ADELAIDE, Australia — Lance Armstrong made a cautious return to professional racing Sunday, finishing 64th among 133 cyclists in a 30-mile criterium in downtown Adelaide.
More than 138,000 people watched Armstrong return from three years of retirement and begin a campaign to win his eighth Tour de France title. He stayed well back in a tight field throughout Sunday’s race on a winding circuit, following team instructions to avoid any chance of crashing.
Armstrong will compete in the six-day Tour Down Under, which starts Tuesday. The criterium does not count toward overall standings.
Australia’s Robbie McEwen — a winner of 12 stages in the Tour de France — won the race for the Russian Team Katusha ahead of Willem Stroetinga of the Netherlands and fellow Australian Graeme Brown.
Davis wins speedskating title
MOSCOW — Shani Davis of the United States set a track record to win the 1,000 meters and earn the overall title at the sprint speedskating world championships.
Wang Beixing of China won her first overall sprint title.
Davis won in 1 minute, 8.66 seconds, with Denny Morrison of Canada in second Yevgeny Lalen- kov of Russia in third. Defending champion and overnight leader Lee Kyou-hyuk of South Korea fell with 100 meters left.
The titles were decided by two 500-meter and two 1,000-meter races over the weekend.
Keiichiro Nagashima of Japan won the 500 in a track-record 34.91 seconds, while Davis was sixth.
Wang had a 0.43-second advantage over defending champion Jenny Wolf before the 500. Wolf won the race in a track-record 37.86 seconds, but only 0.05 ahead of Wang.
Sloan gets extension
SALT LAKE CITY — Jerry Sloan will return as the coach of the Utah Jazz for the 2009-10 season.
The Jazz said Sloan agreed to a one-year contract extension that will mark his 22nd season at Utah.
Footnotes.
The Chicago Cubs finally lost patience with former prized prospect Felix Pie, trading the outfielder to the Baltimore Orioles for left-hander Garrett Olson and minor-league pitcher Henry Williamson.
• Jeret Peterson of the U.S. and Alia Tsuper of Belarus each claimed victory at World Cup freestyle meet in Lake Placid, N.Y.
• Sweden’s Emil Joensson and Robin Bryntesson won the men’s World Cup cross-country skiing team sprint race on the venue that will host the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler, British Columbia.
• Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway and Magdalena Neuner of Germany won World Cup biathlon events in Ruhpolding, Germany.
• Markus Schairer of Austria rallied in the final stretch to win at the snowboard world championships, while Helene Olafsen of Norway dominated for the women’s title in Hoengseong, South Korea.
• Two-time world champion Tatjana Huefner of Germany won a luge race in Oberhof, Germany, for her fifth World Cup victory of the season.
The Associated Press
