Former France captain Michel Platini has confirmed his candidacy for the presidency of European soccer’s governing body. French soccer federation chief Jean-Pierre Escalettes officially announced Platini’s candidacy in a letter on Monday to Uefa secretary general Lars-Christer Olsson. The elections will be held in January 2007.
Floyd Landis’s thrilling Tour de France victory did much to dispel the air of gloom hanging over cycling’s showpiece event after it began engulfed by another doping controversy. ”Our only favourite is named suspense,” said outgoing Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc, dreaming of a wide-open race after the retirement of Lance Armstrong.
Italy’s Matteo Tosatto handed the Quick Step team and his country their first victory in this year’s Tour de France when he won the 18th stage on Friday. Tosatto, who was part of a long-range breakaway, outsprinted compatriot Cristian Moreni of the Cofidis team at the end of a 197km ride from Morzine to Macon. German Gerolsteiner rider Ronny Scholz took third place.
Researchers believe they have found a key insight into déjà vu, the eerie sensation of seeing something that has already been experienced, the <i>New Scientist</i> magazine reports. Experiments suggest that déjà vu can be triggered independently, without a real memory to prompt it.
American Floyd Landis won the 17th stage of the Tour de France, a 200,5km ride from St Jean de Maurienne to Morzine on Thursday. Spaniard Oscar Pereiro Sio retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey. Spaniard Carlos Sastre finished second on the stage, five minutes and 42 seconds behind Landis. France’s Christophe Moreau took third, 5:58 off the pace.
Fifty years ago St Tropez was confirmed as a rich man — and woman’s — playground when a bikini-clad Brigitte Bardot frolicked on the beach in <i>And God Created Woman</i>. Now the racy southern Mediterranean resort is hoping to persuade tourists to mix a little culture with their cocktails.
Luxemburg’s Frank Schleck won the 15th stage of the Tour de France over 187km from Gap to L’Alpe d’Huez on Tuesday. The CSC rider, who won the Amstel Gold Race earlier this year, finished 11 seconds ahead of Italian Damiano Cunego of the Lampre team.
Michael Schumacher cruised to a polished victory for Ferrari in Sunday’s French Grand Prix and then set his sights on a remarkable eighth drivers’ world title. The 37-year-old German, seven-times drivers’ world champion, drove a faultless race to finish ahead of defending champion Fernando Alonso of Spain.
The fairy tale of Zinedine Zidane vanished in an instant of visceral rage at the World Cup final. But what followed has proved strangely more compelling — more human, more profound, more universal. His now-legendary headbutt fascinated viewers around the world, competed with war zones for global headlines, and obsessed philosophers and sports fans alike.
Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve believes Formula One is becoming a bore. The 1997 world champion, who at 35 is one of the senior men still on duty in motor racing’s elite division, said he believed most teams now preferred to recruit young, cheap and ”corporate” drivers.
Ukrainian Yaroslav Popovych of the Discovery Channel team won the 12th stage of the Tour de France on Friday to deprive the hosts of a coveted victory on Bastille Day. American Floyd Landis retained the race leader’s yellow jersey ahead of Saturday’s 13th stage, at 230km the longest of the race, between Beziers and Montelimar.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s future with Manchester United was still up in the air on Thursday, despite the club insisting he was not for sale. The Portuguese winger has retracted slightly from his claim that he would be moving away from Old Trafford after the rumpus surrounding his role in the World Cup sending off of Wayne Rooney.
Defending world drivers’ champion Fernando Alonso believes that this weekend’s French Grand Prix will see him bounce back from his disappointment in America last time out. The 24-year-old Spaniard could only finish fifth in his Renault at the United States Grand Prix as his title rival Michael Schumacher won for Ferrari to cut his championship lead to 19 points with eight races left.
Retired France captain Zinedine Zidane can do no wrong, according to his peers in the football world following his public apology on television for headbutting Italy’s Marco Materazzi. The 34-year-old great went on Canal+ and then TF1 TV stations in France to apologise to the world for losing his temper over jibes from the Italian centre-back in the World Cup final on Sunday.
Eurotunnel was to "place itself under the protection of the Paris tribunal of commerce" after the failure of negotiations on its debt with its creditors. Subordinate creditors headed by Deutsche Bank "rejected the last effort to reach a consensual agreement with all the Eurotunnel creditors," said a spokesperson.
French football icon Zinedine Zidane on Wednesday said he was sorry for headbutting an Italian opponent during the World Cup final against Italy. But he said in a French television interview that defender Marco Materazzi had deserved it for insulting him with some ”very hard words” aimed at sullying his mother and sister.
