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F1 joy, big hits and champagne rides

Jul 28, 2014

Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali had a champagne ride to close out his victory in the Tour De France, Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo won the Hungarian F1 Grand Prix and cricketer Glen Maxell showed again why he’s called “The Big Show”.

Formula 1

Ricciardo overtook Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso to win a thrilling Hungarian Grand Prix, his second Formula One victory of the season and his career.

Lewis Hamilton, who started from pit lane after his engine caught on fire during qualifying, was third, holding off Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, who started from pole position.

Ricciardo, competing in his fourth Formula One season, made three pits stops – compared to just two for Alonso and Hamilton – and his newer set of tires paid off in the end as he surged past the leaders with three laps to go.

“We had the fresher tires but I knew it was going to be an exciting finish,” Ricciardo said.

“That was a lot of fun, the last few laps.

“I am definitely going to celebrate tonight, party for a few days and enjoy a few days off,” he added.

Ricciardo won his first F1 race at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal in June.

Rosberg still leads the championship with 202 points, followed by Hamilton with 191 and Ricciardo with 131.

Cricket

Glenn Maxwell has scored a limited overs career-best 146 to carry English county side Hampshire to a resounding Royal London one-day Cup win over Lancashire Lightning at Old Trafford.

The 25-year-old Australian hammered 22 fours and two sixes in Sunday’s brutal 96-ball assault, which carried his side to a mammoth 360 for nine, a target Lancashire never looked like hunting down.

Their captain, Paul Horton, top-scored with 57 off 50 balls in 212 all out inside 38 overs, signalling a 148-run win for the visitors.

Maxwell and third-wicket partner Will Smith (49) shared 179 in 22.2 overs, a Hampshire record for that wicket in List A matches against Lancashire, beating 129 shared between Robin Smith and David Gower at Southampton in 1991.

Maxwell hit a quarter of his balls faced either to or over the boundary fence as he helped advance a score from 57 for two in the 11th over following the departures of James Vince and Jimmy Adams.

He went from 50 to 100 in 30 balls to bring up a ton off 75 and when he was caught at short cover off Wayne White with the score at 236 for three in the 33rd, he had topped his previous career best by one run.

Cycling

Vincenzo Nibali fought back tears as he stood on the Tour de France winner’s podium and described the moment as better than he ever expected.

Nibali completed his victory at the 2014 Tour by finishing safely in the pack on Sunday’s 21st and final stage from Evry to Paris, won by German Marcel Kittel.

“It’s the most important and the best moment; I never imagined it could feel this good because when you find yourself on this podium on the Champs Elysees. It’s unique,” said Nibali, reading a prepared statement.

“Some people might think it’s normal but I want to thank my (Astana) team because when you achieve an objective, you do so together, not just those here with me but also those back in Italy.

He dedicated the win to his wife and daughter, along with his parents.

After crossing the finish line, Nibali went straight to his wife and baby to embrace both.

By winning the final stage, German sprint king Kittel matched Nibali’s achievement of winning four stages on this Tour.

The Giant-Shimano sprinter thus equalled his feat from last year when he also won four stages – including both the first and last – and wore the yellow jersey for a day on stage two.

In the final sprint he initially looked to have been caught and passed by Alexander Kristoff before finding a second wind to power through and win.

Norwegian Kristoff, who won two previous stages, finished second with Lithuania’s Ramunas Navardauskas, who also claimed a stage, coming third.

“It was actually my strategy for the sprint,” Kittel said.

“I was meant to start not too early so when Kristoff passed me he had already had a little more time to accelerate and gain more speed.”

The day’s events started, as ever for the processional final stage, at a pedestrian pace as Nibali sipped champagne with his teammates and posed for photos with the other jersey winners.

Slovakian Peter Sagan won the green sprinters’ points jersey for the third year in a row while young Pole Rafal Majka claimed the king of the mountains polkadot jersey.

Frenchman Thibaut Pinot won the young riders’ white jersey and also finished third overall, behind compatriot Jean-Christophe Peraud.

Australia’s highest overall Tour finisher was Team Sky’s Richie Porte, who came in 23rd, 1 hour 2 minutes and 24 seconds behind Nibali.

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