MOUTIERS, France (AP) — Belgian allrounder Wout van Aert, a key teammate of Tour de France leader Jonas Vingegaard, has left the race to be with his wife Sarah ahead of the birth of their second child.
Van Aert, a versatile rider capable of winning on all grounds, has provided crucial support to Vingegaard since the start of the Tour. But because Vingegaard has opened a huge gap in the general classification with one tough mountain stage left, Van Aert's presence was not deemed as essential.
“As everyone knows, Sarah is pregnant, things are starting to get a bit tight at home,” Van Aert said in a video published by his Jumbo-Visma team ahead of Thursday's Stage 18. “In consultation with the team we have decided that my place is now at home.”
Van Aert added that leaving the race is “a strange feeling, but it's not a dilemma.”
Vingegaard, the defending champion, dropped Tadej Pogacar in the last big stage in the French Alps on Wednesday to increase his overall lead to 7 minutes, 35 seconds. Barring any big crash, he looks set to win his second Tour title on Sunday.
Van Aert has nine career stage wins on the Tour, but none this month.
“I often had the legs to win a stage, but it did not happen,” he said. “But I will always remember this Tour as the one where I called home every day.”
Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic came away with winners' medals at the U.S. Open.
Former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady returned to Gillette Stadium and was honored at halftime of the Patriots-Eagles game for his retirement ceremony.
Be Well: Olympic Gold Medalist Mia Hamm Talks Bone Marrow Transplants
Luis Rubiales, the head of the Spanish soccer federation, announced his resignation in an interview with Piers Morgan after he faced backlash over a kiss he gave to Spanish soccer star Jenni Hermoso following the team's World Cup final win.
Michigan State University suspended football Mel Tucker without pay after reports he allegedly sexually harassed an activist last year.
Novak Djokovic has won the U.S. Open for his 24th Grand Slam title by using every ounce of his energy and some serve-and-volley guile to get past Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the final in New York.
Diede de Groot has won her 12th straight Grand Slam wheelchair singles title. She beat Yui Kamiji on Sunday in the U.S. Open women’s final.
Rubiales kissed Jenni Hermoso during the awards ceremony after Spain beat England to win the title on Aug. 20 in Sydney, Australia. The player said it was without her consent.
Gauff is the first American teenager to win the country’s major tennis tournament since Serena Williams in 1999.
The Lions walked into roaring Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday night, where the Kansas City Chiefs are nearly unbeatable and were trying to open their latest Super Bowl title defense with a win, and proved what Detroit coach Dan Campbell has come to know in turning around the long downtrodden franchise.