Spaniard Oscar Freire of the Rabobank team dominated some of the world’s fastest sprinters to win the ninth stage of the Tour de France on Tuesday. After 169,5km of racing from Bordeaux, Serguei Gonchar of the T-Mobile team retained the race leader’s yellow jersey ahead of the first climbing stage of the race, a 190,5km ride from Cambo-Les-Bains to Pau.
Pedro De la Rosa will replace Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya for the McLaren-Mercedes Formula One team, it was announced on Tuesday. The Spaniard will compete for McLaren for the first time as a first-choice driver at this Sunday’s French Grand Prix, the team said.
European aircraft maker Airbus announced a sharp fall in its orders on Monday, a setback for the company in its battle with Chicago-based Boeing and a sign that the United States group is in the ascendancy. Airbus said it had booked 117 firm orders for passenger jets in the first half of 2006, fewer than half the number in the same period of 2005 and far behind Boeing.
Australian Robbie McEwen dominated another bunch sprint to claim victory in the 189km sixth stage of the Tour de France on Friday, his 11th career win in the race. Belgian rival Tom Boonen, who finished a distant third, retained the race leader’s yellow jersey ahead of Saturday’s 52km time trial around Rennes.
Spaniard Oscar Freire of Rabobank won the fifth stage of the Tour de France held over 225km between Beauvais and Caen on Thursday. Belgium’s Tom Boonen, who finished second on the stage ahead of Spain’s Inaki Isasi in third, retained the race leader’s yellow jersey by 13 seconds from Australian Michael Rogers ahead of Friday’s 189km.
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Two French revellers died and a third was feared drowned after more than half-a-million football fans took to the streets early on Thursday to celebrate their side’s qualification for the World Cup final. Across France the night’s celebrations were mostly peaceful — if noisy — with firecrackers and fireworks competing with drums and car horns.
Japanese company Bridgestone will exclusively supply tyres for the Formula One world championship from 2008 to 2010, world motor sport’s governing body the FIA said on Wednesday. Bridgestone had been the favourites to win the deal since French tyre manufacturer Michelin refused to participate after FIA asked for offers.
Australia’s Robbie McEwen of Davitamon won the fourth stage of the Tour de France, held over 207km between Huy in Belgium and Saint Quentin, France, on Wednesday. Belgian Tom Boonen of Quick Step retained the race-leader’s yellow jersey ahead of Thursday’s 225km stage from Beauvais to Caen.
The co-chief executive of the European aerospace group EADS and the head of its Airbus subsidiary paid with their jobs on Sunday for the crisis that has wiped billions of euros off the value of the company. The two companies issued terse statements announcing EADS’s French co-boss Noel Forgeard and Airbus’s head Gustav Humbert, a German, were stepping down.
American George Hincapie grabbed the first Tour de France yellow jersey of his career as Frenchman Jimmy Casper caused an upset on the race’s first big sprint rendezvous on Sunday. Hincapie, who lost out on the race lead by 0,73sec after he finished second in the prologue behind Thor Hushovd, found himself benefiting from the big Norwegian’s misfortune.
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden accused Iraqi Shi’ites of waging ”genocide” against Sunnis and warned of retaliation, according to a new audiotape posted on the internet on Saturday. The message, the second in as many days purportedly from the Western world’s most-wanted man, came as yet another sectarian car bombing shook Baghdad.
Germany’s Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla of Spain have both been withdrawn from the T-Mobile team contesting the Tour de France after they were named in an official inquiry into blood doping in Spain. Italy’s Ivan Basso and Spain’s Francisco Mancebo have also been withdrawn because of being named in the scandal.
From bras and baby suits equipped with monitors to tough suits to protect sportspeople and adventurers from the hazards of life on earth, space technology is boldly pushing back fashion frontiers. ”The space programme has over the years provided a catalyst for a lot of the progress we are seeing today in textiles,” says David Raitt, promotions officer with the European Space Agency.
EADS co-chief executive Noel Forgeard was being questioned on Wednesday by France’s parliamentary finance committee on why he sold millions of euros’ worth of shares in the European aerospace group just before it announced delays in deliveries of its Airbus A380 superjumbo.
France is set to unveil a reorganisation of European aerospace giant EADS in the next few days amid sustained efforts by the government to clear the air of controversy over production problems, communication breakdowns and share dealings.
Fatty hamburgers, sugar-laden sodas and a couch-potato lifestyle: these are the familiar villains in the crisis of obesity sweeping developed countries. But what if they had been convicted without fair trial? What if the global fat explosion had other causes?