Chris Froome of Great Britain riding for Team Sky in the yellow leader's jersey rides in the peloton up the Lacets du Grand Colombier during Stage 15 of the 2016 Tour de France. Chris Graythen / Getty Images
Chris Froome of Great Britain riding for Team Sky in the yellow leader's jersey rides in the peloton up the Lacets du Grand Colombier during Stage 15 of the 2016 Tour de France. Chris Graythen / GettyShow more

Chris Froome feels sorry for Tour de France rivals up against Sky teammates: ‘It must be quite demoralising for other people’



MOIRANS-EN-MONTAGNE // Chris Froome believes the strength of Team Sky in the Tour de France must be sapping at the morale of his rivals for the yellow jersey.

Sunday’s 160km Stage 15 from Bourg-en-Bresse to Culoz was seen as a key opportunity for contenders to make up time on Froome in the fight for yellow given it included six categorised climbs and more than 4,000 metres of climbing.

But while IAM Cycling's Jarlinson Pantano won from the breakaway up the road, Sky shut down every attempt at attacking from the peloton without Froome needing to do any of the grunt work, keeping him 1 minute, 47 seconds clear of Trek-Segafredo's Bauke Mollema.

Even on a day when Mikel Nieve suffered a crash on the final descent and Geraint Thomas was delayed by a puncture, Froome had Wout Poels for company all the way to the line, and it was the Dutchman who did the hard work in chasing down attacks from Astana’s Fabio Aru, Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde and AG2R La Mondiale’s Romain Bardet on the final climb.

See also:

• Stage 15: Jarlinson Pantano provides Colombia some joy

• Stage 14: 'Manx Missile' Mark Cavendish speeds through to deny Marcel Kittel

• Gallery: From British Open to Tour de France, tributes to Nice across sport

“I really am in such a privileged position to have such a strong team around me,” Froome said. “It may be the strongest team Sky has ever put in the Tour de France and these are guys who would be leaders in other teams in their own right.

“It must be quite demoralising for other people to have to think of attacking knowing this calibre of riders will be chasing them down.”

The difficulty of the stage created plenty of opportunities but might also have been the reason that none of Froome’s rivals could make anything stick.

Watching it all play out was Adam Yates, the 23-year-old Englishman who is third overall but spent most of Sunday just trying to hold on to the rest of the contenders.

“When you’re already riding that hard, to try to ride a little harder you can only do it for so long,” the Orica-BikeExchange rider said. “Sky are going super right now and the moment anyone attacks they’ll just bring them back.”

Froome was even able to toy with his rivals, feigning an attack on the final climb, the Lacets du Grand Colombier, to send a brief moment of panic through the chasing pack.

“I just wanted to see exactly what the state of play was,” he said. “What reaction I’d get and who would follow. Obviously Nairo was on my wheel quite quickly. It was just to give me an idea of who might be making a move over the top.”

With Monday’s 209km Stage 16 from Moirans-en-Montagne to Berne relatively flat – although the technical finish could rule out a conventional sprint – Froome is already looking forward to Tuesday’s rest day before tackling the Alps next week.

“It’s going to be fantastic just to recover a little bit before things kick off again next week,” he said. “Next week there’s such a big block ahead of us we need to save a bit of energy for that now.”

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Ibrahim's play list

Completed an electrical diploma at the Adnoc Technical Institute

Works as a public relations officer with Adnoc

Apart from the piano, he plays the accordion, oud and guitar

His favourite composer is Johann Sebastian Bach

Also enjoys listening to Mozart

Likes all genres of music including Arabic music and jazz

Enjoys rock groups Scorpions and Metallica 

Other musicians he likes are Syrian-American pianist Malek Jandali and Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou Khalil

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

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Following fashion

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Losing your balance

You end up with too much exposure to an individual company or sector that has taken your fancy.

Being over active

If you chop and change your portfolio too often, dealing charges will eat up your gains.

Running your losers

Investors hate admitting mistakes and hold onto bad stocks hoping they will come good.

Selling in a panic

If you sell up when the market drops, you have locked yourself out of the recovery.

Timing the market

Even the best investor in the world cannot consistently call market movements.

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HIV on the rise in the region

A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.

New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.

Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.

Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.  

Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.

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2.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Mezmar, Adam McLean (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).

3pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 2,000m; Winner: AF Ajwad, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.

3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Gold Silver, Sam Hitchcott, Ibrahim Aseel.

4pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 1,000m; Winner: Atrash, Richard Mullen, Ana Mendez.

4.30pm: Gulf Cup Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Momtaz, Saif Al Balushi, Musabah Al Muhairi.

5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Al Mushtashar, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.

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CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections" 

SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom" 

Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE

Director: Jared Hess

Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

Rating: 3/5

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There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:

  1. Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate. 
  2. Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc. 
  3. Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway. 
  4. Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
  5. Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458. 

The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

How to apply for a drone permit
  • Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
  • Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
  • Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
  • Submit their request
What are the regulations?
  • Fly it within visual line of sight
  • Never over populated areas
  • Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
  • Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
  • Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
  • Should have a live feed of the drone flight
  • Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

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