CYCLING
TOUR de FRANCE: The slow-burning fight for the Tour de France’s yellow jersey erupted in earnest on the slopes of a once-giant volcano on Friday, with race leader Primoz Roglic using the punishing slopes to grow his overall lead.
One of the big losers of the day was Egan Bernal, last year’s champion from Colombia who was unable to match Roglic’s pace on the arduous ascent of the Puy Mary. He tumbled from second to third in the overall standings.
Tadej Pogacar, the only rider able to stay with Roglic on the last climb, vaulted to second overall. He trails Roglic by 44 seconds.
Bernal fell back to 59 seconds behind Roglic, the winner of last year’s Spanish Vuelta who is increasingly looking the firm favorite to win in Paris in eight days.
The intense stage, one of this race’s hardest with seven ascents of note, was won by Colombian rider Daniel Martinez. He had been part of a breakaway of lower-order riders.
BASKETBALL
NBA: The Memphis Grizzlies on Friday hired Sonia Raman as an assistant coach. She replaces Niele Ivey, who was hired by Notre Dame in April.
Raman spent the past 12 seasons as women’s basketball coach at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she reached the NCAA Tournament twice. The Engineers went 91-45 over her final five seasons. She started coaching as an assistant at her alma mater, Tufts. She then spent six years as an assistant at Wellesley.
COLLEGES
FOOTBALL: The Big 12 announced Friday it has secured access to COVID-19 antigen testing that produces rapid results and will be used the day before competition on players, coaches and staff.
The partnership with Virtual Care for Families calls for a testing program that will use Quidel Rapid Antigen tests. The Pac-12 recently announced a partnership with Quidel that will provide its schools with the capacity to test daily and get results in about 15 minutes.
The Big 12 said it expects the same timeframe from the Quidel tests.
The Big 12, like the other five college football conferences currently moving forward with a fall season, is requiring its 10 schools to test athletes three times per week during competition. The conference said each school is responsible for the other weekly tests.
• Former Penn State receiver Justin Shorter is eligible to play for No. 8 Florida this season.
The Gators confirmed that the NCAA granted Shorter’s request to waive a one-year transfer rule, meaning he doesn’t have to sit out the 2020 season. Scholarship players in the Football Bowl Subdivision are required to sit out one year after changing schools, but the rule can be set aside because of a “specific, extraordinary circumstance.”
Shorter left Penn State last November and entered the NCAA transfer portal. He landed at Florida three months later. He announced on Instagram late Thursday that his waiver had been granted.
HOCKEY
NHL: The NHL moved its draft up to Oct. 6-7 and set an Oct. 9 start for free agency.
The first round of the draft will be Oct. 6, with the New York Rangers on the clock and Alexis Lafrenière the consensus top option for the No. 1 pick. The remaining rounds will take place Oct. 7, and all the drafting will be done virtually.
Free agency begins at noon Eastern two days later. And after the league and NHL Players’ Association agreed to a collective bargaining agreement extension, there won’t be an interview period in the days leading to the start of the free-agent frenzy.
SOCCER
MLS: The three Canadian Major League Soccer teams will each play a “home” game in the United States as the league’s regular season continues.
The MLS has been announcing the 2020 regular season schedule in increments because of the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on travel to Canada. Each MLS team will compete in three matches from Sept. 18-27.
Because of travel restrictions, the Montreal Impact will host a match at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey; Toronto FC will host a game in Hartford, Connecticut; and the Vancouver Whitecaps will host a game in Portland, Oregon.
The league on Friday also announced qualification details for the playoffs. Eight teams for the 12-team Western Conference will qualify. The top six seeds in the 14-team Eastern Conference will qualify, while the No. 7 through No. 10 seeds will compete in a play-in match.
The MLS Cup is set for Dec. 12.
PREMIER LEAGUE: Much to the Premier League’s dismay, the new season will start on Saturday just as the last one finished only 48 days earlier — in empty stadiums.
The world’s richest football league on Friday intensified its lobbying of the government to allow supporters back into games, even as England grapples with a sharp spike in coronavirus cases.
The league wrote to the government on the eve of the season “to express its concern at the decisions taken to restrict, and potentially delay, the planned program for the return of fans to football stadiums.”
AUTO RACING
XFINITY: Justin Allgaier caught front-running Justin Haley with 29 laps to go and held him off the rest of the way to win the NASCAR Xfinity race at Richmond Raceway.
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