by pro-Russian militants and has seen increased fighting in recent days as Ukrainian forces advance. Coach Mircea Lucescu said on the club website that “Arena Lviv will be our home arena” for Champions League and domestic games. Players and staff will live in the capital Kiev. Shakhtar beat Dynamo Kiev 2-0 to lift the Ukrainian Super Cup in its season-opening game in Lviv yesterday (Macau time).

Boxing
Welsh boxer banned from Commonwealth Games

Olympic silver-medalist boxer Fred Evans of Wales has been denied accreditation for the Commonwealth Games. Games officials would not give a reason for the ban, although Welsh media reported that the 23-year-old welterweight from Cardiff was ordered to pay fines of more than USD2,000 after admitting to a role in a nightclub assault in Birmingham, England. Evans did not travel with his team to Scotland. Wales officials released a statement saying they were disappointed with the decision.