CHIAVENNA, Italy — Lance Armstrong commanded the spotlight again, and it had nothing to do with his seven Tour de France titles or fight against cancer.
Armstrong had a new role Friday: labor activist.
On a day when Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen won a cold and rainy seventh stage of the Giro d’Italia and Italy’s Danilo Di Luca kept the overall lead, Armstrong and all but one of his Astana teammates made a protest.
The riders, upset over not being paid salary by their Kazakhstan team, wore special jerseys that faded the sponsor names. The Astana lettering that had been clearly visible was now obscured beyond recognition.
“It’s definitely not a good sign,” Di Luca said. “It’s the richest team in the world and the team that spends the most.”
Armstrong protested on behalf of his teammates. He is riding without salary this season after 3 1/2 years of retirement.
The International Cycling Union has given Astana a May 31 deadline to straighten out its financial situation or risk suspension.
Boasson Hagen won in 5 hours, 56 minutes, 53 seconds, beating four riders in a sprint finish on a slippery road. Armstrong finished 142nd, 58 seconds behind, and lost another 18 seconds to the overall leaders.
Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer remained fourth overall, 43 seconds behind Di Luca. Armstrong stayed 25th, but his gap behind Di Luca increased to 4:31.
Nadal, Federer advance on clay
MADRID — Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal reached the Madrid Open semifinals, on pace for a clay-court showdown in the final.
Federer improved to 18-2 against Andy Roddick with a 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-1 victory while Nadal stayed perfect against Fernando Verdasco with a 6-4, 7-5 triumph.
Defending champion Andy Murray lost to fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (4), 6-3 for the first time in four meetings. Novak Djokovic will get a fourth shot at beating Nadal this year after dispatching Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 6-4.
Top-ranked Dinara Safina advanced to the women’s last four with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Alona Bondarenko, and will play Patty Schnyder, who beat fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic 7-6 (6), 6-3. Amelie Mauresmo will face Caroline Wozniacki in the other semifinal.
Footnotes.
NFL teams will have nearly $12 million more under the salary cap this season, the final year with one in place unless the league and its players’ union can reach a new collective bargaining agreement.
• Payton d’Oro led from start to finish and cruised to a 1 1/4-length victory in the $150,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes — a Grade II race for 3-year-old fillies in Baltimore.
• Bill Passmore, a former jockey who rode in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, died Thursday in Baltimore. He was 76.
• Bob Rosburg, who won the 1959 PGA Championship and spent three decades with ABC Sports as the first reporter to call the shots from the golf course, died Thursday of head injuries after a fall in Palm Springs, Calif. He was 82.
The Associated Press
