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Italian Nibali wins Tour de France

Vincenzo Nibali completed his victory in the 2014 Tour de France on Sunday as German sprinter Marcel Kittel won the final stage on the Champs Elysees in Paris.

Italian Nibali wins Tour de France
Vincenzo Nibali finished safely in the peloton to succeed Briton Chris Froome as Tour champion. Photo: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP

Nibali finished safely in the peloton to succeed Briton Chris Froome as Tour champion. Jean-Christophe Peraud was second with fellow Frenchman Thibaut Pinot third.

Kittel matched Nibali's four stage wins on this year's Tour with Norway's Alexander Kristoff second in Paris and Ramunas Navardauskas of Lithuania third.

Nibali went straight to his wife and baby daughter after crossing the finish line to embrace both and celebrate with his family.

The 29-year-old Italian first took the yellow jersey on the second stage and although he lost it on the ninth stage, he claimed it straight back on Bastille Day, 24 hours later.

Sunday's 137.5km 21st and final stage from Evry was always likely to end in a bunch sprint, with Nibali's Astana team manager Alexander Vinokourov the last person to win from an escape in 2005.

Australian Richie Porte gave it a go with a loan break but Kittel's Giant-Shimano team and fellow German Andre Greipel's Lotto-Belisol squad led the chase.

When it came into the final few hundred metres, Kittel launched first but was overtaken by Kristoff, himself a winner of two stages at this Tour.

But the German found a second wind and came back at the Katusha sprinter to charge through and match exactly his feat from last year.

Then too he won four stages – including both the first and last – and wore the yellow jersey for a day on stage two.

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CYCLING

Swiss rider dies after fall into ravine on Tour of Switzerland

Swiss rider Gino Maeder has died from the injuries he sustained when he plunged into a ravine during a stage of the Tour of Switzerland, his team Bahrain-Victorious said on Friday.

Swiss rider dies after fall into ravine on Tour of Switzerland

Maeder, 26, fell during a high-speed descent on the fifth stage between Fiesch and La Punt on Thursday, after an exhausting day marked by three ascents over 2,000 metres altitude.

He had been found “lifeless in the water” of a ravine below the road, “immediately resuscitated then transported to the hospital in Chur by air”, organisers said.

But the next day, “Gino lost his battle to recover from the serious injuries he sustained,” Bahrain-Victorious said in a statement.

“It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that we must announce the passing of Gino Mäder,” his team wrote in a statement.

“On Friday June 16th, following a very serious fall during the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse, Gino lost his fight to recover from the serious injuries he had suffered. Our entire team is devastated by this tragic accident, and our thoughts and prayers are with Gino’s family and loved ones at this incredibly difficult time.”

“Despite the best efforts of the phenomenal staff at Chur hospital, Gino couldn’t make it through this, his final and biggest challenge, and at 11:30am we said goodbye to one of the shining lights of our team,” the team said in a statement.

Maeder had enjoyed a strong start to the season, finishing fifth in the Paris-Nice race.

American rider Magnus Sheffield also fell on the same descent from Albula, during the most difficult stage of the race with multiple climbs. The Ineos-Grenadiers rider was hospitalised with “bruises and concussion,” organisers said.

On Thursday, world champion Remco Evenepoel criticised the decision to compete on such a dangerous road.

“While a summit finish would have been perfectly possible, it wasn’t a good decision to let us finish down this dangerous descent,” the Belgian wrote on Twitter.

“As riders, we should also think about the risks we take going down a mountain.”

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