Oui, Ligue 1 said hello to a certain Lionel Messi, who played his first match with Paris-Saint-Germain in Reims, Sunday, August 29.
Yes, Romain Bardet won during the fourteenth stage of the Vuelta, Saturday, on a Tour of Spain which is doing well for the French.
Yes, untouchable Fabio Quartararo won the British Grand Prix and consolidated his lead at the top of the MotoGP World Championship standings.
But something else happened this weekend that you might have missed.
The three weekend lessons
- Your rainbow jersey, you won’t keep
? – Nino Schurter ?? ? – Mathias Flueckiger ?? ? – Victor Koretzky ?? #couchpeloton #sbscycling # ValdiDole2021 https://t.co/ihPzNBexm2
We were expecting Pauline Ferrand-Prévot or Jordan Sarrou, but it was ultimately Victor Koretzky who distinguished himself at the mountain biking world championships in Val di Sole (Italy), by taking bronze in the queen cross-country event. -country, Saturday. “PFP” and Sarrou nevertheless defended their respective titles of world champion, but did not manage to repeat the performance.
Tenth at the Tokyo Olympics, “PFP” got off to a good start with more than thirty seconds ahead of his pursuers at the end of the first lap (out of five). La Rémoise then broke down, finishing sixth.
On the men’s side, Jordan Sarrou quickly realized that the legs weren’t good enough to be crowned again. He finished far, twenty-sixth. It was ultimately on Victor Koretzky that the French hopes rested. The Biterrois seemed a little behind the podium before making a good comeback to clinch third place.
- Time you will try to kill
When approaching the race weekend at Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix, the drivers were certainly expecting capricious weather. But, on Sunday, the downpours completely prevented the smooth running of the race. The pilots had to keep busy to pass the time.
A little football game for some, card games and a nap for others… All means were good to overcome boredom on the paddock, while the marshals took the opportunity to engage in a game of pétanque on gravel intended to slow down cars. After three hours of interruption and four short laps on the circuit with the safety car, the race management finally decided to suspend the Grand Prix, freezing the classification as it is.
This just happened in formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix on Spa Froncorchamps due to rain delay. A game of Pétanque.… Https://t.co/LbUIAnIpQo
George Russell, who had achieved the feat of taking second place in qualifying behind the wheel of his modest Williams, thus obtained his very first podium in Formula 1 under very specific conditions. The points awarded to the pilots were halved due to the circumstances. And it was Max Verstappen who made the good operation of the weekend by winning the Grand Prix and coming back to three small points of the leader of the drivers classification, Lewis Hamilton, who completed the podium.
- The Olympics, you won’t see
We will have believed it until the end. The France team will not go to the Olympics, but they can be proud of their father… https://t.co/vlbu4X3Uzo
The French men’s ice hockey team had taken to dreaming. Engaged in an Olympic qualifying tournament in Riga to obtain one of the last tickets for the Beijing Winter Games in February 2022, she missed the last step. Victorious earlier in the week of Italy (2-0) and Hungary (5-3), the Blues played their qualification against Latvia, who played at home.
Unfortunately, the French failed to create a surprise on Sunday against the Latvians and lost by the score of 2 goals to 1.
The players of coach Philippe Bozon are therefore missing the opportunity to qualify for the Olympic Games for the French men’s ice hockey team since… 2002.
The weekend video
In de Brussels Cycling Classic rijden 5 van de 7 koplopers verkeerd. Enkel Remco Evenepoel en Aimé De Gendt rijden… https://t.co/ofSHCj4wqt
As if Remco Evenepoel needed this to win. On Saturday, on the semi-classic Brussels Classic (formerly Paris-Bruxelles), the Belgian prodigy won solo by releasing Aimé De Gendt 11 km from the finish. Previously in a group of seven riders, the two compatriots found themselves alone at the front thanks to a sign error with serious consequences.
At 19 km from the finish line, the five other riders in the group took the right road, following the television bike in particular, when it was necessary to turn to the left. “I saw everyone turn right, but as a regional race I knew I had to take a left. It’s a shame for the course of the event, but I had no reason to wait for my unfortunate companions ”, Evenepoel explained, almost embarrassed by the incident. Aimé De Gendt and Remco Evenepoel took the opportunity to escape definitively before the latter signed another success. Two days earlier, he had already won the Races of the grapes in Overijse (Brussels) after a breathtaking solitary raid of 60 km.
The declaration of the weekend
“These numbers are absurd. “
In a press conference, Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman rarely disappoints. Saturday, on the eve of his team’s victory at Camp Nou against Getafe (2-1) on the third day of La Liga, the Dutchman was questioned about the possible arrival of Kylian Mbappé at rival Real Madrid.
“He’s one of the best players in the world. Me too, I would like to have Mbappé in my team! “, first replied the 58-year-old technician before ticking a little on the amount mentioned for the transfer, more than 180 million euros: “These numbers are absurd. To put so much money for a player today, knowing what state the world is in and everyone has their economic worries, it’s madness. “
The weekend athletes
Ten days ago, this outcome seemed impossible to them. Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli were still trapped in Afghanistan, where the Taliban had just taken power. On Saturday, the two Afghan athletes managed to reach Tokyo in extremis to compete in the Paralympic Games. In their absence Tuesday, during the opening ceremony, the Afghan flag had paraded alone.
Afghan Team arrive in Tokyo to compete at the Paralympic Games. https://t.co/Hv5mnLfBaC
Khudadadi, who will compete in taekwondo in his category (less than 49 kg), and Rasouli, who will compete in the 400m series, managed to leave Kabul last weekend to join Paris. Throughout the week, the two athletes trained at the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (Insep), in the Paris region.
While the International Paralympic Committee wanted them to stay in France for their well-being, they moved to Tokyo, receiving a warm welcome at the Paralympic Village.
The weekend figure
5.30 m
This is the disappointing performance achieved by Renaud Lavillenie, Saturday, in the pole vault competition of the Paris Diamond League meeting, won by Armand Duplantis (6.01 m). In a Charléty stadium where 14,448 spectators had gathered, the French took tenth place only, as in Lausanne two days earlier (5.32 m). “Five meters thirty, that’s what I did in 2006, he reacted in The team. As much in Lausanne, I knew it was going to be complicated because I wondered how it was going to be with my ankle, so much there I felt better. “